Check out these tips to see how you can tip the balance back in your favor.

1. Pause before you speak

This is probably the biggest cause of feeling trivial. Opening your mouth before your brain has had a chance to work out what to say. In which case you end up saying the first thing that comes into your head, which is usually not the most intelligent option you can offer.

A brief pause gives you time to gather your thoughts. A fraction of a second could be all that you need to make the difference between uttering something vaguely versus something that makes you want a hole to open in the ground and swallow you up.

2. Expand your vocabulary

Just learn a few extra common words to scatter in your conversations so that you're not relying on the handful of words that you've used before.

3. Learn to actively listen

Listening is an art that few really take the time and effort to learn. Make it a habit to actually listen to what other people are saying rather than thinking about what you're about to say next. You'll pick up on nuances that other people regularly miss and will be able to make a better contribution to the conversation rather than parroting out whatever it is that comes into your mind as a response whether it's relevant or not.

4. Stop calling yourself trivial

Chances are that you're your own biggest enemy here. That nagging voice in the back of your head will likely call you trivial quite often. It probably doesn't mince its words either - the voices in our heads speak to us in a tone that we wouldn't tolerate in the real world. So when you find yourself calling you trivial, catch that voice and nip it in the bud. You probably won't catch it every time at first but this is a war of attrition and the less often you call yourself trivial, the less of a self-fulfilling prophecy it will turn out to be.

5. Don't believe that you're trivial

This can be a hard one to implement, especially if all the current evidence is pointing against you. If you're not careful, you'll believe that you really are trivial near enough all the time. Work on your mind to turn this idea around. Check the words you use to describe yourself and twist those back into a more positive mode. Catch yourself being or feeling trivial and rephrase those moments so that you're not feeling as trivial as often.