Silence Your Inner Critic by Setting Goals and Making Progress
Your inner critic is loud. That internal voice sure can tend to drown out every other message you send yourself or receive from those around you. The more tools you have at your disposal, the more likely it is you’ll be successful in overcoming negative messaging. Plus, there will naturally be some methods you gravitate toward or that work better with your personality. One method I have found helpful is to silence your inner critic by setting goals and making steady progress.
Keep Your Mind Occupied
It’s hard to hear your inner critic if your mind is busy thinking about other things. By keeping yourself busy with meaningful tasks, you’ll have a lot going on to occupy your brain. You’ll soon find that you’re too busy being productive to be bothered by negative self-talk. The key here is that your tasks should have substance. Staying busy for the sake of being busy is not sufficient for our purposes. The tasks you choose should have purpose. They should stimulate your mind and lead to a sense of fulfillment. Work on steps that will lead to your goals such as researching career training options, cleaning out one room as you take on a new minimalism routine, or spending time with your family to increase bonds.
Make a Plan and Break It Down into Manageable Milestones
Setting and reaching goals is important. It keeps you moving forward in life, rather than remaining stagnant. Striving for your dreams helps to motivate you and improves your overall outlook on life. Anyone who’s made a New Year’s resolution, however, understands that goals can be overwhelmingly difficult to achieve. Add your inner critic into the mix, and it’s no surprise you sometimes feel like you’ll never find success. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. With proper planning and progress checks through the creation of milestones, your chances of success increase greatly.
Add Accountability
A milestone is merely a check-in point on the way to your goal. When you create a goal with specific objectives, you’re able to hold yourself accountable to meeting each one. Instead of just a vague idea of what you want, you develop clear-cut steps that must be met in order to achieve it. This way, you have less of an excuse to say it just didn’t work out.
Measure Progress
How do you know if you’re making progress toward your goal if you have no means of measuring it? That’s why you should always include milestones into your goal planning. These check points allow you to determine how close you’re coming toward success. For example, if you set a goal to lose 25 pounds, try to set realistic checkpoints along the way. You could set a monthly milestone of five pounds lost, and then you’ll know whether you’re on track toward your five-month weight loss goal.
Make Adjustments
Maybe five pounds per month is too much. You might realize this if you’re truly sticking to your diet and exercise schedule, but still aren’t accomplishing your goal for the first two months. Don’t give up. Merely adjust your milestones. Shoot for three to four pounds lost by month three and go from there.
Provide Motivation
It’s much easier to keep working toward a big goal when you break it down into smaller milestones. As you achieve each one, you’ll feel more motivated to work toward the end result. Motivation is a powerful force for success. Milestones are also a great place to celebrate, which also aids in motivation. Give yourself a small reward with each milestone met, and you’ll want to keep going.
Setting goals to silence inner critic with milestones built in is a fantastic way build self-esteem. You can’t give yourself negative messages when there’s tangible evidence of your success.
Acknowledge and Celebrate Your Wins
Most of us tend not to celebrate ourselves enough. Our inner critic thrives because it’s much easier to recognize flaws than it is to embrace our strengths. That seems to be something most people can relate to. As with the other strategies we’ve discussed along the way, you can break out of this habit of noticing only your shortcomings. It just takes a shift in mindset and some practice. The results are well worth the effort.
Take One Small Step
Just one small step toward completing the thing your inner critic says you can’t might just be the push you need to keep going. When you tell yourself you’ll never finish the job, think of one thing you can do as soon as possible toward getting started. If you’re afraid to try for a promotion at work, take just one action to move toward that position. It can be talking to a friend to get some insight or working on improving your resume. One small step is at least something, and it’s often enough to silence your inner critic for a little while.
It’s Ok to be Scared – Do It Anyway
One of the emotions your inner critic preys upon most is fear. If you’re afraid, you won’t even try and you’ll be safe. At least, that’s the rationale. That’s why it’s so hard to shut that mean internal voice up sometimes.
Get Comfortable with Discomfort
One reason we often listen to our inner critic and fall back into old habits, rather than going for what we actually want, is because the familiar simply feels better in the moment. Sure, we may later regret letting our insecurity hold us back, but it sure feels better at the time to avoid taking that risk. When you’re battling your negative self-talk, it’s essential that you learn to sit with discomfort. Feel the fear and then move forward anyway.
Take Down Negative Thoughts Immediately
When you notice your inner critic start creeping in, it’s time to go on the defensive and find ways to manage it and get it under control. You can assess the situation later when there’s time to reflect. It’s always good to understand the root of insecurity. However, the important thing in the moment is to push past the self-sabotaging talk so that it doesn’t spiral out of control. Give yourself some positive affirmations that will lift you up and help you to make at least one small step in the right direction.
