Two Questions to Review Your Year So Far
And how to hear your inner cheerleader over your inner critic when you do.
Do you give yourself enough credit? Do you make it a point to listen to your inner cheerleader? Or do you only hear your inner critic?
My inner critic’s favorite tune is: “Never Enough”
I can never get enough done. What is done isn’t good enough. Not enough friends, not enough money, not enough books read last year.
It’s simultaneously aggravating and boring, much like listening to the same death metal song on repeat. But you know what? I don’t listen to a death metal song on repeat. I put on a little disco dance playlist instead.
What if we learned to DJ our inner voices like we curate our Spotify playlists? Or change the station like we do in the car? When “Not Enough” comes on, push the button.
It’s not as easy as it sounds, so don’t expect yourself to excel at it tomorrow, just giving your inner critic another reason to yell at you. First, we need to establish new pathways in our brains, so that we know where the good stations are on the dial.
How? Well, let’s start with a look back at the first four months of the year, as May is just around the corner. I just did a quarterly review for my business and my personal life. And while my inner critic tried to push themselves to the front of the line, I always try to give my inner cheerleader the opening lines:
Question 1: What worked really well?
Maybe you set up a meal delivery service to make more time for joy? Maybe you practiced saying ”no” to invitations and requests that weren’t a “hell YES.” Maybe you returned a book to the library unread and didn’t feel guilty about it (that one made it on my list).
Write it down. Ask what worked, and why.
The why is important, because it stops the inner critic in its tracks when it wants to kick the cheerleader off the DJ booth.
Question 2: What could be even better?
You can hear the cheerleader’s voice in the question. Instead of saying: “What do I need to change?” or “What didn’t work?” you are using words that keep you focused on your awesomeness.
Maybe you want to drop a few more things off your to-do list? Maybe you want to start leaving the phone in a different room at night, so you aren’t tempted to scroll? Perhaps you want to find an accountability buddy for more writing, moving, meditating…
Here is your invitation:
Grab a beverage and a snack, set a timer for 10 minutes and answer both questions. The timer is important, because the more time you take, the more opportunity for your inner death metal band to start yelling.
If you want, leave a comment, share what you discovered, and I will cheer you on.
This piece has been adapted from the latest edition of my newsletter. To not miss anything, you can subscribe here. I send letters every other Sunday and people keep telling me that they learn a ton and that reading them makes their week better.
