Photographed by Laurence Laborie for Vogue Arabia
Unless you learn how to outsmart your inner critic it will win every time. Its power comes from past experience, beliefs and how you view yourself. Your inner-critic also doesn’t care about your need to self-improve, achieve goals or feel happier, it simply wants you to avoid pain. Its job is to protect you, to steer you away from fear and keep you safe. When we decide to do something new, something that takes us out of our comfort zone, it triggers our inner critic to talk us out of doing it to protect us from the unknown, even though the changes we want to make will actually improve our quality of life.
The good news is you can outsmart your inner critic and move towards creating the life you want. Deepen your self awareness and start to outsmart your inner critic by following health and personal empowerment coach Heidi Jones’ seven step coaching plan.
1. Your inner critic is opinion based, not fact based therefore it’s important you are able to identify the negative opinions you hold about yourself so you are aware when it’s your inner-critic talking.
Action: List the negative opinions you hold about yourself.
2. To keep perspective on each situation and to not let your thoughts spiral, get perspective on how you formed each opinion about yourself.
Action: Next to each opinion listed, write down when and how it started.
3. The beliefs and opinions you formed have served a purpose at some point in your life.
Action: Reflect on your answers and identify when your inner-critic has protected you.
4. Your inner-critic gets stronger every time you behave true to the opinion.
Action: Write down how your behavior has reinforced these opinions and beliefs about yourself and continued to fuel your inner-critic.
5. Now you are an adult do these opinions and belief serve a purpose? Or do they hold you back?
Action: Next to each opinion identify those that still positively serve you and those that are now holding you back.
6. To really out smart your inner-critic you need to have clarity and direction on what you will do/accomplish by getting out of your comfort zone and challenging your inner-critic.
Action: List what could you achieve if you stopped listening to your inner critic? What would you attempt in life by challenging your inner critic?
7. Change doesn’t happen over night, it’s happens with commitment, consistency and action. To really make a positive impact and outsmart your inner-critic you must focus on taking one step at a time.
Action: What is one small action you can take to start outsmarting your inner-critic today?
To continue to outsmart your inner-critic you need to continue to take small actions. By doing this you are proving to yourself that those negative opinions you hold are not true. With consistent action you will build more self-esteem and confidence and gradually start to view yourself from a positive perspective.
Visit heidijonescoaching.com. Follow @heidi_jones_coaching
