{"id":38133,"date":"2016-01-13T21:17:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T05:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=38133"},"modified":"2016-09-18T16:51:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T00:51:57","slug":"23-ways-stop-beating-imperfections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/23-ways-stop-beating-imperfections\/","title":{"rendered":"23 Ways to Stop Beating Yourself Up Over Your Imperfections"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Is your inner critic as mean as mine used to be?<\/p>\n<p>If so, you\u2019ve got a super cruel voice berating you day after day.<\/p>\n<p>Forever knocking you for the slightest thing, no matter how hard you\u2019ve tried. Blaming, bad mouthing, always bawling you out for your supposed shortcomings.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s why you dread social events and speaking up. It\u2019s the reason you sometimes feel like a failure, convinced you\u2019ll never amount to much.<\/p>\n<p>I did. My inner critic spent years cataloging my every mistake, failure, forgotten friend\u2019s birthday, facial blemish, extra pound on the scales\u2026<\/p>\n<p>It got so out of hand it literally took me over. Each morning brought another 24 hours in which to fail, mess up and be so much less than good enough.<\/p>\n<p>Hey, it took me a while but I set out to understand why this self-critical person had become the larger part of me. I learned how to recognize and counter the cyclical destructive thoughts and negative behavior patterns. I learned how to master my inner critic, for the most part.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d love for you to to beat your mean inner critic into being the supportive counsel it should be, the honest friend.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s go teach your inner critic a lesson it will never forget with these 23 simple strategies &#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>See your inner critic for what it is<\/strong>. A malevolent goblin grimacing on your shoulder. Every time it puts you down, turn and flick it off your shoulder.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mock Your Inner Critic<\/strong>. Retaliate by repeating a self-depreciating thought back in a mocking voice.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Start a &#8216;hurrah for me!&#8217; journal<\/strong>. A pocket version works best. Note down every little thing you\u2019re pleased you\u2019ve said or done. Flick through your jottings each time you need to counter your inner critic\u2019s harmful nonsense.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Change your Facebook status<\/strong>. \u201cHappy to be imperfect\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Show some self-appreciation<\/strong>. Add a positive self-message to a favorite image. Add this to your phone or laptop home screen.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Realize how much others like you<\/strong>. Note down a checklist of the qualities others like you for. Stick this to your fridge for a positive, morning reminder.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give yourself a break<\/strong>. Focus in on one thing each day that you can reward yourself for. Tell yourself \u2018well done\u2019 with something you really look forward to.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look at your reflection<\/strong>. Shoot yourself a beaming smile and praise one quality or trait you feel blessed by.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Practice self-forgiveness<\/strong>. Create a store of self-forgiveness quotes to silence your blame-happy inner critic when the need arises.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Realize how much you should like yourself<\/strong>. Draft a list of characteristics you like about yourself \u2013 no false modesty here! Pop this into your pocket on mornings your inner critic wakes up early.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Turn every negative thought around<\/strong>. Diffuse each self-diminishing thought by adding a positive ending. Here\u2019s how, \u201cSo I made a mistake but I can learn from it.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pay someone a compliment<\/strong>. Call up a friend you haven\u2019t caught up with in a while. Tell them how much they mean to you. Making someone else feel better is a great way to boost how you feel about yourself.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recognize you&#8217;re better than you think<\/strong>. See how much your inner critic beats you up over and over for the same few mistakes you make. You\u2019re less flawed than it would have you believe.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Remember we all make mistakes<\/strong>. Even monkeys miss the branch sometimes, there\u2019s no shame in getting it wrong. You can only fail if you\u2019re actually trying and growing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take the focus off you<\/strong>. Calculate how many people in the whole world really don\u2019t care or even know about what you did or didn\u2019t do compared to the few who might. Give your inner critic a lesson in perspective.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Admit you made a mistake<\/strong>. But don\u2019t admonish yourself. Instead, break your negative thought patterns by asking \u201cNow what can I do about it?\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take the long view<\/strong>. See that errors or \u2018failures\u2019 are relative. Ask how will it matter in a week, a year, or ten years from now?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shift your focus<\/strong>. Concentrate on all the things you got right rather than the one you got wrong to teach your inner critic about focus.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stop expecting to be able to do everything<\/strong>. Demand from your inner critic an explanation of how you\u2019re supposed to have been born an expert in everything? That\u2019s defying the laws of human development, surely?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ease up<\/strong>. Cut yourself some slack in order to have time to do fewer tasks better. Trim your to-do list of a couple of jobs that won\u2019t cause the earth to explode if they\u2019re left unticked.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Learn to love yourself<\/strong>. Contemplate how short a time you\u2019ll be on this planet. Are you going to spend it beaten up by your inner critic or learning to love yourself and be happy?<\/li>\n<li><strong>See the bigger picture<\/strong>. Gaze at a satellite image of the earth. Understand you\u2019re as much an integral part of this amazing creation as anyone.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Understand that no one is perfect<\/strong>. \u201cI don\u2019t know a perfect person, I only know flawed people who are still worth loving.\u201d ~John Green<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Stop Your mean Inner Critic In It&#8217;s Tracks<\/h2>\n<p>Forever beating yourself up has stolen your self-belief and worst of all, your happiness.<\/p>\n<p>Your inner critic has ruined too many days (and nights).<\/p>\n<p>But that mean inner voice is only a small part of you. You can put it back in its box.<\/p>\n<p>Small, simple actions can bring great leaps in permanently breaking this negative cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Triumph over all the self-depreciating thoughts that have chased around your head for too long.<\/p>\n<p>You could be the success story to inspire others.<\/p>\n<p>Fight back right now. This is your time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p><em>Laura and Mark are on a mission to help you silence your inner critic and grow your happiness. Download their free cheat sheet: <a href=\"http:\/\/enjoylifeslowly.com\/free-download\" target=\"_blank\">5 Ways To Say No Without Offending Anyone (Even If You Hate Conflict)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is your inner critic as mean as mine used to be?<\/p>\n<p>If so, you\u2019ve got a super cruel voice berating you day after day. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/23-ways-stop-beating-imperfections\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10784,"featured_media":38147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[205,33,6],"tags":[233,4863,4631,66,207,4629],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>23 Ways to Stop Beating Yourself Up Over Your Imperfections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is your inner critic as mean as mine used to be? 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