Every day we hear little lies within our minds. We often tell ourselves that we’re not good enough, we don’t have the money, or that no one cares about us.

You may not realize this. But those words are lies!

These lies are what hold us back as we progress in our leadership. We tell ourselves these things so we’ll have excuses as to why we’re not getting things done or leading better.

There’s some bad news and then there’s some good news. Let’s go over the bad news first.

The Bad News

I like to start with bad news because it shows us what the problem is. The bad news is that we talk down to ourselves. A LOT! More than we deserve.

We’re able to shame ourselves or sell ourselves short. Our mind plays the game either due to confidence issues or because we fear the success and responsibility that will come as we take bigger and bolder steps.

When we use negative self-talk, our effectiveness begins to decrease. We second guess our decisions, find reasons that our newest venture won’t work, or why people won’t follow us.

That’s the bad news. Sounds pretty bleak, huh?

Don’t worry faithful reader! There’s also good news. Great news, in fact.

The Good (Great) News

Whew, we got the bad news out of the way. But that’s good. Now we’re able to get to the good, or great, news.

The good news is that we can change the way we talk to ourselves and rid our minds of the lies we’re telling ourselves.

We can replace lies with truth that will help us succeed and thrive. Now that’s good news, right?

Keep track of your successes: An easy lie that gets inside of our heads is that we don’t have any success in what we’re doing. Whether or not that’s true depends on how long you’ve been doing what you’re attempting.

However, that doesn’t really matter. You can look back on past success and see that you’ve accomplished tasks you had never attempted before. So why should this be any different?

Allow yourself to reflect on the past and see how far you’ve come. You’ll see you’re successful in more ways than you realize.

Get rid of negative friends: This may seem harsh but it’s true. Negative friends have a way to bring us down and their negative words can create strongholds in our minds that help create the lies we believe.

Instead, find friends who will uplift you and encourage your giftings. Before you know it, you can have a new mindset and the lies will come at you less and less.

Stop reading your own reviews: You might not have a book or an open forum where people criticize what you’ve done. But you may walk into places and hear people talking negatively about something you’ve done.

Stop going to those places. Stop visiting the review page. Stop letting other people dictate your self-worth.

One of the craziest things about our minds is that we can see 1000 positive reviews/thank yous/letters and they won’t mean a thing when we hear one negative word spoken against us.

Find a way to block out the negativity coming at you. You’ll be better off for it.

As you begin to shift your mindset and environment, you’ll discover that the lies will begin to dissipate. I can’t guarantee you that they’ll be gone. As a matter of fact, they’ll still try to peak their head in time and again.

Instead, you’ll have realized that you can control your way of thinking and listen to the lies less and less.

Question: What do you do to combat the lies in your head? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

This is a guest post by Joseph Lalonde. He is a youth leader at Oak Crest Church of God and leadership blogger at JMLalonde.com. Joseph shares leadership tools and encourages you to become a better leader. Connect with him on Twitter or at his blog.