How to Squash Your Inner Critic

If you create things, whether for a living or for yourself, you have an inner critic, and you need to squash it.

Your inner critic is that voice inside of you that reminds you of your flaws, tells you're not good enough, and pushes you to give up. Because it's part of you, your inner critic knows exactly how to hit a nerve.

At its core, your inner critic is trying to get you to give up, to stop, to leave that project unfinished, to hide that work away and never show it to anyone. And if we're honest with ourselves, our inner critics succeed way too often.

What can you and I do to squash our inner critics?

Last year I read Dannielle Krysa's Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk, and I still think about a lot. I don't have all the answers, but here are a few things I've learned and have been trying to put into a practice. I hope you find them helpful.

• Admit you have an inner critic.

• Talk with other people—even if they make completely different things—about your inner critic.

• Set timeframes for when you're going to finish making something.

• Publish, post, update, share, tweet, snap, message, mail, do whatever you can to force yourself to tell other people about what you've made on a regular basis.

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