In ancient Greece, Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?” “Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test.
It’s called the Three Filter Test.” “Three Filter Test?”
“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to test what you’re going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?” No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about It.” “All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.
Now let’s try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?” “No, on the contrary…” “So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him even though you’re not certain it’s true?” The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. “You may still pass though, because there is a third test – the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?” “No, not really.” “Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?”
There is an obvious great lesson in this story regarding what we choose to say about people to others. However, I think its just as powerful if we could apply it to ourselves. Throughout our day, we have endless “self talk”- those thoughts and comments we say about ourselves. Often they are negative or unproductive.
So my challenge to you is to rewire your brain. Before you choose to put yourself down, get frustrated or upset with yourself, etc think about what you are telling yourself. Only give yourself permission to complete the “self talk” if the comment is true (you may think it is but is it really true- would your family, teammates, coach agree?), useful (will it make you a better person, athlete, student, etc?), and is it good (why would you want to tell yourself something bad if it isn’t useful?).
Imagine how much more positive, happier, confident and successful you would be in you applied the Three Filter Test to yourself! Try it for a week and see if it doesn’t help!