Recognize Your Successes, No Matter How Small
You will eventually become more adept at noticing your gains. Such things as pushing past the fear to apply for a job promotion or signing up for that class at the community center you’ve been interested in count as wins. Convincing yourself that you’re worthy, talented, and deserving are successes, even if they don’t come with formal acknowledgement. You can take time to recognize and celebrate them, though. Pat yourself on the back with each small gain. Share your accomplishment with trusted loved ones. Make a big deal because it is.
Accept That Fear Exists
You can take away fear’s power over you when you simply accept that it exists. Fear doesn’t have to be seen as a bad thing. You can even view it as a motivator if you want. Challenge yourself to embrace it for a moment and then forge ahead despite the fear. It’s also reassuring to remind yourself that everyone experiences insecurity from time to time. It’s human nature.
Work on Living in the Moment
Pay attention to what your negative self-talk is saying to you for a moment. A quick evaluation will probably tell you that the fear and insecurity you’re experiencing is either rooted in the past or associated with the future. Messages we’ve internalized from our past due to our experiences or things others have told us stick with us. They rear their ugly heads at the worst times in order to remind us we should stay within our comfort zone. Other times, it’s fear of what might happen in the future that holds us back. Try to remind yourself not to worry about something that hasn’t even happened and may never occur. Live in the moment. Bring yourself back to the present and proceed.
You can overcome fear quickly and do the thing, anyway. No matter what that thing is, it’s almost always worth trying. Don’t let fear hold you back.
Remember Your Assets
When that voice starts telling you all the bad things about you, get out a pen and paper. Your computer’s word processing program or even your phone’s notes section will do. Just find a way to put out into the world all the positive things about you, your personality, your intelligence, and your skills. Doing this will be a reminder for you and will help to silence your inner critic.
Turn That Frown Upside Down
It may seem simplistic, but sometimes it just helps to smile. Yes, the simple act of smiling can improve your mood. Smiling has actually been shown to release endorphins and serotonin into your brain. The same is true for exercise. These feel-good neurochemicals can really perk up your mood, leading you to feel better. Remember, thinking and feeling go hand in hand. It’s easier to shut up your inner critic when you’re feeling happier.
Consider the Opposite
When you think about the worst-case scenario, I want you to immediately try to switch it around. Visualize the opposite of your negative picture. Instead, create an outcome in which you succeed and you’re able to achieve the goal that scares you. Consider what it will feel like to reach success and think about the ways in which it will improve your life. This can be a powerful motivator to silence your inner critic. Plus, visualization can actually help make your dreams a reality. You can trick your brain into faking it until you make it.
Monitor Every Milestone
One way to ensure that you are recognizing your own successes is to write down the goals you have for yourself. Start with a brainstorming session and record what comes to mind. You can add to the list as things pop up over time. Then add some objectives you’ll need to accomplish in order to reach your goal. As each of these milestones is achieved, make a note. Acknowledge that step and take pride in moving one step closer to your goal. The effects on your confidence will be great, and your inner critic will seem much quieter as you rack up the milestones achieved. Setting goals will silence your inner critic over time!
Reward Yourself Frequently
Finally, be sure to celebrate your wins. You can formally acknowledge your own milestones in any way you choose. Doing so adds legitimacy to the work you’ve put in and the obstacles you’ve overcome. You deserve a reward. This can be anything you want from an ice cream cone to a dinner with friends or a new sweater. Just taking the time to do something in celebration is enough to help push your inner critic further into the closet.
You deserve to celebrate your wins. This is just one more way you can shut your inner critic up. Do it often and have fun!
Keep the Momentum Going
Progress will keep your momentum going. You’ll be eager to move onto the next thing. Staying busy with tasks that meet your objectives allows you to quiet that inner critic. While you may still fall into old habits, it will be much more difficult to find fault with yourself when you’re so busy making real progress in your life. In addition, taking concrete actions gives you proof that you’re capable and worthy. This type of evidence is critical to eliminating self-doubt. You’ll no longer be wishing good things would happen for you; you’ll be making them happen. And it only takes one small step at a time.
Staying busy isn’t just a coping mechanism for stress or grief. It can be a strategic tool for taking charge of your goals and silencing your inner critic. Just remember the activities you choose should be meaningful and have purpose. Keep these tips in mind as you continue your journey.
Leave us a comment below about goals you’ve set for yourself that have helped to silence your inner critic! We’d love to hear from you.
P.S. You may also be interested in our popular ebook, Hush Now – Quiet Your Inner Critic, and the accompanying Workbook available on SALE now in our Digital download section or visit our YouTube Channel.
