CHALLENGING YOUR INNER CRITIC

Beth Hope is an Accredited Executive Confidence Coach. She also coaches in developing mindset and is MBTI Trained. She helps people to build confidence to improve resilience, balance, find fulfillment and to make fundamental behavioural changes in their lives. andhope.co.uk

That inner critic inside our head. Ugh. So loud. So negative. Tearing us down so easily. Making us feel unworthy, not good enough, making us stew over the tiniest mistakes. The worst part? We accept that voice as truth. How often have you let it be destructive to your confidence, your decisions, your work? How often have you heard that voice - and challenged it? ‘Our inner critic can be our own constructive criticism needed to grow and prove what we can achieve when we face ourselves and rework our mindset. Listen to it, challenge it, change it’.

How to positively tune in to it Step one - listen to your inner critic. Being aware of anything is the first step to changing it. Write down some of these criticisms and thoughts. What’s it saying? What does it want you to do? What key themes are there? Step two - visualise your inner critic. What’s their name? What do they look like? What tone of voice do they use? Once you have them firmly in your mind, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, then visualise sending them out of the room and then closing the door behind them. Next look back at your key themes of the criticisms. Write down the theme of what they said eg “Your work is never good enough” Then mark out two columns below: one to prove and one to disprove the statement. Fill both columns with factual evidence e.g. “I got a rating of Very Good in my last review” Really challenge that statement. Then looking at both columns, take the evidence into account, and rebalance and reframe the statement positively “Although I sometimes feel like my work is not perfect, it is well received and I will notice the great feedback I get” Do this every time your inner critic creeps in and eventually, it will be quieter. ‘Our inner critic can be our own constructive criticism needed to grow. Listen to it, challenge it, change it’.