Work from Anywhere: The HBR Guides Collection (5 Books)

CHAPTER 28

Pronouns Matter When Psyching Yourself Up

by Ozlem Ayduk and Ethan Kross

Some people seem to have an amazing ability to stay rational no matter what. They efficiently make good, clear decisions, while the rest of us waste energy doing things like panicking about upcoming tasks, ruminating pointlessly, or refusing to move on from our failures. Those cool-headed rationalists also seem adept at getting ahead, while we’re mired in our all-too-human, biased habits of thinking. Could we ever become like them? The gulf between the two types of people seems vast and unbridgeable.

But it’s not. It can be crossed, via a simple linguistic shift.

“You.” Or “he.” Or “she.” Or even via your own name.

It’s a matter of how you talk when you silently ...