Letting go of our preoccupation with the trajectory of other people’s lives, we can transform our envy from a stagnant, blocking force into a powerful motivator for growth. The tools and ideas above help us reframe our self-criticism; seeing critical thoughts for what they are and combating them with compassionate thoughts.

From Stagnation To Action

There are a number of so-called cognitive distortions that are relevant to the Inner Critic: <ul><li>Mental filters, or selective abstraction.</li><li>Tunnel vision.</li><li>Magnification and Minimisation or binocular trick.</li><li>Overgeneralizations</li><li>Jumping to conclusions</li><li>Mind reading or hunches.</li><li>Pessimism and catastrophizing a given situation by imagining the worst.</li><li>Emotional reasoning.</li><li>Thinking in All or Nothing terms(Black or White)</li><li>Ignoring positive aspects of a situation</li><li>Thinking everything is our own fault</li><li>Mislabeling of characterizations</li></ul>

Cognitive Distortions

Instead of applying self-criticism, we need to actively practice the opposite: self-compassion. Self-compassion is realising that self-criticism is the enemy and then acting to reverse its negative effects. Self-compassion also helps to unlock creativity. The two components of self-compassion:<ol><li>Making a conscious effort to stop self-judgment.</li><li>Actively comforting ourselves, the same as we would do with a friend in need.</li></ol>

Replace Self-Criticism With Self-Compassion

The good thing about negative confirmation bias is that it can be flipped to create a positive full-filling prophecy too. 
Rather than walking around in a perpetual state of feeling that no one believes in you, you can be on the hunt for support. Take confirmation and use it as a force for good to seek out positivity rather than negativity.

Seeking Positive Confirmation

Something happens and we imagine the absolute worst. Our mind plays tricks and we start ‘awfulizing’.
To stop this:
<ul>
<li>First, on a piece of paper or in a journal, write down and answer the question: What I am afraid will happen? </li>
<li>Next, write down a response to this question: What could happen?</li>
</ul>
If we actively apply realistic optimism, looking at the facts of the situation at hand without embellishing or minimising them, we can avoid a ‘spiralling’ effect.

Awfulizing

Be so busy improving yourself that you have no time to criticise others.

Awareness of your inner critical voice is crucial. This then enables you to see your critical thoughts for what they are: thoughts.
Being more aware of what your brain and mind do when sensing a potential threat in the form of being judged and receiving criticism will encourage the development of a calmer part of the mind.

Recognizing The Inner Critical Voice

Imposter Syndrome is that inner voice telling you that your work is not good enough or, even worse, that you’re useless as a person.
<ul>
<li>Self-criticism can really put (and keep) us down.</li>
<li>Suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’ is common among most of us.</li>
<li>Even with those people where you least expect it, they often suffer from some form of self-criticism. </li>
<li>Creativity comes from relaxing self-evaluation and self-judgment – and the self-criticism and self-doubt that result from them.</li>
<li>Feeling like an imposter can impact one’s ability to be creative or try things.</li>
</ul>

Imposter Syndrome And Creative People

There are a number of valuable tips to help you learn to take criticism well and use it to get better at whatever you are doing:
<ul>
<li>Breathe.</li>
<li>Detach from the situation or event mentally.</li>
<li>Listen actively.</li>
<li>Get specific demands and relevant, constructive criticism.</li>
<li>Discover new perspectives.</li>
<li>Be curious.</li>
<li>Grow.</li>
<li>Learn in real time.</li>
</ul>

Living With Criticism

Steps to overcome the feeling that you don't belong where you are, and you only got there through dumb luck.

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Moving from self-criticism to self-compassion

Silence the Voice of Self Doubt “Banish Your Inner Critic provides knowledge, insight, tools and practice for getting unstuck and expressing full creative potential." ?Rebecca Stockley, Co-Founder of BATS Improv in San Francisco CA Are you ready to boost your personal productivity—minus the fear and loathing? Are you ready to Banish Your Inner Critic and unleash the creative ideas and personal productivity within you? Help is on the way! Blocked creative ideas. Everybody has one, an inner critic that tells you that others have more talent, you’re just faking it, and that you’ll never have those great creative ideas that seem just out of reach. This inner critic is a subconscious deterrent that stands between the seeds of great creative ideas and the fruits of achievement. It afflicts us with a mental block as deadlines approach, makes us so afraid of being judged that we hold ourselves back and don’t share our expertise, forces us to question our ability to learn ideas and technologies quickly; and makes us doubt, discount, and kill our ideas before they see the light of day. Find a world of creative ideas. Denise Jacobs is a speaker, author and creativity evangelist who speaks at web conferences and consults with tech companies worldwide. As the Founder and Chief Creativity Evangelist of "The Creative Dose", she teaches techniques to make the creative process more fluid, how to make work environments more conducive to personal productivity, and practices for sparking innovation. Now, in Banish Your Inner Critic, Denise Jacobs shows you how to defeat barriers that are holding you back and achieve success through a positive mental attitude. Banish Your Inner Critic and: Identify and quiet the voice of self-doubt Master three powerful practices to transform how you relate to yourself and your creativity Generate more creative ideas than ever before If you’re a fan of books such as The Artist’s Way or The War of Art, you should read Banish Your Inner Critic.

Understand yourself and those around you.

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“Gives you the practical tools you need to own the room by owning yourself. Banish that inner devil’s advocate and become as powerful as you can be.” —Alan Cooper, software alchemist, cofounder of Cooper   As the Founder and Chief Creativity Evangelist of “The Creative Dose,” Denise Jacobs teaches techniques to make the creative process more fluid, methods for making work environments more conducive to personal productivity, and practices for sparking innovation. Now, in her book, Banish Your Inner Critic, Denise shows you how to defeat those barriers that are holding you back and achieve success through a positive mental attitude.   Banish Your Inner Critic shows you how to move beyond that mental block to your creative ideas, realize instant relief and lasting insight, and:   · Identify and quiet the voice of self-doubt in your head · Master 3 powerful practices that will transform how you relate to yourself and your creativity forever · Overcome the fear of not knowing enough or not being original enough · Free yourself from comparisons, overwhelm, high self-criticism and self-sabotage · Transform your self-talk into a tool for success · Generate more creative ideas than ever before · Embrace your expertise and share your brilliance with the world   Banish your Inner Critic to start doing your best work, achieving excellence, and contributing meaningfully to the world!   “If you’re interested in diving deep into your own creative genius, this book will give you an abundance of ways to do that.” —Michelle Villalobos, “The Superstar Activator” & founder of The Women’s Success Summit   “A book I believe will inspire a new generation to step out of the shadows and shine.” —Paul Boag, author of User Experience Revolution

Awfulizing

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