Who's Paying Your Inner Critic?
Posted on March 07, 2012 by Diane Rolston, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Have an inner critic that you would prefer to take off your payroll - not sure if you need to? Just think, "What is this costing me?"
The Inner Critic:
Inside of all of us is this voice: this ceaseless inner monologue we play inside our heads, sometimes over and over again.
Many times we hear the decision making voice:
“Don’t cheat on the test it’s wrong.” vs.
“You can cheat because it’s just this once.”
“Should we buy this house now?” vs. “Should we keep renting?”
There is also a time when we have the inner critic:
“You can’t do it.”
“You don’t look good in that.”
“You’re not good enough.”
Or we hear limiting beliefs:
“You can’t trust anyone.”
“This is what the world is like – live with it.”
These voices are supposed to save you from risk, but what they really do is prevent you from succeeding.
How is your relationship with your inner voice?
Is it positive or is it primarily negative?
Why not take control of this voice?
ImagineTerry Fox and the limiting belief he might have had to fight with so he didn’t stop his painful journey. What about the inner critic when Michael Jordan was cut from the basketball team in his sophomore year? They both succeeded in times of struggle.
You can also control this inner talk and use it positively.
1st Write down the negative inner talk.
Example: “You can’t speak in front of people.” This gives you the power to expose it. If you let it remain inside it could eat away at you.
2nd See what happened to prompt the inner voice .
Example: “I wasn’t prepared for my speech.” It might be the situation that is the problem and not the actual negative thought.
3rd Look at what it is and change it to a positive statement.
Example: “I can speak in front of people and even though I’m not prepared, I will learn from this experience.”
As a result of following these steps, I hope the next time you hear that little voice it won’t be there to stop you or make you doubt yourself, but instead it will be there to support you.
