A while ago I did a workshop to Physios and performing artists. The performing artists included classical ballet, to modern dancers, to hip-hop dancers. The topic they wanted to learn about was how to harness or deal with your inner critic. What an apt topic, I thought, for performing artists. Their techniques are quite complex and can only be mastered by consistent correction and deliberate practice. But this is also true, if you want to become the best at your sport. Harnessing or using your inner critic is essential for mastering technique, as well as mastering your mind in sport. So what is your “inner critic”?
At its worst, it is a resounding voice that says something like this:
a voice in your head that WARNS you what can go wrong
a voice in your head that JUDGES what is going wrong
a voice in your head that PERSECUTES you for doing wrong
a voice in your head that REMINDS you of what you did wrong
So how does the above extreme critical voice make you feel? There are some people that are actually motivated by this critical voice. The research on this subject clearly shows that most of these performers, may be stretching their potential, but they never truly fulfil their potential. This is because their harsh inner critic serves to curb, edit, and restrict the free expression of their performance especially under pressure.
For most of us, the extreme critical voice in our heads causes thoughts and feelings of doubt, nervousness, and fear.
The bad news is that we all have critical voice in our heads at times. The good news, is that we can use our inner critic to boost us in our sport and life. We just need to know how the champions do it.
We do this by either softening the critical voice to background noise or redirecting it toward its OPPOSITE part, the positive-supportive inner voice.
Practise the following steps to softening and using your Inner Critic:
Step 1. Recognise your Inner Critic
Your inner critic is most active when you lose, make a mistake, miss easy opportunities, or when you just generally disappoint yourself etc. The inner critic also loves to tell you what a fluke your last brilliant shot was, and how it is unlikely to happen again soon. Your inner critic holds on to times when you embarrassed or made a fool of yourself. He even hangs on to criticism from others relevant or not. Every one of us has been there.
The ‘whole champions’ in sport and life also have an inner critic, the difference is, they recognise it, label it (Ahh there’s my inner critic), but then use tools to soften it or redirect it, before it takes over!
Step 2. Softening your inner critic
To allow the inner critic to run riot in your mind will usually result in a poor performance. Once you recognise your inner critic and label it, you then can use tools soften it. When you can hear it and label it, it becomes just a small part of you (I call it your little me). All people who want to improve at what they do have an inner critic, so recognise it, label it, and understand that it is a normal part of you.
Sometimes just labelling, understanding it, and knowing that all champions also have this voice in their head, it is enough to soften it.
Step 3 Redirecting your Inner Critic
Just like every one of us has a critical voice (a little me) in our minds, we also have an encouraging, positive voice in our minds. This is our inner fan (I call it your Great me). The key to redirecting the inner critic is to first get to know your inner fan.
In our journeys as sportspeople we have almost certainly experienced moments of performing in the zone (the play of a genius), brilliant shots, phenomenal comebacks, hard work that could equate to Navy Seals training and more. We also have moments when we have felt worthy, pumped, confident, and positive about our abilities. If you recorded your thoughts and self-talk at this time, they would be encouraging, boosting, praising, inspiring etc. This is your Inner Fan (Great me). This part of us and many great moments are stored in our minds. The ‘whole champion’ trains his/her mind to access the voice of your Inner Fan (Great Me) and the great memories as ANTIDOTES to their inner critic (little me)
For example, if the inner critic is telling you that you are so far behind and you can never recover, you need to access a memory when you did came back stronger and better! Replay this movie and the words of your inner fan in your mind and paste it over the noise of the inner critic. If you need more boosting, look for more positive examples until you start to feel stronger and encouraged!
The strong possibility now, is that your performance improves by changing the direction of your mind and then the game. But, realistically even with these positive memories, you still can make mistakes in the next point, move, or shot. The whole champions, however are patient, optimistic, and simply keeps revisiting their Inner Fan self-talk in their mind before every point. Every new point has little connection to the previous point, and little connection to the next point. You allow your Inner Fan (your Great Me) to do its work on each point if or when the Inner Critic (your Little Me) appears. It’s a continuous battle that most of us know about, but only the champions can master.
Just like physical practice, harnessing and mastering your Inner Critic takes mental practise, but when you start seeing, not only much improved performances, but also even more enjoyment for your game, then you know that harnessing your inner critic (little me)is all it.
Questions (Answer the questions in your little black books)
Week One: Answer these questions after a week of getting to know your Inner Critic (little me) on court
- What does your Inner Critic (little me) usually say in your mind on a bad day?
- How does your body feel when your Inner Critic (little me) rears his/her ugly head?
- Do you feel motivated?
Week Two (Read the article again and answer these questions after getting to know your Inner Fan (Great Me) on court
- What does your Inner Fan (Great Me) usually say?
- What is your best memory when you Inner Fan (Great Me) was filling your mind?
- How does your body feel when your Inner Fan (Great Me) is present in your mind?
- Do you feel like training harder?
- What ritual or routine can you do before you go on court and whilst you are playing to REMEMBER TO TRIGGER your Inner fan’s (Great Me’s) self-talk and memories? This trigger must be something that can last for a long time. For example, Nadal has his twitches, Roger looks at his strings, and Djokovic bounces his ball and wears a red cotton bracelet.
WELL DONE! NOW YOU HAVE BEGUN YOUR JOURNEY OF HARNESSING YOUR INNER CRITIC (little me) AND GROWING INNER FAN (Great Me).
By Toni Gaddie
Clinical and Sports Psychologist
([toni@gaddie.net](mailto:toni@gaddie.net))
Toni Gaddie is a clinical psychologist that specialises in champions, and in particular, sports champions. Based on her experience as an internationally ranked professional tennis player, Toni has dedicated her life to enabling sports champions to achieve top rankings in their particular sport. Toni has participated twice in the World Economic Forum in Davos where she shared her approach with world champions in many disciplines. She is the co-founder of The Champions Academy [www.championacademy.co.za](https://www.championacademy.co.za)