Before you can even get started with your business venture, and think about cash flow problems and taxes, you will need to take care of something that is characterised as an inside job. No matter what you do for your business to succeed, your ride is not plain sailing if your self talk is negative.

How do you see yourself? Are you an award-winning entrepreneur or just someone who could not get a job and has to make a living being self-employed? Do you have a mission statement for your company or does your company just exist in order to pay the bills so that you can get by?

You might wonder what the difference is and why anybody would care. And the answer is your attitude shows. Yesterday’s thoughts are today’s reality. It matters a great deal how you see yourself or what you say to yourself.

Seeing yourself in a negative light will keep you there. Try to see yourself in a different light first and look at the results. Be particularly interested in the sudden changes you can observe happening. Start seeing yourself as a person whom you would like to be and you will become that person.

What kind of self talk do you practise? Is the big F-word failure to you while your entrepreneurial colleagues see it as feedback? The words you use matter a great deal. You are 100% responsible for your life, including success and failure, so use words that will empower and encourage you to move forward instead of being stuck in something you cannot change. No one will ever know the words you use when you are talking to yourself but everybody will see the results. And the first person to notice the difference in your everyday life is you. Wake up to a new you!

Question 1: How would you describe yourself at the moment?

Question 2: What characteristics do you value most?

Question 3: What do you have to do in order to create or develop one of the characteristics you value?