Talk the Talk
Scheduled Talk: Do you schedule talks with your partner, your buddy or your significant other? Our work & personal lives are filled with many scheduled events, but are we creating space on our calendar to talk to our loved-ones about topics such as finances, travel, health concerns, stress, parents, children, home life, careers, etc. A weekly ‘business meeting’ with your loved-one is a good place to start. Make your relationship a priority by creating a short agenda with your loved-one & put yourselves on your calendar.
Talk-n-Listen: Relationships require two things. Time to talk & time to listen. Understanding what you want & why is just as important as understanding what the other person wants & why. Being prepared to talk about a topic is better than surprising a loved-one with a sensitive topic. And remember that not every topic can be discussed as a ‘one-and-done’. Sometimes, we all need time to think about what was said.
Talking Cents: Who are your financial buddies? Who do you talk to about your financial goals, your investments, your expenses & your income? Like any major life topic, trusted family & friends can be a resource for learning & sharing financial strategies. Prepare for such talks by reading & learning about your own financial situation and be prepared to read & learn about any advice you receive before taking action. Everyone has a different financial mindset & different financial goals. So, make sure that these conversations make ‘sense’ to you.
Young Talk: You can yell at your kids or you can talk to your kids. Scaring your kids into doing something can get them to do what you want, but it may cause them to give up part of themselves in order to give you what you want. Decide how you want your kids to think & to interact with others. How do you want them to respond to fear from you & from the world around them? Then, use language that mirrors the way you want them to talk to you & to other people in their lives. Know that all your words & tones help your children to build self-confidence, critical thinking & creativity.
Self-Talk: What do you say to yourself? What mind-chatter do you hear? Are you in charge of the thoughts in your head? What do you want to hear inside your head? Deciding what you think of yourself is a choice. Your point of view can change, but you have to actively work at changing it. If you don’t actively improve your thoughts, your mind will be running on automatic. Select one common negative topic that pops into your head & use that topic as a trigger for taking a positive action to create a new way of thinking. (Example: “I’m not a good musician.” triggers… “I’m learning new ways to practice my instrument.”). To practice this skill, start with small simple topics & slowly build the skills needed to take on larger & more complex topics.