How Self-Talk Can Help Accomplish Goals

A new study sheds light on the best way to "self talk" your way through a task.

TIME reported on the study, published in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, showing that self-talk works best when you think about the goal, and then actually enact the goal, and then reflect on how you accomplished the goal.

The study was conducted in fifth- and sixth-grade students who were learning how to throw darts in a PE class.

Self-talking aloud can have benefits, too. A recent study in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that talking to yourself as you search for something could actually help you to find that item faster.

In that study, researchers found that participants who repeated an item name aloud were able to find it more quickly than those who didn't.

And the Daily Mail reported in 2010 on a study from University of Toronto researchers, showing that talking to yourself could actually improve self-control and decrease impulsivity.

Do you regularly talk to yourself, either aloud or in just in your head? How do you think it helps you as you carry out daily tasks? Tell us in the comments!