Everybody has those mean inner gremlins pointing out their flaws and talking them out of their good ideas. They make up the hypercritical mental chorus we call negative self-talk.
Next time you notice you're caught in a cycle of self-criticism, ask yourself:
"Would I talk to my best friend this way?"
We'll go ahead and wager that the answer is NO.
For you, maybe negative self-talk manifests in obsessing over the teeny tiny hiccup in an otherwise flawless presentation or talking down to yourself about how you never-accomplish anything. (For the record, that's just not true.)
When we beat ourselves up over mistakes or talk ourselves out of great ideas, we're not giving ourselves the grace and care that we would give others. So try practicing some self-compassion and replacing that negative inner voice with a kinder one.
"We're talking about using the same kind and gentle language and approaches that we do with the other people we love in our lives — with ourselves," says psychologist Joy Harden Bradford. "Because we're also people that we hopefully love, right?"