secret No: 6 - conquering saboteurs

i am participating in the next chapter group reading 12 secrets of highly creative women

conquering saboteurs... dealing with gremlins can be our biggest hurdle to success, or if you take them the right way, they can be the very thing that guides you towards success.

i believe that when our self-critic comes along, we should deal with it in the same way we would deal with any other critic - listen politely, take any constructive ideas they may have, then remember your strengths and throw away the rest. if you know your own strengths and remind yourself of these often, it is not so easy to fall into a trembling heap - you know the power that you have.

gremlins have been hounding me for a while now telling me that my water-colour technique was not up to scratch. i believe that my strengths are colour and design. with this core of self-belief, i was able to listen to the gremlins when they told me to look at the quality of my work.

i could have torn up my efforts in disgust and cried or given up completely, but instead i listened. my work was not bad, it was just time to find some lessons on technique - a learning curve. read some books, watch a demonstration, do some research. things are falling into place now and i am moving forward with confidence, now that i have acquired some new skills.

so if you can find your strengths and remind yourself of them every day, you will empower yourself. if someone tells you they like something about your work, write it down. print out an encouraging blog comment, write your strengths in lipstick on your bathroom mirror! create a positive mantra built around them. then when the gremlins come along you will be able to stare them down, or better still, take away something useful.