Most entrepreneurs have a voice in their head that generates doubt and fear, especially when their bold goal is so big that they have no idea how to pull it off. I call it the inner critic — the messages that sound off surfacing every doubt, worry and concern possible. Usually when you are on the precipice of a big leap, a voice in your mind starts chiming things like…
“What if this doesn’t work?”
“Am I really capable of pulling this off?”
“Holy crap, is anyone really going to pay me THAT MUCH?”
“What’s wrong with me? That was a stupid mistake to make!”
The inner critic likes to nag at us and cast doubt over our goals and dreams. As normal as doubts and fears are, if your mind surfaces fear, doubt and worry over and over again and it begins to sabotage your ability to grow your business. That’s when your inner critic has taken you hostage.
Obviously, if you are in business for yourself, you can’t afford to have your inner critic take the lead when it comes to making decisions. Not only will that critical inner voice hold you back, it erodes your confidence and courage to pursue your dreams.
Here’s seven signs that your inner critic has moved in to your mind and has taken over.
- You talk yourself out of taking big risks with thoughts like, with “What makes you think you can do that?”
- The fear of “what people will think” keeps you from taking action.
- Because you’ve made mistakes before, you’ll do whatever you can to avoid making one again.
- Your self-talk is often full of negative, critical thoughts that you would never say to your best friend.
- You’ve caught yourself bad-mouthing someone else who is more successful, perhaps judging or criticizing their approach.
- When something goes wrong, you relentlessly beat yourself up and blame yourself for not doing a better job.
- Always focused on your growing list of what you didn’t accomplish (instead of what you did), you often feel overwhelmed and stressed out.
The inner critic is often hard to detect. Many who struggle with this type of inner harshness were trained by a parent, authority figure or close friend to be critical. But left untamed, this type of self-talk can cause you depression, not to mention a pile of unrealized dreams.
To turn your thoughts around and start creating an internal “thrive” program, try this:
- Recognize when your inner critic has been unleashed.
- Stop immediately. Literally SNAP OUT OF IT. Shake your head, take a few deep breaths.
- Immediately refocus on the outcome you desire — or at least a neutral thought.
- Then do the boldest thing you can think of.
This is how you recondition your thinking to support your goals.If your inner critic rules your mind more often than you’d like, the best way to retrain your thinking for bigger, more sustainable results is to start taking BOLD actions. You might not even know HOW to do that right now. That’s okay.
One of the best ways to adopt confidence is to elevate your authority. When you discover what your unique business superpower is and build your business around it, you’ll see a clear path to how to achieve your goals, impact more people and translate all your ideas into money-makers.
My free resource, The 7 Step Framework to Add Another 6 Figures to your Business, is a downloadable guide that will help you clear the hold your inner critic has and boost up your confidence to SHINE out there.