Are You Your Own Bully? explores the idea that we may bully ourselves throughout the workday with negative self-talk and imagery:

The things that we tell to ourselves can be much meaner and far more hurtful than anything anyone else would ever tell us.

I’m talking about self-talk – specifically, negative self-talk.

Self-talk refers to the thoughts and attitudes that you have about yourself. It is expressed primarily in thought form. Negative self-talk can be a form of bullying yourself. Like external bullying, it’s unfair and it’s usually not true.

Paying attention to self-talk is important because what you tell yourself makes a difference in your professional success. Too much negative self-talk can sabotage your career before it even gets a real start. The damage we do to ourselves is as real as the damage that any external bully could do.