On one hand, anyone who’s given a presentation or struggled through a math problem knows the benefits of vocally pumping themselves up in the bathroom mirror, or cursing their way through the equation. On the other, if anyone witnessed you muttering your way through your bills, alone at the kitchen table, they’d quickly assume you to be the kind of insane person who mumbles nonsense on the bus while holding grocery bags stuffed with other grocery bags.
Why do we privately consider the former a necessary step in finding solutions, but associate public self-talk with having a mental disorder?
According to Quinn Myers, “First and foremost, more adults verbalize their thoughts than you think — we just start to hide it as we age because of the associations with mental instability that we see in pop-culture.”
“External self-talk is relatively common, although can be embarrassing when someone catches you talking out loud to yourself,” says A.J. Marsden, assistant professor of human services and psychology at Beacon College. “In general, people associate self-talk with schizophrenia, because individuals with this mental disorder are often depicted as unstable and seen talking with themselves in movies and television.”
So what has all this to do with financial planning or investing?
Everything. It is all about making good decisions. We all know you have so much choice and it can be hard to know whether you are making a good financial decision or not. At the time of making your decision, when you are in the moment, it feels right. If it felt wrong, you wouldn’t make it. It, therefore, helps to vocalise your thinking. It helps even more if you vocalise your thoughts to someone else. Now it gets tough. If you are going to vocalise your thoughts to someone else, you had better be sure they are the right person. Someone who will not take advantage of your vulnerability. How do you find someone like that? Mostly it’s luck.
If you talk to wealth managers, IFAs, fund managers, private bankers…most have a separate agenda. They are in business often to sell investments. Of course, there can be great advice along the way, but it can come with a bias. But if you understand the bias, you’ll have better luck in choosing someone to talk to and verbalise your thoughts, ideas, and emotions,…and increase the chances enormously of making great financial decisions.
Want more thoughts? Morgan Statt alludes to an exercise computer programmers regularly employ known as “rubber duck debugging.” “When trying to work through a difficult code,” she says, “they’ll vocally explain the problem they’re having to a rubber duck on their desk. By explaining the code in detail, the programmers often find a way to work through whatever issue they were struggling with in the first place, reiterating the belief that auditory expression is beneficial overall.”
If you still think of it as a trait of the mentally imbalanced, however, consider this: A study of 126 undergraduates published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science argues that self-talk is a sign of high emotional intelligence. So don’t feel bad for any weird looks you might get on the bus after verbally running through your grocery list 10 times — little do they know you’re an emotionally-superior person, practicing a scientifically proven method of memorization.
Of course, come and talk to us. Find out more about bias to improve your chances of making great financial decisions.