Which critic is the loudest?
Ever feel like there are a bunch of critics in your head stopping you from achieving your goals?
Meet some of your Saboteurs, those inner voices that undermine your confidence, and tell you you’re not enough or maybe you’re too much 🧠
Here are some of the most common ones:
• The Judge: the universal critic that beats you up over mistakes
• The Hyper-Achiever: never satisfied with success, always needing more validation usually through your performance
• The Controller: creating anxiety through the need to take charge of everything and/or everyone around you
• The Avoider: focusing only on the positive while dodging difficult conversations and challenges
• The Pleaser: trying to gain acceptance through helping others while losing sight of your own needs
• The Hyper-Vigilant: creating constant anxiety about future possibilities, never allowing you to rest
Image from Positive Intelligence website
The thing is, these Saboteurs might seem horrible nuances but they started out as protection mechanisms when you were little to keep you safe. They wanted to help you. But now you don’t need them, they're just patterns of thinking holding you back.
The good news is that when you identify your Saboteurs, they begin losing their power over you. You can look at them objectively. It's not necessarily about fighting or eliminating them - it's about recognising when they're driving your decisions instead of you.
You can do a Saboteur Assessment on Positive Intelligence’s website and see which ones are driving your actions.