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Here’s the pink elephant in the room: I talk to myself . . . out loud . . . everyday . . . all the time. I have full-on conversations and sometimes I ask and answer my own questions as if I’m speaking for two different people. Weird? I’ll let you be the judge. Socially acceptable? Nope. Effective as a tool for productivity and emotional sanity? Most certainly, yes.

I can’t remember when I first began talking to myself. I can only assume this personality trait evolved as a coping mechanism for some childhood trauma, of which I have no memory. I talk to myself whenever I’m alone: in the car, the shower, at work, while walking my dog, running, and any other situation in which I feel that know one else will notice.

The reality is that I prefer talking to myself over most people. Am I just that arrogant? Probably. But, I will say that the benefits seem to far outweigh the alternative of keeping my thoughts in my head or simply on paper. The audibility of my mind brings out more genius than you would ever imagine.

The Science

According to a poll by Nottingham Trent University, research subjects felt that is was legitimate to audibly communicate with others, but not with themselves. However, when asked to try a little self-talk, those same subjects noticeably decreased their own stress levels.

Dr. Adam Winsler of George Mason University deduced that kindergarten kids who talk to themselves are more confident, participating actively during class compared to their more introverted peers. By chatting with themselves, they are able to put their problems into perspective and reflect upon their past actions. Dr. Adam says “private speech” was essential in childhood development and should not be censured, but rather heartily embraced and encouraged.

- HealthMad.com

3 Strategic Benefits of Talking to Yourself

1. Audible Thoughts are Different Than Other Thoughts

When you allow yourself to literally speak your mind you will most likely tap into a genius that you would otherwise never have access to. It’s hard to put a number on it, but I would argue that I have considerably more moments of brilliance during a rant than during a writing frenzy. I believe that some of the smartest things I’ve ever come up with, or the best ideas I’ve ever had, came as a result of allowing myself to speak one-on-one with me.

If this blog post is inspiring you, just click on the links to the left or at the bottom of the post and share it with someone who you think would find it valuable as well. I’d appreciate it and I think he or she would as well.

2. It’s Therapeutic

Much like journaling or writing in a diary helps to get your inner thoughts out of you head, speaking out loud lets your emotions fly freely. Open up. Scream, yell, cry, laugh, and embrace your emotional journey. The mind is a complicated mess of trillions of neurons firing in an infinite number of directions at any given moment. That’s a lot of potential traffic jams. Give yourself the freedom to express your innermost thoughts in every way possible. This is especially effective if you are typically a reserved, shy, or introverted person.

3. Problem Solving Skills Increase Dramatically

In college, the capstone project for my Theatre degree was to direct a play. I had been in rehearsal for weeks and found myself with a dull performance. I decided to spice things up and make my actors perform the entire play as normal, expect for one small change. Every thirty seconds they had to spontaneously alter their character’s speech pattern – not their dialogue or blocking – just their accent. This one small change gave their characters completely new personalities, new movements, new interactions, and a completely new perspective on what they thought they knew. After an hour of this we ran the show one more time as “normal.” Needless to say, what transpired was anything but normal. The energy, personality, and character development was oozing out of them. The entire show changed in just sixty minutes of vulnerability.

Were the actors talking to themselves? Sort of. What they did was alter what came out of their mouth. They didn’t hold back. They let themselves experiment with all new possibilities, even the ones that seemed too outlandish to ever make any sense. The end result was nothing short of phenomenal.

Am I advocating that everyone begin talking to themselves like the loonies at psych wards? Yes. Don’t get me wrong, I respect crazy people. Just check out Apple’s famous commercial and you’ll see what I mean.

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The Clueless Graduate,

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