Earlier this year, we talked about the power of words in life and leadership, and how
the way you speak and the words you use constantly shape your views of life and your experiences.
Well, after that note, I ended up having interesting conversations about the topic with a few of my clients, who are the highest of leaders in their businesses.
More specifically, we talked about the power of words in context of affirmations and manifestation.
Manifestation, in this context, is a process of something invisible or intangible coming to fruition, turning it consciously into visible, tangible form.
Although this is what I often support my clients in – turning a mind-created idea into reality, where there are steps included, there’s been a new element to it lately.
One which is more about observing the process of ideas coming to fruition without us needing to figure out how it exactly is going to happen. More like allowing it all to present itself in a natural flow and order. Which is really intriguing.
Anyway.
In those conversations, my clients revealed that as accomplished leaders as they are, they still find themselves in situations where they don’t speak to themselves in the kind, compassionate, and forwarding manner that they do speak to others.
They said that it still doesn’t come naturally to them to champion and encourage themselves in certain situations.
Even though it’s what they’d like to receive.
Might this be true to you, too?
If yes, and you’re anything like my clients, you’re not looking for a pump-up for motivation or enthusiasm. That hyped up feeling.
Rather, you just want a reminder of your truth and get back centered into your own natural energy.
And that is a different thing entirely from motivation.
Motivation moves you from the outside in. It pumps something up that wasn’t there, or had temporarily deflated. It works in short bursts and requires renewal.
What you’re looking for moves from the inside out. It doesn’t add anything new, it returns you to what was already there before the noise arrived. Before the comparison. Before the moment you started speaking to yourself in a way you would never speak to someone you care about.
This is what the right words can do, when they’re chosen not to perform or to convince, but to remind.
The leaders I work with are accomplished, clear-sighted, and generous in how they see and support others. And yet, in the moments that matter most (right before they need to show up fully, right before a strategic visibility moment), the internal voice can become the harshest voice in the room. I don’t mean dramatically. More like quietly. Followed by a subtle tightening and a small withdrawal from their own center.
What brings them back is never a pep talk. It’s precision. A few words that name what’s true — about who they are, what they’ve built, what they’re actually capable of — spoken in a tone that matches the steadiness they’re trying to return to.
That’s the practice. Not affirmations as performance. Affirmations as return.
The words you choose to speak to yourself in those moments are not small. They are either pulling you further from your own center or bringing you back to it. They are either reinforcing the departure or interrupting it.
Choose them accordingly.
With my all,
Paula
xx