The inner critic is a voice inside your head that can be incredibly destructive to your productivity and success. It can lead to self-doubt, negativity, and a lack of confidence, making it difficult to take action and achieve your goals.
To combat this problem, it is important to recognize when the inner critic is getting in the way, and to be mindful of your thoughts and self-talk.
It is also important to reframe negative thoughts and replace them with positive, empowering thoughts.
Additionally, be kind to yourself and practice self-compassion, as this can help to reduce the power of the inner critic.
It is important to take action and take small steps towards your goals, as this can help to build confidence and reduce the power of the inner critic.
Four Types Of People
For the last 4 decades, I’ve noticed patterns of behaviour and how the inner critic keeps us trapped. We have categorized these behaviours into 4 categories.
Read these to see if you can figure out how your inner critic keeps you trapped on the treadmill of performing and people pleasing.
Emulator
- Deny weaknesses
- Obsessed with their strengths
- People pleasers/fixers/rescuers
- They work real hard, work-a-holic, no balance and time with themselves
- If they don’t get their Hero cookie rewards they feel they are not enough, incomplete
- Want to be independent and original
- Offset their imposter feelings by working hard
- Jealous of others success or judging other peoples actions
- Assimilate the “Shoulds” from others
- Insecurity and inferiority drives their need for hero cookies
- Imposter
Denier / Idealist (unhealthy)
- Deny’s weaknesses and greatness
- Auto-pilot, comfortable routine, complacent
- Don’t believe in their ability to achieve, hold back
- Indecisive: struggles to choose and make decisions about their needs and wants, endlessly weighs out the Pros and Cons
- Don’t want to be wrong, work real hard to make sure they are always on the “right” side
- Wishy washy, flip flop between extremes
- Stuck in In-between land
- Miss opportunities as they don’t like to make decisions, think what will happen if I choose wrong, stuck in analysis paralysis
- Maintain toxic and bad relationships
- Frozen in fear of change and unknown until the data makes sense or they know the end result (connecting all the dots).
Skulker
- Focused and obsessed with their weaknesses, as they must be corrected
- Trying to fix themselves, addicted to books, seminars webinars and personal development
- Bottle it up: Turtle, hide from self, self talk around blame, shame and guilt, get sick, persistent unresolvable health issues, high, well hidden anxiety, depression
- Anti-social, Shut-in home, may have anger management issues, suffer from jealousy
- People please through chasing approval, giving others what they want and need
- Basic trust issues with self and others motives
- Low self esteem
- Deny their greatness
- Self-Involved
Copy Cat
- Pride themselves on their ability to adapt, absorb information and
- Modelling and copying other people they deem to be successful
- Not pioneers, not inventors,
- Phoney, not authentic, don’t show vulnerability
- Wear a persona
- Use people, gossips
- Agreeable
- No original ideas, other peoples ideas and opinions
- Part of the in crowd, following others
- Deny their ability to achieve greatness and thinks everyone else has their answers
- They will become great which will make their weaknesses moot
- Awareness of their weaknesses and they do not think they need to do anything about it because they are going to be great damn it by modelling someone else’s success
- Compensating by covering them up by creating a smokescreen that everything is going to be all right
- Fake it until you make it
16 Learning Tips, Tricks & Solutions
