“An eminent scholar is offered a top post in the Obama
administration and his first reaction is: They must
have made a mistake.”
Melinda Beck, contributor to
the Wall Street Journal Health Section writes about the possible
impact of a critical inner voice.
Although this blog is not necessarily focused on psychology, it is imperative
to understand whether or not you are personally holding yourself
back from reaching your career goals (or any others for that
matter). As the old adage notes, no one’s enemy is as great
as his/her own mind. Now, back to the message from this
intriguing article.
“An Inner Critic can indeed
roust you out of bed in the morning, get you on the treadmill…and
spur you to finish that book or symphony or invention. But
the desire to achieve can get hijacked by harsh judgment and
unrelenting fear.” The article goes on to explain the mental
and physical effects of self criticism. However, no matter
who someone is…doctor, lawyer, teacher, custodian, unemployed,
gainfully employed or wildly successful, everyone doubts their
capabilities, accomplishments, etc.
Based on Career Cougar’s
mission to empower people to reach their career goals, we’d like to
share some of the steps provided in the article for taming your
inner critic:
1. Monitor your thoughts.
Write down your critical judgments, the
situations they occur in, and look for
patterns.
2. Evaluate your judgments.
Are your judgments fairand
consistent? The article mentions someone who considered
himself a loser. When asked what he thought a loser looked
like, he described virtually a slob who drank beer all day.
Ironically, he does not do what he had just described.
3. Collect objective data.
Like the show Dragnet, “stick to the facts
ma’am…or sir”! When the critic comes knocking, have a list of
accomplishments, resume, etc. listing examples of your success.
4. Conviction or condemnation? I
participated in a seminar a couple years ago, and this bullet
reminded me of a comment mentioned in the course, “context is
decisive”. In essence, recognize whether your thoughts are
constructive or critical. If you overeat, calling yourself a
fat pig is critical. A constructive thought would be I’ll eat
better tomorrow. From Career Cougar’s perspective, if you
want to transition from being an employee to a small business
owner, don’t think “I don’t have what it takes” and instead think
“I’m willing to learn whatever it takes to become a business
owner”.
The full article can be found online at www.wsj.com.
