We all experience the harshness of our inner critic and the struggle to sustain our creativity though the noise. From an early age we learn that we should be perfect and flawless. But the truth is our flaws make us human and whole. And in turn make our art more interesting. I am excited to talk to Denise Jacobs who is a guru on quieting your inner critic. A speaker, author and creativity evangelist, she speaks at conferences and consults with companies worldwide. She helps individuals and companies unleash their creativity by banishing their inner critic and hacking their creative minds. She is the author of the book Banish Your Inner Critic. Hear about what the inner critic is and why it is a universal struggle. We talk about the 3 tools we naturally have that can help, strategies to reduce the impact of the criticism and how sometimes the criticisms of others can unlock our secret superpowers. In this podcast, you will discover... (04:07) The moment Denise realized she was creative and establishing a career in graphic designers (06:23) How if you have a certain trait, people often have expectations of you (07:46) How sometimes Denise and I downplay our skills and experience (11:40) Defining what the inner critic is (15:25) That we naturally have tools which can help us handle the inner critic (15:54) The first tool: Neural Plasticity (16:57) The second tool: Mindfulness (18:39) The third tool: Self Compassion (19:20) Giving your inner critic a name (19:57) Giving your inner critic a backstory (23:41) How Denise sometimes gets people to draw their inner critic (25:14) The benefits to working with your non dominant handling (27:10) A story about uncovering your strengths by looking at your criticisms (31:35) How Denise put herself into environment where that trait that was viewed as an asset rather than a detriment (33:11) That it’s helpful to examine traits your are afraid of and find a place where they are an advantage (33:37) The idea of ‘Your Uniqueness Advantage’ (34:46) That you can get to a place where your inner critic is less loud For full show notes, go to schulmanart.com/26 ++++++++++++++++++++ ?FREE GOODIES!? Don't forget to check out the Inspiration Place goodie bag. Go pick up your party favor over at SchulmanArt.com/freebies. Whether you're a passionista or a passion professional, I've got something just for you. ++++++++++++++++++++ ?NEVER MISS AN EPISODE! If you loved this, I've got more inspirational episodes coming your way! Please make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button in your podcast app. And if you're feeling extra generous- leave me a review-- https://schulmanart.com/review-podcast ++++++++++++++++++++ BTW If you pop your Instagram handle at the end of the review, I'll even give you a shout out over on my IG stories! ++++++++++++++++++++ I'd love to chat with you on Instagram: http://instagram.com/schulmanart