3 Ways to Quiet Your Inner Critic

You matter. The voice in your head, trying to convince you otherwise, is a liar.

Each of us has an innate need for significance in our lives. We're designed to enjoy being generous and helpful but sometimes we get in our own way.

We let our inner critic dictate our worth and it stops us in our tracks.

Maybe yours sounds like an overbearing parent, a bully, a tyrant posing as a manager, or the incessant voice of self doubt. Whatever form your critic takes it's time to stop listening.

Three ways to tell your inner critic to take a long walk off a short pier:

Allow yourself to be a learner.

The amount of knowledge in our world is increasing at a pace no human can keep up with. If your inner voice is telling you, "you should have known this by now," the facts say otherwise. Next time you feel like you're behind in the game of life remember to give yourself permission to learn. You're not supposed to know everything and learning helps keep life exciting.

Offer yourself the same grace you'd give to others.

If your internal voice keeps telling you all the ways you don't measure up chances are you're being too hard on yourself (ask me how I know). Listen, it's important to be kind to yourself. Next time you feel like you got it wrong try responding to the situation with the same empathy and compassion you'd offer a friend. You're human. We all mess up sometimes.

Take action.

Positive psychologists have discovered that both accomplishment and meaning are keys to authentic happiness and wellbeing. Simply put: People who have meaningful goals and work to reach them experience greater wellbeing than those who don't. So get out there and do something you love, you'll feel better and your inner critic will have a little less fuel for the fire.

Here's to kicking our inner critics to the curb and learning to show up for whatever life throws our way.

How do you keep your inner critic quiet?