You are your biggest critic. A positive mind can lead to a positive life, but it can be difficult keeping negative thoughts at bay. They stay there in the back of your mind, and all it takes is one little crack and they’re in. These can effect your personal life, as well as your professional career.

Finding ways to silence those negative voices telling you that you’re not good enough is paramount and we’ve compiled some tips on how to not only avoid, but overcome those pessimistic, “I’m not good enough” feelings.

 

Stop judging yourself so harshly

You need to hold yourself accountable, but that doesn’t mean you should beat yourself up over every decision you make – whether personal or professional. Judging yourself too harshly is a sure-fired way to open up those cracks that lead to negativity. That negative leads to second guessing and next thing you know you’ll be unable to make a decision.

 

Bad thoughts? Say them out loud

If that small voice in the back of your head keeps getting louder, quiet them down by saying them out loud; unless you’re in a public place, don’t do that, that’s weird. By voicing the negativity, you can hear how ridiculous some of your thoughts actually are. You can then easily dismiss them and move on with your day. Keeping them bottled up will only worsen the issue, and will make clearing them more difficult.

 

Stop listening to sad music

This is just a life lesson. While it can be tempting to compound your negativity with sad lyrics and melodies, just don’t. Instead, listen to something upbeat, some classic oldies or whatever gets you going and motivated. Music has a great effect on our minds and putting happy tunes in your head can go a great way to helping you out of your funk.

 

Remove negative friends

We all know a couple Debbie Downers or Depressing Dans, and while it’s fine to still have them in your life, if you find yourself dealing with a lot of negative feelings and emotions, surrounding yourself with people who seem to have an attachment to negativity will only compound the issues you’re dealing with. Instead, if you really need to surround yourself with people, seek out these kinds.

Negative thoughts are bound to happen, even the happiest people can’t avoid insecurities and pessimism, you just have to know how to handle them when they arise. Use the tips above to squash your insecurities and get back to being the productive, upbeat person you know you can be.