Under the category of “Buoyancy” in Pink’s book, To Sell is Human, one of his main elements is interrogative self-talk. The idea of self-talk has been a motivation tactic for years to come. Motivational speakers, such as Tony Robbins or Norman Vincent Peale, have made their living by supporting declarative self-talk. This is all about the power of positive thinking. Telling yourself “you can do it”. Our society is filled with stories such as these when individuals overcome obstacles by willing themselves to do it. But, interrogative self-talk is different. Instead of telling yourself what you can do, ask can I achieve this goal? What steps do I need to take to do this? These questions set us up to succeed because it gives us a real problem to solve and a solution to seek.
Next time you set a goal, try interrogative self-talk. Don’t tell yourself you can do it, but ask how will you achieve this goal.
testacr22
Great point. I think many salesman go into conversation with a bad attitude and no game plan. This could be very helpful
I agree in principle with interrogative self-talk, but sometimes I think people need to boost their self-confidence rather than identifying a problem and a solution. It can be a matter of nerves, not a lack of direction in how to approach a situation.
Pink’s chapter on Buoyancy was one of my favorite so far. It’s easy for me to be purely positive and not really think about what I can do better or ask questions about what has been working so far. The concept of interrogative self-talk was a somewhat new concept to me and one that I definitely plan on putting into practice.
This is a really great principle, and one which is slightly counter-intuitive, but works remarkably well! This isn’t something I had ever considered, and I really enjoyed learning about this, and look forward to trying to apply this to my life when I need to get pumped up! Thanks Bri!