Creative Confidence: Learn to Overcome the Critical Voice || part of The Inner Critic Series

1. Win Back Your Creative Confidence!: So embarrassing. It's so embarrassing. Hi, This is the first class in the series on the Inner Critic. Hi, this is the first class on the Inner Critic. On her. Are you afraid to share your work because it may not be good enough, or everybody else can do better? Yeah. Does your Inner Critic stop you from sharing or even creating your work? I'm Lucy Lambriex from Amsterdam. And this is Mevrouw Bang, Mrs. scared, my Inner Critic. She's been with me for as long as I can remember, and she loves to comment on my work as a professional portrait photographer. Even after 13 years of experience in the field of portrait photography and high-end stock photography. She shows up on a regular basis. Nowadays. I don't hate her anymore. But I want you to leave the room now. Yes. Now. Thank you. So this class is for you. If you are a maker with an active Inner Critic, whenever you embark on a new project, your Inner Critic tries to slow you down or even sabotage your work. Join me in this class and win back your creative confidence. I've made this short class and I'll be making a whole series. Because I learned something about my Inner Critic that could help others. I learned ways to work with them instead of seeing them as the enemy. In this class, you will not be making anything new, but you will share one of your worst creations. By sharing a bad creation, you will consciously invite the Inner Critic to reveal itself. Instead of it creeping up on you. It is absolutely scary, but you'll weaken the power of your Inner Critic and this will help you in your future projects. Why learn from me? As a professional portrait photographer, I work with my Inner Critic on a regular basis. Add a full year of daily self portraiture and the start and finish of many creative projects, and you will understand how I know my Inner Critic like the back of my hand. Although this class may bring up some strong emotions like fear, anger, and sadness, I hope it will make you laugh as well. So are you ready to annoy your Inner Critic and teach them a lesson? Let's do it. 2. What is the Inner Critic?: Your food is quite… But you know that already. Before we continue, I would like to say a few words about the theory underlying this Inner Critic series. In order to make this series, I've been reading a lot of articles and books because there are a lot of different views on what is the Inner Critic and what is it not. And I've chosen to work with the explanation given by Hall and Sidra Stone from the Voice Dialogue approach. Because it feels true to me and it's very easy to work with. In Voice Dialogue. We can address the voices in our head, listen to them, and even talk with them. They can be seen as sub-personalities or so-called primary selves. And there are many of them, like the Pusher, the Pleaser, the Perfectionist, the Clown, and of course, the Inner Critic. You probably recognize all of these immediately in yourself or in someone else. Hall and Sidra Stone were the first to coin the term Inner Critic. And this is what they said about it. The Inner Critic is a voice within each of us that criticizes us without mercy. It develops early in our lives and it absorbs the judgments of the people around us, like our parents, teachers, and peers. They also wrote this book. In English it is called: Embracing Your Inner Critic, Turning Self-Criticism into a Creative Asset. Just our thing, right? I can highly recommend it. No, I don't have shares in the publishing company. In the next lesson, let's have a look at our Inner Critic’s purpose. 3. What is its Purpose?: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll stay. We're saying we're not going anywhere. No, no, no, no. Now about Mrs. Scared and all Inner Critics in general. We know they judge us, But what is their purpose? You may have noticed that Mevrouw Bang doesn't act scared at all. She acts in a very condescending way. But you wouldn't say so. She isn't really out there to hurt me. She's here to protect me. I know she has strange ways, but that's her purpose. It's just her awkward way of showing that she's worried for me. I will dive into this much deeper in the next class. But for now, let's just work with the notion that the Inner Critic is here to protect us. I'll protect her. Yes, they are worried for us and they fear that we may get hurt if we start a new project or do anything new. And they really don't like us doing anything in public because somebody may think something about it. Have you noticed they're so afraid of us being rejected, they'll do anything in their power to keep us from doing anything new? So they also keep us from doing our projects. Now, let's hear a few quotes of some of my followers', Inner Critics. "Everything has been done before, okay?" "Your sketches are not good enough. Are you ready to show them to the world?" "You're not an artist, you're an architect." "Everybody else can do better. Yeah." "Instead of doing this, why don't you do your day job properly? This is just a hobby." "You can only be here if you perform well. No, no, no, no, no. You have no right to be here unless you perform well." "Be a professional. Yeah." Do you recognize any of this? I certainly do. The Inner Critic has been here forever and it's a familiar part of us. And it seems like they are us, but they're really not. They're only a part of us and they are separate from us. As you can see, it's only a voice inside of our heads. And in this class, you will become more and more aware of this voice and you will catch it in its act. And by being more aware, you will see their power weaken. And in the next lesson you will start luring it out. So it will show you its true nature. 