How Negative Self-Talk Can Ruin Your Business Tuning into a gloomy inner voice? One entrepreneur shares how silencing negative self-chatter helped him turn failures into successes.

George Mumford knows the secret to helping NBA athletes to play their best. He's worked with scores of all-stars, including Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, and the late Kobe Bryant. His secret? Mumford told ABC News that a key part of his job is changing their inner dialogue from negative to positive. Why?

Because that little voice in your head not only affects how you feel, it directly impacts your performance. For professional athletes, getting negative self-talk under wraps can lead to a championship victory (or in Jordan's case, six championship victories). For entrepreneurs, cultivating positive thinking can directly impact your bottom line.

As CEO of my company Jotform, the past couple of years have been exceptionally challenging. But during these difficult times, I believe that positive thinking is more critical than ever. Luckily, it's possible to control the narrative in our heads—not necessarily to stop it, but to reign it in when it becomes too pessimistic.