This week we continue the series on fostering an ideal future in medicine. In the first week, we looked at the larger state of medicine and its future. Last week we worked on expanding your dreams and goals and clarifying your vision for your practice. This week, we will tackle the other mindset portions that commonly hold us back from enjoying the most fulfilling careers we can create within the existing system – fear, our inner critic, and limiting beliefs.

Fear....

Last week we looked at the natural progression of confidence. However, we all know confidence doesn't always follow the expected course, and often even when it's high, something knocks it down. So, this week, we look at why that happens.

There are at least six common sappers of confidence. 1. Unhealthy perfectionism. 2. An overly boisterous inner critic.  3. Impostor Phenomenon. 4. Comparison. 5. Over-reliance on external validation. 6. Projected Judgment. Many of these are...

Developing awareness that the repeated negative things you think of yourself are not actual facts is the first step in of quieting the inner critic. In this video, I give you a sneak peek inside my brain .  (More detail is given in my written blog.)

Enjoy!  Tonya

Check out my 6-week reset for a resident or faculty in difficulty here

Last week, we discussed what the  Inner Critic is and how to develop an awareness of its presence and its damage.  This week, we move on to the next steps of quieting your inner critic.

Step 1 –Awareness as discussed last week.

Step 2 – Get a clear picture of your critic.  In your mind or via some art form, put a face to your inner critic. Does it look like some form of yourself, a drill sergeant, your dismissive stoic teacher with her glasses...

We all have an inner critic.

What is an inner critic? The inner critic is that voice inside our heads that spews negative self-talk to us from time to time, or maybe all the time.  It criticizes, judges, and shames us. It reminds us of failures over and over. It paints us in the harshest light. 

When it speaks, it usually says things like “You aren’t _______enough” fill in the blank – good enough, smart enough, tall enough, confident...