self-criticism..........
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self-criticism..........
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Self-criticism Writers
and other artists are often self-deprecating and openly critical of
their work. Sometimes humorously or facetiously, but often seriously.
Are talented people more likely to be critical of themselves and their
work?
Pursuing excellence demands evaluating both our work and ourselves in various ways, but highly talented people are, according to writers on giftedness, often susceptible to perfectionism and unreasonably high standards and expectations that can be self-limiting. A number of actors report being dissatisfied with their performances on film; some won’t even watch dailies or see their finished movies. And a high level of talent does not assure you will always feel you are “good enough.” Meryl Streep admitted in an interview last year, “I have varying degrees of confidence and self-loathing.... You can have a perfectly horrible day where you doubt your talent...” Lesley Sword, director of Gifted and Creative Services, Australia, notes in an article that gifted children [who happen to grow up to be gifted adults] are “highly self critical and over reactive to the criticism of others. They express dissatisfaction with themselves; they see what ‘ought to be’ in themselves... They have a vision of perfectionism that they measure themselves against and they can become despondent sometimes even depressed, at their perceived failure.” And that indicates the shadow side of being overly critical of our work, our abilities and identity: it can deflate and depress, corrode our creative vitality. > continued article: Being Creative and
Self-critical - by Douglas Eby
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Step 3. It's time to rebel against any old memories of limitation. Against scars from criticism. Against denied encouragement and recognition. Just rebel!!! Get over it!
OK -- so you came to believe that something was wrong with you. That you were somehow imperfect or limited.
Just stop buying into that. It's false, and no longer appropriate for who you really are. That's what is meant by the expression, "You become exactly what, and who, you think you are."
That is, you are NOT a poor writer or an inept actor -- but if you BELIEVE you are, you WILL act in that way.
> from article In Praise of Rebellion - by Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
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I have varying degrees of confidence and self-loathing.... You can have a perfectly horrible day where you doubt your talent. It could be about not feeling able to achieve a certain scene or about an emotion you feel you weren't able to get to... Or that you're boring and they're going to find out that you don't know what you're doing... any one of those things. Meryl
Streep .. [The
Sunday Times Magazine, October 2004] |
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Kate
Winslet : Over
the years, the stakes have become higher for me. Sometimes I wake up in
the morning before going oft to a shoot, and I
think, I
can't do this;
I'm a fraud. They're
going to fire me -- all these things. I'm fat; I'm ugly; I look like a
whore! [laughs]
[Interview
mag., Nov, 2000] |
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Some
Traits of creative people In
1980 as part of my doctoral studies of Creative Thinking I did a study
of the traits of Creative People. I chose two educational journals and
two psychological journals and searched for articles on the traits of
creative people from 1950 to 1980. In total their were over
150 researchers and experts on creativeness, creative
thinking, creativity and creative people.
From
the list came over 400 separate traits. From that I pulled out 32...
including:
sensitive
not motivated by money sense of
destiny adaptable tolerant of
ambiguity
observant perceive world differently see possibilities able to fantasize flexible fluent self-knowledgeable divergent thinker curious independent severely critical .... more on page - giftedness:
characteristics |
| Women are
often so terrified of being imperfect. They don't want to be laughed at.
And it holds them back. Young men are taught to take criticism in a kind of
impersonal way.
Psychologists have documented that women believe that approval is like oxygen, which can make it too painful to be a risk-taker or leader because you're too visible and the criticism hurts so much. ... |
Women have been raised not to step up to the plate. They're supposed to think it's cute to say, "Oh, I can't do it. Oh God, I can't believe this." That's considered feminine, but it's really a lot of whining. Naomi Wolf - quote and photo from Woodhull Institute > more on perfectionism 2 |
| A
team of researchers reported in the Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology
[1998] that women who wear skimpy swimsuits find that their ability to
solve academic puzzles shrinks.
The problem, says psychologists Barbara Frederickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts is that women are so self-conscious.. that they tend to "step outside their bodies" to view their looks critically. |
Female test subjects "were so self-conscious about wearing a bathing suit that it affected their mental alertness," Roberts said. > more on body image 2 |
Michael L.
Ray: -
from "Creativity
in Business: Individual Enlightenment
Within
Organizational Transformation",
The InnerEdge Newsletter, Oct/Nov.99]
Michael L. Ray, Ph.D. is author of book Creativity In Business
Sometimes
we hear it in our own
voice.
It says things like: "I don't really have it.
I'm not good enough. It won't
work.
I'll fail. I'll make mistakes and look foolish.
I can't make a living with my
talent."
...
Fortunately, talent waits patiently behind our fear and self-doubt...
By confronting those critical voices in our heads, it is possible to disempower them.
Lucia Capacchione, PhD
- from her book: Putting
Your Talent to Work
When
self-criticism and
external standards are
removed, the expressive arts
allow our soul voice to
flow through more
readily. ....
