Some days are harder than others, and we all need a push to get things done. According to a psychologist, self-talk can be very motivational, especially if you use the “magic word.”
The complexity of the brain is hard to understand. For instance, a craving for salt can be anxiety-induced, and in another extreme example, a simple trick using a pen and paper can help in relieving anger. So, let’s find out more about motivating ourselves using a specific word.
Psychologist reveals a ‘magic word’ for instant motivation
In one of his YouTube videos, Psychologist Richard Wiseman discusses self-talk and how tweaking a specific word can make a lot of difference.
The claims he makes are based on a study conducted by psychology professor Sanda Dolcos and her team in 2014. In his video, Richard says speaking to yourself in the second person is more motivational than in the first person.
This means, replacing the use of “I” with “You”, can result in better performance, according to the professor and the study from earlier.
On a given day, if you’re feeling too lazy to work out, tell yourself: “You enjoy exercising” and “You should go jogging”, rather than “I should go jogging now” and “I enjoy exercising.” The magic “you” word is said to be motivational, thus making you want to achieve more.
The study conducted by Sanda and her team specifically focused on a technique to motivate people to exercise, and the participants who spoke to themselves in the second person were more positive about working out by going for a jog or hitting the gym.
The power of self-talk in the second person
More studies have shown the positive impact of talking to yourself in the second person, including the research from 2019 titled, To me, to you: How you say things matters for endurance performance.
The study aimed to determine the impact of self-talk on performance using first or second-person pronouns.
A non-exercising population was studied to learn the effects of first-person vs second-person talk on a 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) cycling time-trial performance.
The conclusion of the study published in the National Library of Medicine states: “A paired t-test revealed that second-person self-talk generated significantly faster time-trial performance than first-person self-talk.”
Richard Wiseman is a professor of public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. He holds a bachelor’s degree from University College London and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.
He spent several years of his life in psychological research and has given keynote addresses to The Royal Society, Swiss Economic Forum, and Google among others.
He is also a popular content creator on YouTube having founded channels such as Quirkology and In59Seconds.
