#294| Five Scripts To Shut Down Negative Self Talk and Protect Productivity

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When you listen today, you'll learn five scripts for silencing your inner critic before it kills your confidence and productivity.
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You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
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I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
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On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's Working Woman experiences.
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And in each episode, you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease, and relaxation to your life.
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Hi, friend.
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Thanks for joining today.
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If you've been listening for a while, you may have heard my advice to give that negative voice in your head a name.
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For some reason, calling it Dolores or Wanda just seems to reiterate that the voice is not you.
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Like, oh, Dolores is telling me that I really should have gotten more done this week.
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And this week I saw a hilarious and brilliant Instagram post.
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I wish I could remember who, so I could give her credit, but the person who posted it had named her mean inner critic voice a man's name.
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Specifically Chad.
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Suck it, Chad, is what she would say back to her inner critic voice.
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I love this.
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It absolutely cracked me up.
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And we all know if you have an inner Chad or whatever you want to name your inner critic that Chad's loud, Chad's rude.
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Chad has been running the show for way longer than you realized.
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So today we're gonna take away Chad's microphone.
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We're not gonna argue with him.
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We're not gonna prove him wrong.
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We're just gonna give him a name and a shrug and open the door to let him out.
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And by the end of this episode, you'll have five actual scripts that you can use the next time Chad or whatever your inner critic's name is decides to chime in.
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When you listen today, you'll learn why arguing back with your inner critic actually keeps you stuck.
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A naming trick that creates instant distance from a thought that used to flatten you, and five scripts that you can start using today in order to or silence that inner critic.
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I think it's human nature if you're going to talk back to your inner critic to argue with a thought or prove it wrong or build a whole case for the defense.
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And here's why I don't love that, because arguing with a thought means you're still having a conversation with it.
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You're giving it a seat at the table and letting it have a chance to speak.
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Here's what I think works better.
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Give the voice a name, whether it's Dolores or Wanda or my new favorite Chad, the name doesn't matter.
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Whatever name really speaks to you.
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And the next time that voice pipes up, you don't argue or defend yourself.
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You just go, thanks for your input, Chad.
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Not up for your advice today, and you move on.
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Envision someone in your actual life, maybe someone who you work with or someone you have known over the years, whose advice you just simply wouldn't listen to.
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Someone whose advice you don't want or need.
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Just imagine if they came up to you and told you to do something.
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You'd just be like, nah, I'm not doing that.
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You don't have to give it any energy or any debate.
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I had a client whose self-talk was so loud that it was almost debilitating.
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First of all, every client I work with has some form of negative self-talk or self-criticism.
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This is human nature.
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If you feel like you're alone in this, you absolutely are not.
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Hers was so loud it was almost debilitating because she would have a thought like, You suck at this, why are you such a loser?
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Why can't you do what other people do?
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Terrible things that she would never say to anyone else.
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And when that happened, her shoulders would actually slump and she felt like she was just defeated before her day even started sometimes.
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And the shift happened during her coaching when she learned to notice that shoulder slump and notice the thought without judging it and then switching it quickly.
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So no arguing, no spiraling about why she thinks it's that way, just notice, name it, and switch it out.
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And now it's quick and it's no big deal.
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And hers is not named Chad, but she can even laugh at the Chad comments that her brain offers her at this point.
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Same brain, same thoughts showing up, but they're just not a problem anymore because she can completely let them go.
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So if you are struggling with this, number one, give your inner critic a name.
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I think personally that it's very useful to come up with a name that kind of makes you chuckle because then it takes you out of the moment.
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Here are five sentences that you can steal starting today.
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I want you to listen to these five.
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I'm just gonna say the name of the inner critic within the thoughts, see which one sticks with you the most that really sticks out to you, and seriously write it down.
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Put it in your notes, in your notes app, email it to yourself, write it on a post-it.
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And next time you notice that shoulder slumping feeling when your inner critic has gotten loud, just try one of these thoughts.
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Number one, oh Chad, I think you forgot.
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Your opinion means nothing to me.
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Oh look, Gladys is back.
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That's so cute.
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Moving on.
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Steve, I'm really busy thinking about how I can solve this, so I'm gonna go ahead and mute you now.
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Not now, Brenda.
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I'm busy solving this, not spiraling about it.
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Reginald, you're loud, but you're not the boss of me.
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You don't even need to use all five.
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Just pick the one that feels most like you.
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Start using it with whatever name you give your inner critic, and next time you catch that voice showing up, give it a try.
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I promise you, if it can make you laugh and remind you that you don't care about that person's opinion, you will be able to much more quickly move on.
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In summary, you don't really have to win an argument with your own brain.
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Just notice the thought, don't give it any air, swap it out, and keep moving.
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That is the skill.
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If this is something that you find yourself suffering from a lot, this negative self-talk inner critic situation, reach out to me.
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I can help you in my one-on-one coaching.
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This is something that I help all of my clients with.
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And when you can get rid of this negative self-talk, you can save so much time, have such better productivity, and better confidence too.
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There's a link in the show notes to book a free discovery session.
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I would love to help you get rid of or turn down the volume on your inner chad.
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Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
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If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at MichelleGauthier.com.
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See you next week.