What Does It Take To Quell Your Inner Committee?

All of us have self-doubt and times when we question our expertise, abilities and/or ideas. Unfortunately, we get some help with our self-doubt - we have our own, internal saboteurs. Some people call this negative self-talk, others refer to their negative inner committee. By any name, this is the nagging voice that asks deflating questions or makes bold, destructive comments as if they were fact:

• what makes you think you can handle this new assignment
• you could have done that project better...faster
• you never where good at math...or public speaking...or strategy or.....
• why should they listen to you...or follow you...or make this change...or...

When we are at our best, we can quell these comments. We balance the negative with an examination of what we do well, triumphs we have had, postive feedback from others and possibility thinking

• reminding ourselves we like a challenge and that we are adept at figuring things out...or skilled at finding others who have more experience to help us
• analyzing our past work and if we find an aspect that could have been better, we look for ways to learn new skills and take action
• engaging colleagues whose skills complement our development areas...or finding a mentor or coach to help us navigate...or learning more about the area
• recalling a time when we have invigorated others...or successfully implemented change

So, what happens when we aren't at our best? When we are in the doldrums? When our world has been thrown out of balance? When we have been laid off? When we don't think we can...? When the inner committee is working overtime adding more layers to our mounting doubt?

More thoughts to follow, in the meantime -- what has worked for you when times were tough?