Will HumphreysVirtual Assistant & Healthcare Recruiting Expert

Don’t think of a PURPLE ELEPHANT

Name: Don’t think of a PURPLE ELEPHANT
Uploaded: 2026-02-16T19:32:22+00:00
Duration: 1 min 20 s
Channel: Will Humphreys
Description: In this motivational coaching segment, the speaker emphasizes the importance of becoming aware of the language we use about ourselves and our goals. He…

16 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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1:20

In this motivational coaching segment, the speaker emphasizes the importance of becoming aware of the language we use about ourselves and our goals. He explains that most people operate with an "away‑from" motivation style, focusing on what they want to avoid (e.g., headaches, bloating, hair loss). He points out that the subconscious does not register negative phrasing; the classic "don’t think of a purple elephant" example shows that telling the mind not to think of something actually makes it appear. Consequently, repeatedly using negative language reinforces the very outcomes we wish to avoid. The speaker urges listeners to reframe their self‑talk toward positive, desired outcomes, turning away‑from statements into toward‑focused goals that the subconscious can process constructively.

Chapters

Everybody has a motivation strategy, and this is really fascinating. This is also a tidbit that people can walk away from and implement into their lives, like today after listening to this episode. But one of the first things is to bring incredible awareness to the language that you're using about yourself and about your life. So, for example, if I say to somebody, thank you so much for scheduling this appointment, what are your biggest goals? What would you love to get out of our time together? And they say things like, oh, I don't want to have headaches. I don't want to be bloated. I don't want to whatever it is, I don't want my hair to be falling out. So if you listen to that language, all of that language is what we call away from motivated. They're away from motivated. There's a pain point that they're trying to get away from. Well, the subconscious doesn't register the negative. So if I ask you, will, do not think of a purple elephant, you're immediately thinking of a purple elephant. It's just many, many purple elephants. Right. The subconscious doesn't process the negative. And so if that's the language we're constantly sending to our subconscious, that we don't want headaches or to be bloated or to be in pain or whatever it is we're calling more of that.