19 Sep No more self doubt: how to silence your inner critics

This week I got a question from a client that really resonated with me:

“I have no shortage of ideas or inspiration but I find I’m still talking myself out of these ideas or finding reasons why I may not be skilled enough or experienced enough or some other reason that makes me doubt myself. I wish I could just turn off my self-doubting thoughts and just have an unwavering confidence about everything I do.”

Sound familiar?

Starting something new feels very vulnerable, so we are particularly susceptible to doubtful thoughts. Because we’re uncertain about the approach to take and have no evidence to show the new idea will work, we interact with those doubtful thoughts like they have real authority.

My favorite technique to combat this is to imagine that the voices are actually coming from different personalities on a committee.

If you’ve ever served on a block association or volunteered at your child’s school, you’ll know the types I mean: the naysayer who can’t help but to tell you everything that could go wrong; the judge who has to criticize every aspect of the plan… you get the idea.

Imagining that these voices are actually coming from outside of you allows you to detach from the thought so that it loses power.

Say to yourself, “These thoughts are not the truth. I don’t have to interact with them or convince them they’re wrong.”

Although you could try to come up with other thoughts that are more positive, I don’t recommend focusing on this. Sure, it will make you feel better, but only temporarily. It just ends up being a battle of thoughts.

I created a powerful online course for entrepreneurs called “The Mindset Reset Course.” The second module of this course is all about how to overcome the Critical Voices.

The entire course has 8 modules, and other topics include Transforming Fear into Positive Action, The Myth of Failure and Mistakes, Overcoming Self-Doubt, Breaking the Bonds of Procrastination, and more. If you are interested in watching the full training, you can find it here.