It’s not often you benefit from something without a financial or emotional cost in this world but illeism may, perhaps, be one such exception.
Illeism – from the Latin ‘ille’ meaning he, that. The act of referring to yourself in the third rather than the first person.
It’s not a new trait, famous illeists from the past include Julius Caesar and Salvador Dali. We often hear or have heard prominent figures from the sporting and political worlds talking or writing about themselves in the third person or using their own name to describe their thoughts or actions.
It may initially feel egotistical, but research has shown that it can in fact help us to take a more distanced perspective. This not only allows us to be objective about our own behaviour/performance but also to overcome our biases and see things more clearly from the other’s viewpoint. For example, when our mind re-visits a discussion or disagreement we had earlier with a partner or colleague. It has been seen to promote a healthier attitude, improve decision making, allow us to perform better, as well as to be less critical of ourselves afterwards.
For those sceptical about emulating a figure they’d rather not be compared to, there has apparently been no research carried out to date to discover whether high profile users of illeism are doing it for egotistical reasons or to determine psychological distance from stressful situations. Our tip is to use it in your self-talk for the latter, we aren’t prescribing how to conduct media interviews!
The stress tip
The next time you find yourself ruminating over something that happened earlier in the day or need to motivate yourself to finish a physical or mental task, step back (metaphorically) and use a third person pronoun or your own name. It should provide you with kinder self-talk and may produce the explanation or result you were looking for.
Some articles and examples of using illeism
- A new trial of an ancient rhetoric trick finds it can make you wiser
- Silent third person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation
- The benefits of talking about yourself in the third person
Many other tips are available on our website – please have a browse to find some that work for you
Categories
Recent articles on our blog....
Do you seek or avoid conversations about grief at work?
For this year’s National Grief Awareness Week (2 – 8 December) we have reviewed and updated the section on grief within our mental health resources and consider why we may avoid conversations about grief at work.
Read More →Communication at work – be aware of the pitfalls of co-rumination
We offer 5 tips for helping to develop healthy interactions at work in order to increase wellbeing and avoid co-rumination.
Read More →Testimonials

Our purpose is to provide training and consultancy services to enhance resilience, health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Differentiation is one of the most strategic and tactical activities in which companies most constantly engage

It's natural to have questions about training and how it fits with your organisation. Our FAQs can help you find out more.

View case studies for some of the in-house training courses we have delivered to different types of organisations across the UK.