For the next 7-days, we will embark on a mini-challenge with daily prompts to help us start to speak about ourselves in a way that reflects how great we are! Okay, it may take a bit longer than 1-seven day challenge to go into work and tell folks how awesome you are, but this mini-challenge will help get you started so that when you look at the mirror you can start to teach yourself to look for the good and when you are given a compliment, you can learn to say, “thank you, I feel the same way.”

If you were asked to talk about your best friend, likely you wouldn’t hesitate to tell your audience that she is witty, beautiful, funny, has the best hair that she can easily french braid. You would go into details about how she is a badass boss babe, and she volunteers her extra time at a shelter. You may even talk about how she makes a killer homemade peanut butter pie and is the smartest woman you know.

Now, if we ask you to talk about yourself. It may be a bit harder…you might list how you are a mom or where you work, maybe a hobby or two, but likely you wouldn’t go into details about how your legs look super great after spending the summer hiking on the weekends and you would rather die than to say how sexy you think you look in your red dress. You wouldn’t talk about how you worked yourself up in successive promotions from file clerk to department leader and director.

We have been taught to see the beauty and the positive traits in others, but likely when we are handed a mirror and asked to see the beauty reflecting back to us, we have difficulty. We may instead choose to notice the wrinkles around our lips or look down and see nothing but a big round tummy and thighs that we can’t get into our favorite jeans anymore. We shroud our accomplishments in humility and are afraid to be labeled as vain, prideful, stuck-up, conceited, full of ourselves.

Enter the 7-day positive self-talk challenge. 

Ready? Let’s go! To participate share on your social, on the designated daily post on the Facebook group page, respond to the daily text, or do all of the above.

Day 1: Share 3 things about your body that you love.

I want you to be super detailed. So instead of – “I love my hair, my smile, my legs.”  Use details that paint a picture, i.e., “I love my hair because it is versatile and has a mind of its own, but it compliments my face shape. I love my smile because it shows people how much joy they bring to my day. I love my legs because they are powerful and help carry me for miles and miles.”

Day 2: Use 5 positive adjectives to describe your personality.

Not sure where to start? Make it fun. Maybe think of adjectives that correspond with the first letter of your first name. Creating a bit of alliteration or if you are still at a loss, use this A-Z adjective list>>

For extra credit on Day 2, ask your best friend, loved one, significant other, or children how they would describe your personality and compare it against your list. Sometimes when working on developing a strong internal self-talk dialogue it helps to hear how others see us.

Day 3: Finish this sentence, “I am worthy of good things because…” .

While knowing that we are worthy of good things without having to qualify “why” is enough, it helps to create a list of why we deserve good things. By “good things”, I mean, the promotion we have been working toward. The raise that we have been afraid to ask for. Re-enrolling in a college program that aligns with our current passion. The gym membership. The private coach/personal trainer/yoga retreat. The list goes on, but suffice to say if you want something that is good for you, but you deny yourself of it. It’s time to prioritize your time, your money, your wants, and your needs. And, we will start that by thinking of what we truly want and “why” we deserve to bump up our “good things” to the top of the list.

Day 4: Name your inner mean girl and practice putting her in time out. 

Yep, we all have her. The inner mean girl that lives within. The one that comes out to prey on your preconceived limitations, weaknesses, and flaws. You know how you feel awesome one moment, you feel like you look great in your dress, you have a particularly good hair day, but on the drive to your appointment or lunch meeting, you start to hear a voice in your head, that says, “Who do you think you are? You aren’t 20 anymore, you can’t wear that dress. Your hairstyle looked great 20 years ago, but who are you trying to kid. You can’t possibly compete with your colleagues. They are so much smarter than you.” It’s time to shut that b!tch down. Call her by her mean girl name and put her in time out. She doesn’t pay rent to live in your brain, so it’s time to evict her once and for all. Throughout the day, if you have any self-limiting thoughts or negative chatter pop up, say out loud, “[Insert your mean girl’s name], you gotta go, I don’t have time for you.”

Day 5: Finish this sentence, “I feel most beautiful when…”. 

Do you love how you feel after getting your hair blown out? Do you feel you are most beautiful after a good, long run? Do you feel “extra” when you break out the heels and the skinny jeans? Okay, perfect. Recognize when you feel at your best and most beautiful and then make it happen. This is not a mistake that I programmed this for day 5. If you feel most beautiful after a long bubble bath and dolling yourself up, then make it a date night. If you feel your best after a long workout, schedule it for today. Don’t underestimate employing all of your senses, to root yourself in the “Most beautiful” feeling. Maybe you love the sumptuous feel of your silk top or how you regularly use a fragrance for special evenings out. Don’t wait for “special occasions” to feel beautiful. Make it happen today!

Day 6: Write a love letter to yourself, in the second person. 

Remember how when you first fell in love with someone you may have written them a long love letter. You listed all of the reasons why you loved being with them and how comfortable you felt. Why it was exhilarating to be out with them or how gorgeous they were. Or maybe you gushed about the details of your first kiss or date. Okay, get ready to be lovey-dovey again, but this time with yourself. It may feel weird, to write in a full love letter in the first person, so make it easier on yourself and write it to in the second person. However, do write and as the other daily challenges, make it detailed. Don’t be stingy with your words, this is not a time to break out your recipe card for humble pie. I want you to truly let yourself know that you are an extraordinary person and why you love YOU!

Day 7: Donate 3-5 items in your closet that no longer fit. 

Come on ladies, don’t pretend that I don’t know that in that closet or in your drawers lives multiple sizes of jeans or dresses. It’s time to say goodbye. Do you have your “fat pants” still, just in case? Let them go. Are you holding onto your “skinny jeans” from a decade ago as a reminder of what size you once were and aim to be again? Let them go. Let’s practice our very best Frozen anthem song, and “Let it go.” Maybe you even want to play my favorite rendition of the song >>

Again, this builds on you deserve good things and keeping around old clothing items from an old version of yourself, does not serve you.

Can’t wait to tackle this week with you all! If you are still stuck for some inspiration as you go through your week, find it here in this Confident and Positive playlist!