The Simplest Way to Combat Your Inner Critic

Have you ever encountered the fear of creating something bad? That voice within you that says your idea is rubbish? That it’s just not worth putting the effort into even trying? Or if you have tried, maybe you’re thinking it’s better not to put your creation out into the world?

It seems to me that the fear of making something bad is almost ubiquitous. And we might think that those who aren’t afraid of making something bad probably should be.

A bad poem.

A bad painting.

A bad story.

A bad performance.

We likely feel we’ve seen those.

We don’t want what we produce to be bad.

And so we do what we feel avoids the chance of making something bad.

We obsess over the details of our creation until we freeze into inactivity.

Or we just never start.

We never create, feeling it’s better to create nothing than to create something bad. And so we become blocked.

How do we combat this insidious problem?

The Inner Critic Voice

That voice in our head that tells us we can’t create something bad is our Inner Critic (or Censor, Critical Voice, or resistance, it goes by many names). It’s a very active voice. It is, in many ways, a protective voice. It’s a familiar voice.

It tells us not to try new things because they might go wrong. It tells us not to send our stuff out into the world because someone might not like it. It tells us not to start something because we don’t know how it ends.

That’s what my Inner Critic says. Take a moment and think about your Inner Critic. What does it say to you? How does it stop you from starting, or continuing, or finishing, or sharing your creative project?

Can you hear those blocks as something separate from your Creative Voice? Can you see ways that your Inner Critic is perhaps trying to protect you?

You can’t get upset if no one gives you feedback on what you’ve created. You can’t fail if you don’t start. The voice wants you to think a little bit longer on this project before we start to make sure we’ve considered every angle, then we know it will be good… But just in case it’s not good, maybe we shouldn’t start… It smothers any ounce of creative initiative you might have and undermines every idea before it blossoms, all in the name of fear.

I’m sure you’re very familiar with this voice. And it may be more nasty than what I’ve provided above.

But are you familiar with your Creativity’s voice?

The Creative Voice

The Inner Critic is very vocal. Our Creativity on the other hand may be much harder to hear. Did you know your Creativity has a voice?

Let me demonstrate by introducing you to my Creativity. She’s a little girl with multi-coloured pigtails and very strong opinions.

Would you like to meet her?

Hi! So! Where to start? I’m so nervous. Are you nervous? No, you wouldn’t be nervous, would you? You’re not introducing yourself. I am!

I’m Creativity. Specifically, Jessica’s Creativity. You have your own Creativity, whether you know it or not. And your Creativity has a voice all their own.

How can you hear them?

Well, you kinda got to listen…And you gotta somehow shut up the Inner Critic. Blah! Don’t get me started on HIM! Jessica’s Inner Critic is smelly and old and wears spats! Or rather, he should wear spats. Spats would improve him no end. I have suggested it. He didn’t go for it.

BUT! I’m not here to talk about him. I’m here to talk about you!

You’ve got to shut up your Inner Critic, and often the easiest way to do that is with a mallet and chloroform and—no, actually, scrap that. If you have a mallet you don’t need the chloroform—

Wait! Jessica says we’re suggesting violence, which isn’t okay, and we’re getting off topic. I would disagree with the latter but there you go.

To hear your Creativity, a wonderful exercise is speed writing. (This exercise works even if you’re not a writer! It works for actors, crocheters, and professional ski jumpers. Well, okay, I’m guessing at that last one, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t.)

Get a piece of paper or a computer document (with spell check turned off because those wiggly red and blue or green lines—I can’t remember which colour they are—are VERY distracting and mess up the activity) and set a timer. Pick five to ten minutes, longer if you wish, and just start writing.

Write something like, “Hello, Creativity. Tell me about yourself.” And then just write whatever comes to you. The crazier the better!
You might not hear their voice right away, but the more you allow yourself to just write whatever spontaneous thing that comes into your head, the more likely you’ll come face-to-pen with your Creativity.

As you go, try to find out what your Creativity likes, how your Creativity feels, what excites your Creativity, what depresses them. The more information you can gather, the better.

Try doing this exercise regularly so you can befriend your Creative Voice. And remember, write quickly and without judgement (and with your daughter’s butterfly rainbow pencil if she has one). If you stop and ponder, your Inner Critic can pounce in an instant and you’re back into that dastardly headspace with ol’ smelly you-know-who!

Voices in Your Head

Okay, maybe the idea of a crazy, random voice in your head sounds like a whole lot more trouble than it’s worth. The truth is, you already have a voice in your head—your Inner Critic. That can be a debilitating and soul-destroying voice. Don’t you want someone fun and encouraging and—Creativity says I should write effervescent, but I don’t think it means what she thinks it means—well, creative?

In my experience, everyone has some kind of Creativity inside them. And their Creativities are as unique as the person who finds them.

With a Creativity inside, you have a voice that combats criticism, a voice that encourages you to protect your creative need instead of warding off possible ‘bad’ results. You have a voice you can work together with to create things that have never existed before—your creative projects.

So tell me, what’s your Creativity like? I’d love to meet them.