Tip #25: Silence Your Inner Critic

Love your material. Nothing frightens the inner critic more than the writer who loves her work. The writer who is enamored of her material forgets all about censoring herself. She doesn’t stop to wonder if her book is any good, or who will publish it, or what people will think. She writes in a trance, losing track of time, hearing only her characters in her head.”
-Allegra Goodman

Inspiring ideas can arrive anytime, anywhere, when we least expect it: in the shower, out on a morning walk, in the dreamy moments just before or after sleep. The hard part comes later, when it’s time to put those ideas into motion with a new creative project. That’s when your inner critic is most likely to rear its meddlesome head, filling your mind with all of your self-imposed limitations, potentially negative reactions from other people, and the myriad of other reasons why your project may fail to live up to your expectations.

Now, the next time you are given the gift of a creative idea, do your best to squash that inner critic. Pay no attention to any questions that seem to lead to a negative answer, such as “Is this really worth my time?” and “What will my friends (or family, or colleagues, or partner…) think?” Resist the urge to give in to self-sabotaging thoughts and doubts and focus on the inspiration you’ve been granted. To help simplify this process, you may want to utilize my secret technique, “The In2 Effect.”

Take Home Message:

When you create a critic-free zone and work independently of the litany of “what-ifs,” you’ll discover the wonders of uninhibited self-expression.

“As a writer, if I insist on too much control over the words I put down on my paper, my story will end up just as strained and as unnatural as I feel after such a tense process for writing. To break free from this inhibited, self-conscious attitude, it is necessary to check your ego at the door. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to soak up the experiences around you and just listen. Your artistic craft becomes an exercise in revelation, a genuine vehicle for creative self-expression.”
-Kristen McCormack (from a post on Unobstructed Creativity)