This is Janice. She looks pretty cute, right? Yeah, don’t let that fool you. She can be vicious.

Janice represents the little voice in my head that tries to keep me small. She says that I’m not good enough, I’m not doing enough. She says that perfect is the only way. That I can do more, be more.

She can be so loud and so convincing. And she means well. She wants to protect me and make sure I live up to my potential. But if I listened to everything Janice said, I wouldn’t step into my greatness, into my power.

We all have a Janice.

IPEC (my coaching school) calls this your Gremlin.

Martha Beck calls this your inner lizard.

Others call this your inner critic.

Regardless of what you call it, it’s that voice in your head that just. won’t. shut. up. The one that says you’re not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough.  That you’ll never be able to land your dream job, that you’ll be single forever, that you’ll never have enough money.

It’s like a little devil on your shoulder.

Giving your gremlin a name is the first step in overcoming the blocks that your gremlin creates.

Want to take the first step in overcoming your gremlin? Give him/her/it a name and persona. That way, when you hear the voice, you can recognize it for what it is.

Want to go deeper? The Calm Your Inner Critic Process might be perfect for you.