“You are not good enough.” “You can’t do it.” “These people are better than you.” “You failed!” These and so many other voices you might have experienced lie hidden within yourself. Such negative self-talk comes from a place the life coaching world calls the “inner saboteur.” This will always break your energy and let you down, having a direct impact on your emotions, spirit, health and mind.
Your inner saboteur prevents you from going forward in your life and your career. Your inner saboteur can become as huge as a mountain, and you’ll feel it in your heart and body; it makes you become hesitant and scared whenever you want to move.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The inner saboteur does not have to win. Here are eight simple ways I’ve been teaching my clients to battle that nasty voice in their head. Try to implement them whenever you hear yours.
1) Rise above by reminding yourself of your life purpose and ask: Why do you exist? What do you want to achieve? What legacy do you want to leave behind you?
2) Engage your inner captain and crew members. Every person has a leader inside them, a role model who empowers them; crew members are a set of energies that let the leader in you keep moving forward.
3) Simply acknowledge or name the inner saboteur you are hearing and ensure you separate yourself from it. For example, ask yourself, “Now that I’ve heard from my inner saboteur, what do I think?”
4) Ignore the inner saboteur’s voice. Do not interact with it. For example: you plan to look after your health and exercise five times this week, but then the excuses start. In this case tell yourself: “I hear you, saboteur, and I also know I want to feel energetic and to lose 10 pounds, so I will exercise five times this week.”
5) Put your attention on something other than your saboteur.
6) Personify the saboteur. Give the saboteur a name and a life of its own.
7) Remind yourself of your values. Ask what values are being honored or dishonored. This often makes the saboteur disappear.
8) Ask yourself about your vision and what steps you can take to make it happen. One year from now, how do you want it to be?
