You can do it! That's a better way to motivate   yourself than saying "I can do it, " according to a new study that shows giving yourself advice and encouragement in the second-person before an upcoming task may actually improve your performance more than first-person self-talk. "People are used to receiving and giving advice in the second-person, and they seem to prefer using the second-person pronoun to encourage themselves," says study co-author, Dr. Sanda Dolcos, a researcher at the University of Illinois. "Self-advice expressed using 'You' probably enables people to have a broader perspective , consider how others might view the event, and reproduce the kind of encouragements previously received from others." For the study, Dr. Dolcos and her colleague, Dr. Dolores, asked 143 undergraduate students to write down advice to themselves before completing a series of puzzles. Half of the students were asked to use the first-person, while the others wrote in the second-person. What did the researchers find? The students who wrote in the second-person managed to complete more puzzles and appeared to have a more positive attitude. The researchers also asked the students to write down advice to themselves in relation to exercising more often in the next two weeks. Those who wrote in the second-person, again, reported a more positive attitude toward the task and even planned to do more exercise than the students who referred to themselves in the first-person. "We were not surprised and had previous research showing that people _ use 'You' in situations that require high levels of self-control and action," Dolcos said. But why did the researchers ask students to write down their self-talk instead of saying it out loud? " Writing as a tool of conversing with oneself has long been used as a therapeutical approach," Dolcos explained. "However, further research is needed to determine which form of self-advice, written or spoken, is more beneficial." How did the students perform in the experiment?
The ones who wrote in the first-person had a better attitude. The ones who talked to themselves completed the most puzzles. The ones who encouraged themselves by writing in the second-person were better. The ones who encouraged themselves in the first-person were more positive than others.