Your inner critic doesn’t want you to take risks with videos
“You don’t know enough to share your knowledge on video.”
“What makes you think anyone’s going to care about this video?”
“Why are you even trying? This video is just gonna flop.”
Sound familiar? Those are all real phrases that doom scrolled in my mind and/or popped up in the mind of my friends who I asked about this topic.
My inner critic, that negative, sneaky inner voice, always likes to crop up at the worst times. I call my critic my Bogart (a nod to Harry Potter).
When I’m feeling insecure about making a video, my Bogart likes to make itself a proverbial cup of tea and stay awhile in my mind. Likewise when I’m tired, hungry, or sick. My inner critic knows the exact times when I really just need a rest… and makes sure I don’t get it because it sets my mind racing.
Is your inner critic a total bummer like mine is?
We all have them - the inner critics. They’re the ones tasked with keeping us safe and secure. Sometimes the inner critic plays a useful role. It can help you tread carefully in new situations and be better prepared for the future.
But is your inner critic really keeping you safe when it’s…
Stopping you from personal or professional growth?
Pushing you away from exciting, new opportunities?
Causing you to constantly doubt yourself and waste precious energy on second-guessing?
When our inner critic stops us from trying out new, low-risk ideas or things (like videos that might expand our audiences or boost our businesses), that’s when we lose out. You miss out on important discovery, exploration, and experimentation. Your inner critic will keep you safe… but also bored, irritable, worried, and stuck.
Recognizing the phrases or words your inner critic says to you is the first step in changing your relationship with it and not giving it too much power.
✔️What to do first if your inner critic is in charge
First, jot down the negative beliefs your inner critic is telling you. You might already know them, but there is power in putting them down on paper. It shows you just how cruel and mean your critic can be to you. You can start to break them down and see patterns, too.
After taking stock of the phrases you’re hearing, it’s time to recognize those phrases are beliefs or stories, not facts. Your inner critic may have even convinced you that there’s nothing you can do about it so why even try?
That’s some deep all-or-nothing thinking that can get you stuck, fast. In reality, there are lots of different stories you can choose to believe about yourself instead. You might just need help imagining them and breaking apart the inner critic’s beliefs.
🖼️Reframe the perspective
By questioning and challenging the perspective of our inner critics, we can change the stories and beliefs we hold. Throughout the blog posts in this series, I’ve included questions and ideas to reframe the particular phrase I tackle in that post. These reframing questions (and any that you come up with) are a great way to challenge and flip the script on what your inner critic is telling you.
Now, it’s time for some bad news: your inner critic will never entirely go away. Mine for sure hasn’t!
But there’s good news, too. By highlighting its favorite phrases in your mind, it gets easier to acknowledge when your critic is telling you a story, challenge what it tells you, and hear other empowering perspectives. The inner critic's voice becomes a whisper rather than a shout.
I hope you’re ready to dive deep into what your inner critic might be telling you about making videos and how to fight the not-so-nice things it says.
Check out the whole series (or pick and choose the phrases that resonate the most with you):
And you know there are going to be GIFs and memes throughout so let’s start with a 💖classic.💖
