Nothing holds you back more than your own insecurities. Do you find yourself dwelling on negative thoughts about your self, repeatedly putting yourself down, criticising yourself, comparing yourself to other people you think are perfect? When you make a mistake, do you think it’s absolutely awful, that anyone else would have done a better job, and it’s an example of some permanent flaws you have?
If so, then like many people, you are often your own worst enemy, negating everything you do and blowing things up as if your mistakes are the worst that anyone can imagine. This is due to the self critical voice that defeats you before you start, robs you of any credit for anything that you do, and makes you afraid of trying anything because you fear the loathing and regret that will follow.
So what are some techniques you can use to defeat this self critical voice, so that you can feel better about being a real human being:
1) Add a positive self message to an image- put it on your phone, laptop, bathroom mirror and message board.
2) Look in the mirror- smile and compliment your self on one quality or trait you like.
3) Remind yourself- no one can do everything but everyone can do something.
4) Send yourself a loving text- keep it and re-read it often.
5) Keep a self praise journal- each time you feel pleased by something you have done or said jot it down, make a voice memo on your phone.
6) Recognise where your voices come from- in a lot of cases the voices are expressing attitudes that were directed towards us as children.
This inner critical voice plays different roles in different people’s lives. For some they do keep them on track but for a majority of us, they stop us from even starting. What does your inner voice do for you.
Whatever your inner voice does for you, I always start with identifying whose voice it is I am hearing, and then work through the issue that is bringing it up. It’s a daily struggle.
You are confined only by the walls you build yourself. So work hard to break through.
