Shad Helmstetter

What to Say When You Talk to Your Self came out in 1986 and argued that the running commentary in a person's head is largely programmed by repetition, and can be reprogrammed the same way.

The method is scripted self-talk, spoken aloud or recorded and played back, which sounds ridiculous to most first-time readers and is the entire proposal.

Helmstetter draws on behavioural conditioning rather than on anything mystical, and the book predates most of the modern positive psychology industry. The neuroscience claims are of their era and have not been updated.