How To Turn Your Inner Critic into Your Motivator


how to turn your inner critic into your motivator
Photo by Tanja Heffner on Unsplash
Whenever you try something new or even think about doing it, your inner critic pops up to do the honors of questioning your abilities.

It especially affects introverts like me. That sinking feeling you sense in your heart makes you want to crawl into your shell. Remember when you used to see a devil and an angel on each side of the shoulder of a confused character in movies? It’s kinda the same thing. The devil in you criticizes you. The angel encourages you. And you need to pay more attention to the angel than the devil- the inner critic.

However, listening to the inner critic isn’t always necessarily bad. It stops you from making unethical mistakes. But you need to establish a strong filter on your inner critic’s voices, which will allow you to make sound decisions.

Our inner critic develops due to the experiences we face in our lives. It brings out our worst fears and makes us feel vulnerable. So it’s an inseparable part of our lives. There are so many people in our lives i.e., friends, family, acquaintances, partners, and sometimes even random strangers telling us to do things, not to do things, complimenting, criticizing, motivating, complaining, and so on. 


These comments are stored in our minds, which gives birth to our very own inner critic. So even if the inner critic is a part of our self, it is a result of our interactions with the outside environment, the people in our surroundings.
But the KEY is with you. 

It's up to you to decide whether or not to reciprocate. If not managed properly, the voices of the inner critic will have adverse effects on you. It will demoralize you, leading to low self-confidence, and a sense of unworthiness. You will limit yourself, be afraid to try new things because the inner critic is always nagging you.

Let your inner critic be able to motivate you.

Recognize the power you have over your inner critic.

You might think that knowing all the worse qualities you have, will make you less vulnerable to outer criticisms. That’s a good thing to a certain extent. But, if you keep on encouraging and believing the negative remarks from the inner critic, it will hamper your productivity. You need to rationalize your inner critic's words.

Don’t let any particular mistake or an embarrassment bring you down.
It’s not who you are.
Consider this-
You screw up a presentation or a speech in front of a crowd, and you feel really embarrassed. You might also feel you are not worthy of even trying.

Your inner critic tells you, “you’re pathetic, OMG all those people must be thinking you’re a dork, your crush must be thinking you’re an idiot, f**k! this is so embarrassing”.
Okay. You. Messed. Up. Game over.


So the next time when you’re provided with a chance to present again in front of a crowd, you tend to chicken out. Even if you somehow gather little courage to finally give the presentation, your inner critic makes the GRAND ENTRY. Reminds you of the awful experience you had presenting the last time. And this is when you retaliate.

When it says you can’t do it- 'You're not prepared enough, You're worrying too much about what other people will think of you, You screwed up last time you, so you can’t do it this time either,'

Try to get back to your positive state of mind- 'I know that I have prepared well, I’m confident that I'm going to nail it and people probably have their own reasons to worry about, I know what I did wrong last time, so I won’t repeat the same mistakes again. Everyone gets screwed once in a while. And that’s absolutely normal. I will not let one bad presentation define me.'


You have the power to turn the negative into positive and shine in front of others, what reason you have for not using it?! Why would you let the negative side of you, take over you?

Take charge next time the inner critic tries to talk you down. Challenge it, think of it as a threshold you need to cross. Be kind to yourself for your sake.

Listen to your inner critic.
Try listening to what your inner critic is saying. However, you don’t need to necessarily act on it right away, instead, try to reason with it. Why is it saying that? Are there enough reasons for it to be true? Or is it just speaking out of your insecurities? So just calmly listen to it and think through the situation.

Usually, we don’t get a lot of time to think so much, the action is often impulsive. So this is a habit that you develop over time. It will stop you from making decisions under the influence of your inner critic.

Make it your best friend.

Turn the inner critic to your side, make it your friend. Train it to help you and motivate you. Make peace with your inner critic. You can’t go on with your normal business if you constantly keep fighting with your inner critic. Don't aggressively shut down your inner critic, instead embrace it and work with it.

Because your inner critic is more inclined to negativity, you tend to have a negative attitude towards handling things. You tend to hold yourself back thinking you’re not good enough. However, if you’re able to turn this into optimism, it can prove to be an excellent tool for motivation. You wouldn’t need to look outside for motivation, it’s right inside you.

You can’t possibly get rid of your inner critic altogether.
It’s part of you. Start accepting and loving yourself. Know that the inner critic will always be there. But trust yourself and believe that it can work in favor of you. It’s not an overnight process.

I know it’s easier to say it than to do it. I’m still in the process of befriending my inner critic.

When I sat down to write this post, a lot of times my inner critic was telling me to drop it. Saying it's pathetic, no one will read it, but I wrote it anyway.

Ultimately you have the power to choose your actions. So be brave. Everything else will follow.


Cheers!


Comments

  1. You are so right! My inner critic can be really ugly to me! I work very hard to keep her in her place. Great piece!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah I completely understand!
      Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I look forward to interacting with you.

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  2. My inner critic and I disagree quite a lot

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    Replies
    1. Happens to majority of us! However, it's upon us, how we deal with the nagging voices of our inner critic. Good luck!

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  3. You are so right that it is paramount to remember the power we have over our inner critic. I think many of us are so used to that voice we forget it's there and even when we notice it we feel powerless to affect the inner dialogue. Great stuff, and with practice it can be life changing!

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    Replies
    1. I know right! Thank you so much for this insightful comment. I'd love to hear more from you.

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