Is Your Inner Critic Stopping You From Being More Creative?

Would you like to enhance your creativity? Do you think that increasing your ability to be creative would be a good idea?

Some of us feel desperate to be more creative, because we want to feel more free to express ourselves, or because we may think a creative life is more glamorous than the humdrum life we are living now. The truth is, everyone can benefit from becoming more creative.

And no, increased creativity isn’t just something for artists. People in business need to be creative too.

What gets in the way of our creativity? Creativity is a delicate process that can be easily derailed.

One thing that stops most of us from becoming more creative is that we have a harsh, inner critic that is constantly putting down any of our new ideas. Instead of being welcoming to new ideas, this critic is pointing out the flaws.

In many of us this inner voice is usually very negative. No matter what we want think about, or want to do, this inner voice is running like a tape in the background of our minds, criticizing our ideas, our performance, and our ability to be successful.

When we come up with a new idea, our inner voice may be saying, “This idea is stupid.” Or it might tell us, “I should never be mediocre or average, I must be brilliant and perfect all the time. All my ideas should be totally brilliant and innovative. If my ideas aren’t perfect right from the start, I am a failure and it’s better not to even try”.

Our negative inner critic does not always appear as a voice. Sometimes we see visual images of ourselves failing. Or we may have physical sensations of fear and embarrassment that stop us from pursuing new ideas or new actions.

Your inner critic isn’t being evil when it criticizes you, or when it tells you your ideas are not very good. Your critic is actually trying to protect you from being ashamed or embarrassed by the potentially negative comments and reactions of other people to your ideas.

Our inner critic is trying to make us perfect and safe, but it can have an unforeseen damaging effect.

If our inner judgmental dialogue is mostly negative, our creative abilities will suffer.

If you are serious about becoming more creative, you need to change the way your inner critic works. There is a need for criticism and evaluation of new ideas, but the very early stages of trying to come up with new ideas is not the right time to let your inner critic loose.

Instead of helping us to come up with better ideas, this endless barrage of negative inner commentary will hurt our ability to come up with new ideas.

You can’t be creative, and be critical at the same time. These two processes require different ways of thinking. The critical, judgmental, analytical function of the brain is not the part that knows how to generate creative ideas.

Even the types of brainwaves that you generate when you are being rational and analytical are quite different than the brainwaves that go with maximum creativity.

When it’s time for you to be creative, you have to send your “inner critic” out for a walk.