Inner critics* are those persistent negative voices in our heads that question our abilities, judge our decisions, and predict our failures. They don’t just live in the minds of introverts, but they are often found there.

They can show up as thoughts like, “Who are you to do this?” or “Why are you so stupid?”

Sometimes they disguise themselves as helpful caution or “just being realistic.” 

Our inner critics might say we’re too old, too young, too inexperienced, too unqualified, too dumb, too fat, too ugly. They might tell us we’re not good enough, that we need to be perfect or claim that we’re a fraud. 

Sometimes they control our actions from below the surface of our awareness; other times they’re loud, blunt and brutal. 

But no matter their manifestation, our inner critics have one thing in common for business owners: they’re an obstacle standing between us and the businesses we want to grow. 

The Costs of Staying Stuck

When business owners stay stuck in a world ruled by their inner critics, the costs compound quickly. 

Websites stay in draft mode. Marketing never leaves the planning stage. Prices stay low. We stay invisible. Revenue stalls. Businesses don’t grow.

Quieting Your Critics

When our critics are loud, success feels out of reach. But we don’t have to silence our inner critics completely to move our business forward. 

We can quiet our inner critics by going over, under or around them** while we do the work to get through them and silence them for good.

Website work triggering your perfectionism? Marketing activating your impostor syndrome? Hire an expert. 

Bookkeeping making your eyes glaze over? Feel shame about your finances? Hand it off to someone who actually enjoys it. 

Get experts to help you set up strategic frameworks, systems and processes, and even AI automations, to take your inner critics out of the equation. 

Trade tasks with fellow entrepreneurs whose critics are quiet when your critics are triggered.

Spend time with external voices who can drown the inner critics out. When you’re surrounded by other business owners navigating similar challenges, you hear their supportive voices instead of your own critics. 

Removing the friction points where your critics have the most power creates immediate movement. You don’t have to heal or overcome your critics before you can take action.

Silencing Your Critics

Quieting your inner critics by going around them buys you the time and momentum you need while you work through them. 

Psychiatrists, therapists, coaches, other mindset experts and education can help you understand where these critics came from and how to manage or silence them for good.

Your Inner Critics Don’t Get the Final Say

If your inner critics are standing between you and the business you want to build, go over, under, or around them while you work to get through them. 

Your jerky inner critics are a temporary obstacle. They don’t get the final say.

At SCBiz, we provide introverted entrepreneurs who have loud inner critics with the community, support, education and expert referrals they need to quiet those critics and work to silence them for good. If you want to learn more, try a meetup.

_________

*For the purposes of this post, I am simplifying the discussion about inner critics. Many psychological frameworks describe inner critical processes and the topic requires a much deeper discussion than there is space for here. I do not mean to diminish the reality or intensity of the inner critic function for those with severe or complex traumas. I am also using the term broadly to include perfectionism and impostor syndrome/phenomenon; those aren’t strictly considered inner critics though the concepts do overlap.

**The “Over! Under! Through!” idea comes through Tina Fey’s Bossypants (audio) (paperback) a book that has been stuck in my head for 13 years. She talks about dealing with the obstacle of a jerky  boss by modeling the old Sesame Street film piece of the same name. If you’re up against an obstacle, go over, under or around it until you can get through. Her advice wasn’t for entrepreneurs or inner critics specifically, but it fits perfectly and helped me visualize a solution to a persistent problem.

External links are affiliate links to independent book platforms Libro.fm (audio) and Bookshop.org (paperback).