Lesson Thirteen: Silencing the Inner Voice

There is only one natural enemy of a Good Idea,and he resides deep in the creases of your mind. Sometimes he’s so small he hardly seems like a threat at all, and other times he’s a giant.

That enemy is the Voice of Judgement. And there is one of them in all of us. The Voice is patient. He waits, just below the surface, ready to devour creativity, passion, enthusiasm and curiosity.

The Voice of Judgement has other names: conformity, submission, criticism, safety, blame, fear, and guilt.

We’ve all had dealings with the Voice. Think back to a great idea you had. He was the one that was quick to say, “No one is going to like it. I’m sure it’s already been done. You’re bound to fail. Don’t bother.”

Do you know who I mean now?

It’s hard to completely kill the Voice, but you can subdue him. And once he’s under control he has no real power over you.

Now, you might say, there are other enemies of good ideas. They often take the form of bosses, clients, managers, co-workers, peers, teachers, friends... . These aren’t real enemies because they only have power when combined with the Voice.When an idea is good enough, the judgements of other people are easy enough to ignore.

But the Voice of Judgement is crafty.When you think you’ve got him beat, he’ll find another way to creep back in. But there are ways to subdue him:

Remove your fear.

Judgement is simply internalized fear. Ask yourself, “What is the worst possible outcome if I take this action?” Play it out in your mind. Chances are, under the cool light of reason, the worst possible outcome is, in truth, not that bad.

Turn judgement in on itself and create curiosity.

Take statements and turn them into questions. “This has already been done and failed,” becomes, “Has this already been done? Why did it fail?” Curiosity can drive you deeper into an idea and make it better.

Identify judgement for what it is.

The Voice of Judgement, like fear, is emotional feedback. It gets power from looping in on itself. By identifying judgement for what it is, you break the loop and diminish its power.

Imagine if you could double your creative output.What impact would that have on your business and your life? The only thing stopping you is your own internal judgement.

Defeat it, and your creativity will flood in like a tidal wave.



Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark