How self-criticism works

Here’s a great story I came across recently about self-criticism and the negative inner voice (in our head)...

A teacher came into her class and wrote the following on the board…

When she was done, she looked to the students and they were ALL laughing at her for getting the first equation wrong.

The teacher let the laughter die down and then said the following:

‘I wrote that first one wrong on purpose because I wanted you to see a real-life example of how your negative inner voice in your head will treat you when you screw up. Self-criticism comes easily to all of us.

I got ONE thing wrong. But I wrote the right answer 9 times.

This is how your inner critic will treat you. It will criticise the one wrong thing you do and skip over the million good things you’ve done.’ Self-criticism is very selective.

To this day, I still think about this story. And how the lesson is directly applicable to your life.

How many times have you said to yourself:

• I’m not good enough
• I can’t believe I’ve just screwed up
• Why do I keep failing?

But the reality is: your inner critic doesn’t see all the progress you’ve made. comes easier than…