4. A Freeing Thought and a Scary Task: Who are you to talk about this? I'm still here. So now it's time to start your daunting journey. You will wake up your Inner Critic and lure it out of its safe shell. And you will make it show itself as it really is. During my self portrait challenge on Flickr, where I posted a self portrait every day, I ran into a dry spell and it was so dry. I had no idea anymore and I was about to stop. And then it dawned on me. I don't have to make anything special or spectacular every day. I decided to make a simple selfie like so. And the funny thing was: people were still supportive. My Inner Critic was unhappy about it. But what happened to me, was that I regained my creativity because I let go of the pressure. Now it's time for you to do something daunting and quite refreshing as you will be challenging your Inner Critic. And it won't stand for it, but you will do it anyway. First, you will choose one of your worst creations. Don't spend too much time on it. Just pick something you are a little bit too, or lots of, embarrassed about sharing. And then download the badge or create one yourself that says, This is my worst. And then dot, dot, dot, fill it in my worst. Drawing, painting, photograph, meal, piece of music, whatever. Put it on your piece. Take a photo of it or add it digitally and add it to your project. Notice that as you even consider doing this, your Inner Critic will become very loud and active. They will not enjoy this process at all. How can you even think about doing something so stupid, so dangerous, so ridiculous, et cetera, et cetera. This is where you start to observe quietly. Try to remember or immediately write down everything your Inner Critic says without reacting. This is the key. These may be words, sentences, or even just sounds, like: Hrrrr. You might be surprised what you'll hear. And it is super important at this stage: do not engage, do not discuss with them. Do not respond. Simply observe. And after posting it your Inner Critic will probably keep telling you why this was a terrible idea. You're a teacher, you should know better, keep writing it down. Everything they say. They might even continue the day after. And try to remind you that you should never do this again. Write it down and observe, don't react. And after awhile, when the Inner Critic is cooling down a little bit and when it has been enough for you, thank your inner critic. Say their name, and that's it. And if they haven't got a name yet, give them a name now. So let's do this. Yes. All you need are these materials: Something you made that you think is really bad, like a drawing or a painting, piece of music, or writing, or a photograph, a notebook or a journal. The badge, My Worst dot, dot dot, insert the piece. And a smartphone to take a photo of it and to post it in your project and on social media. Share your work on your project page. It is right here, and share it on your social media channels if you dare, using the hashtags, #theinnercriticseries and #LucyLambriex You can also share your work with the hashtag, #shareyourworst and who knows, we will start a movement. Let me explain once more why you should share. It will help the process of outing your Inner Critic. They might not like it or they will hate it, but it will help you take charge and stay in charge. It will also help you see better because once it is online, you will hear and see your Inner Critic more clearly. And that's the purpose of this class. Even though it's not so nice, It's really important to help you observe. And most importantly, you will experience how your Inner Critic starts losing its power. Next, if you have shared something in your project and on social media and you've listened to your Inner Critic and what they had to say, the next assignment will be even more daunting and more effective. 5. An Even Scarier Task?: Couldn't you have done any better? Why does it look so messy? Now if you thoughts sharing your worst was a bit scary, try sharing your best and add to your caption or comment that it is your best. And listen how your Inner Critic will talk to you. You could have done better. Of course, you could have done better. It will probably not agree with it being your best. But let's listen, maybe, maybe they agree. Add your piece to the project and to your social media channels, of course, and add some of the crap your Inner Critic told you. In the next video, I will recap what you've learned and I'll ask for a little bit of help. 6. Takeaways: Yes, you've made it to the final video of this class. I will recap the takeaways from this class and I'll ask you for a little bit of help. These are the main takeaways from this class. In the next classes, I'll dive into all of them much deeper, But you can already start applying them. You teased your Inner Critic by sharing one of your worst and best creations. This helped you to see them more clearly. You started writing everything down the Inner Critic tells you. It helps to get to know them better. And it can give you peace of mind because you don't have to recycle those thoughts all the time. You realized and experienced they are just a voice in your head. They may not be very kind to you, but their purpose is to protect you. You learned not to try and ignore them, as they will only get louder and more obnoxious. Instead, you observed them for a while and said 'thank you' afterwards. Keep doing this if they get loud again. You named and visualized your Inner Critic so you can see them as separate from you. And by becoming aware of how your Inner Critic operates without reacting, you've started to win back your creative confidence. If you haven't already, please remember to post a project. It's really part of this class. Remember to add a project cover image. It could be the one saying my worst or my best. And remember the hashtags, #theinnercriticseries and #LucyLambriex, when you share it on social media. I really hope you've enjoyed this class and if you didn't enjoy it, I hope it was interesting and helpful. Please leave me a short review, so other students know what to expect and I know how you've experienced this class. You are always welcome to come back and ask me questions. You can drop a note in the discussions section or in your project, and I always respond to those. You might also want to have a look at my other classes like Unlock Your Creativity with Photography and Writing, which is also very helpful in your creative process. Finally, if there's anything else you want me to teach or dive into deeper in another class, please ask. I might just do it. Thank you and see you in your project and in my other classes. Bye!