Do you sometimes feel your thoughts are your worst enemy?
If so, it’s critical to learn to ignore your inner voice that makes decisions counter to your long-term best interest.
Your inner voice makes you say “no” when “yes” would be in your long-term best interest. Like when you:
- don’t volunteer to take on that gnarly project that would show off your talents.
- turn down the invitation to make a high-stakes speech.
- don’t stand up to a bully.
Or the inner voice could shout “yes” when saying “no” would prevent you from:
- eating another bowl of ice cream
- hopping in the car to do an errand 2 blocks away
- accepting new job responsibilities that you don’t really want.
Our minds created that inner voice to protect us. It thinks it is doing us a favor by keeping us out of situations that are uncomfortable, or where we can fail.
Instead, it keeps us stuck. We listen and think, “I could fail/get hurt/be uncomfortable, so I should listen and act accordingly.”
When you hear that unsupportive inner voice, pause and ask, “Is this voice urging me to do something in my long-term best interest, or not?” If not, learn to ignore it. But first you have to be conscious of it.
