Article ~
"Inside you, there's a champion and a loser.
There's an angel and a devil. There's a hero and a villain.
The question is, which one is going to win today?"
~ Blair Singer
Little Voice Battles
by Barb
Langlois
What does your Little Voice say to you? Is it encouraging you to do those things you really want to do or is it telling you, you’re not good enough, not smart enough or not _______ (fill in the blank) enough?
Just like yours, my Little Voice yaks at me all the time. This past October, I was at a 5-day training course in Los Angeles and in a serendipitous (that’s my all-time favourite word) fashion, I ran into one of my speaking mentors, Darren LaCroix. He is the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking. One morning, Darren and I went for breakfast and he mentioned he was putting on a 2-day “Humour Speaking” boot camp in Las Vegas, in November. I had attended this event in 2008. Because we were learning all kinds of training tools and techniques at this LA training course, Darren asked me to assist him at the boot camp (i.e. give him feedback on processes and techniques that he was or wasn’t using, and at the same time I would be learning from him).
Now, is this an opportunity you would jump at – working with a World Champion, learning from his stories, Vegas – in November?? Yes? NO! Not me! Nope. My Little Voice said, “He’s just kidding. You’re not good enough to assist a world champion. What could you offer anyway?”
As my Little Voice took over my brain, I didn’t respond to Darren – I was too busy listening to all my internal chatter. He kept talking and soon the conversation went to other things. My Little Voice started up again, “You missed your chance. You could have worked with a World Champ! I can’t believe you didn’t jump at the offer!” It was right at that time Darren said, “So if you choose to come...” and I jumped in and said, “Of course I’ll come. The offer is fantastic!”
Now, you would think that would be the end of it. Nooooo, not for me. My Little Voice works 24/7 – never takes a holiday nor has a sick day. She even works overtime without any request from me. By the way, how active is your Little Voice? If you’re thinking, “I don’t have a Little Voice,” that’s exactly the voice I’m referring to.
The workshop (as I mentioned Darren calls it a boot camp, but that has too much of a military ring to it, for me) was booked for Nov 21/22 which was about 5 weeks away, after I returned from LA. I didn’t think too much about the workshop initially because I had other things to focus on, but as the time came closer, Little Voice revved up into high gear. When does your Little Voice rev up?
She started with, “What a waste of time. He doesn’t really want you to be there. He sure doesn’t need you. He’s a World Champ.” Little Voice went on and on until I finally re-contacted Darren and asked him what exactly I would be doing. That was enough to silence her until she thought of something else to get going on.
You see all of our Little Voices really start yakking when we are about to step out of our comfort zone. My Little Voice is no different than yours. All Little Voices want is to keep us in a place of comfort, keep us safe and secure. They really start yakking when we are about to do something that pushes our boundaries and forces us to grow, in some way.
You have two choices when it comes to mastering your Little Voice. One, listen to it. The result will be stagnation, disappointment in self, jealousy of others, minimal life energy and you get the gist. Two, learn to master your Little Voice. Your first step is to realize Little Voice chatter will always be focused on keeping you safe and right where you are. Realize that when you’re thinking about doing something you haven’t done before, Little Voice will be along for the ride: “This is a bad thing!” or “You could get hurt.” How about “You don’t really want that position anyway!”
We all have this battle between our ears. It’s the biggest and longest battle we face in our entire lives – it never actually ends but we can get control. I encourage you to master your Little Voice - find the champion, angel and hero that resides within you.
By the way, I went to Vegas, learned a lot, had a great time and had control of my Little Voice (at least for the week-end)!
Helping You Step Out of the Ordinary!
Barb Langlois RN BSN MSN
Speaker and Seminar Leader
(1) 604.819.1888
www.BarbLanglois.com
e-Mail me at: barb@barblanglois.com
P.S.
An excellent resource is “Little Voice Mastery – How to Win the War Between Your Ears in 30 Seconds or Less” by Blair Singer
P.S.S.
Just a reminder of my free “Me First – Guilt Free” workshops occurring in January 2010. The Chilliwack workshop will be on Tuesday, January 19 at the Chilliwack Leisure Center and the Vancouver workshop will be on Tuesday, January 26 at St. James Community Center. If you are interested in attending, please send me an email indicating either Chilliwack or Vancouver, so I can keep track of numbers.
P.S.S.S.
I’ve produced my first CD! It’s called “Ordinary People Doing ExtraOrdinary Things – Interviews with Barb Langlois.” It’s a 2-CD Set and includes 4 interviews: Darren LaCroix, the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking; Christina Smith, international model turned pilot; Teresa de Grosbois, best-selling author, speaker and relationship expert; and Charles Horton, self-made multi-millionaire and master firewalking instructor (one of only 5 in the world). The interviews include their stories, challenges, obstacles, best advice they ever received, strategies to help you begin moving toward an ExtraOrdinary life, plus so much more. This is an incredible resource to begin silencing your own Little Voice. The CD sells for $12.95 (taxes included) and will soon be available on my website. If you want it sooner, just contact me.
One More P.S.S.S.S. (I promise!)
I was just published in “Nursing Management” November 2009. The article is titled “Break Through Your Fears.” Go to: www.NursingManagement.com. My Little Voice managed to mutter “I guess that’s a good thing . . .”
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