I’m home alone this week, and as a result…
…I end up talking to myself a lot.
Turns out, that’s actually very smart of me to do, from a productivity and focus standpoint.
There’s research showing that talking yourself through a process can actually boost your performance and reduce errors.
For instance, research by psychologist Ethan Kross (author of the book Chatter) found that using your own name when talking to yourself can increase your chances of success in challenging situations. It’s like you become your own coach in those moments. And actually, specifically talking to yourself in the second person (using “you” or your name) makes you more empathetic and helps you see more potential solutions for your problems.
Another study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that people who verbalized their search while looking for objects found them faster than those who stayed silent. So for example, saying “chair” out loud makes it easier for you to find a chair with your eyes, etc.
Obviously, tricks like this can be useful for all us wonderful agency professionals as well.
We’re juggling multiple projects, deadlines, and client demands all at once, daily. And for the managers and executives among us there are hairy leadership issues on top of that, too.
By talking ourselves through our daily work, we can better keep ourselves on track.
The tone of your self-talk is up to you, of course. Some days, it will be nice and gentle and encouraging. Other days… Well, there’s nothing quite like a swift kick in the pants from Me to Myself, isn’t there?
Try this out next time you're drafting that crucial pitch, getting your ClickUp tasks back in order, or helping address client issues.
On the other hand, if you’d rather have a real conversation partner to talk about your operations / project management / team productivity issues, you can always book an ops therapy call with our team at ZenPilot. We’ll help you see and address the gunk in your workflows that’s keeping your team from doing their best work.