Lucia Capacchione, PhD - from her book: Living With Feeling: The Art of Emotional Expression
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| Martin
Seligman.. has described an effective
technique for countering what he refers to as "catastrophic thoughts." The trick is first to recognize the despairing idea -- "I'm the weakest employee in the department, and I'm probably going to get fired" -- and then check it against real evidence, as if the statement were being uttered by another person trying to make you miserable. By arguing with yourself in this way, Seligman has shown, you can separate beliefs from facts, defusing many pessimistic assumptions by editing them according to logic and evidence. ... Psychologists find, for example, that depressed people often turn small foibles and mistakes into stinging self-criticism. |
In studies during the
1970s
and 1980s, Seligman and other investigators showed that depressed
people who learn to recognize and disarm this kind of reflexive
pessimism and self-attacking can free themselves of
feelings of
worthlessness, fatigue and other symptoms of the condition. >
from article Searching for a happiness strategy by
Benedict Carey [LA Times, Dec 9, 2002] - more quotes on positive psychology > book: Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment - by Martin E. Seligman, PhD. |
Gifted children.. are highly self critical and over reactive
to the criticism of others.
They express
dissatisfaction with themselves; they see what
"ought to be" in themselves
and they can be unhappy with "what
is".
They
have a vision of perfectionism that they measure themselves against and
they can become despondent
sometimes even depressed,
at their perceived failure.
>
from article Psycho-social
Needs: Understanding The Emotional, Intellectual and Social
Uniqueness
Of Growing Up Gifted - By Lesley Sword
Emotionally
intense gifted people often experience intense inner conflict, self-criticism,
anxiety
and feelings of inferiority. The medical community often sees these
conflicts
as symptoms and labels gifted people
neurotic.
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| Clients who
are passionately engaged with their talent but are constantly separated
from the creative experience by relentless self-criticism, self-doubt,
and feelings of inferiority often suffer from another type of block.
It is often accompanied by depression and the periodic shutting down of their spontaneous creative impulses. from article: Counseling Issues with Recognized and Unrecognized Gifted Adults by Mary Rocamora |
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Are you determined to do your best at all costs?
Do
you feel inadequate to measure up to your personal standards?
Are
consumed with self-doubt and self-criticism?
Is
self-perfection or the perfection of your life's work the central
driving force of your existence?
> from 7. Perfectionism section of self-tests: giftedness / exceptional ability
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Jennifer Jason Leigh: I look at acting as my life. I invest almost everything I can in it. ... I do a lot of head stuff before I get there, but once I'm there, doing my part, it feels instinctual and it's where I'm freest. If you're going for something that's honest, you have to be very honest with yourself. You're facing the truth about yourself all the time. Some of those truths you don't always welcome, because they can highlight your limitations or your inabilities. These are the stumbling blocks that you have to get past somehow. ... It's exciting and it's paralyzing. ............[Interview mag., Jan, 1996] |
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*related pages:.....anxiety.......intuition / instinct........the shadow self~ ~ ~ ~
....articles:
There are two kinds of negative feedback, the kind that – as painful as it is – is generally accurate and helpful and the kind that is totally without merit.
The Inner Critic (issue of Living The Creative Life newsletter - includes book references on dealing with destructive self-talk)
The Inner Dialogue - By Remez Sasson
The process and effect of these inner conversations is similar to affirmations. Constant thinking about the same subject influences the subconscious mind, which consequently accepts these thoughts and words and acts on them. Negative inner dialogues bring negative results, and positive inner dialogues bring positive results. You can use this process to your advantage.Internal barriers, personal issues, and decisions faced by gifted and talented females - by Sally M. Reis, Ph.D.
[excerpt:] On the other hand, concern over mistakes, perceived parental expectations, and perceived parental criticisms were the salient factors for the gifted unhealthy/dysfunctional female perfectionists. They possessed a fixation about making mistakes that resulted in a high state of anxiety. Their definitions of perfectionism focused on not making any errors.Negative self-talk - by Douglas Eby
"When negative self-talk robs us of our enthusiasm for our dreams, we're suffering from the classic creative block... Self-criticism can seriously injure potential talent that wants to be expressed." These quotes from the book "Putting Your Talent to Work" by Lucia Capacchione and Peggy Van Pelt emphasize the damaging impact of some "inner dialogues" we may have with ourselves.Self-Knowledge, Self-Esteem and the Gifted Adult - by Stephanie S. Tolan
Many gifted adults seem to know very little about their minds and how they differ from more "ordinary" minds. The result of this lack of self-knowledge is often low, sometimes cripplingly low self esteem. Though women are particularly hard-pressed in our culture to recognize and fully utilize unusual intelligence, uncertainty about gifts can affect both males and females, especially those who are not recognized as intellectual achievers.
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....books:
Melody Beattie. Stop Being Mean to Yourself: A Story About Finding the True Meaning of Self-Love
books by Nathaniel Branden, PhD:
Honoring the Self : The Psychology of Confidence and RespectA Woman's Self-Esteem: Struggles and Triumphs in the Search for Identity
Robert J. Furey. You Are Good Enough : Overcoming Feelings of Inadequacy
Milton Katselas. Dreams Into Action: Getting What You Want! Life need not be something we are in awe of, overwhelmed and frightened by. Nor do we need to be continually critical in our approach to life. Awe, fear and criticism of our own lives, or others', lead us to a lower self-esteem, a disastrous response...
Stan Taubman. Ending the Struggle Against Yourself : A Workbook for Developing Deep Confidence and Self-Acceptance
Dr. Valerie Young's often humorous and always on target insight into why so many bright, capable women seem to doubt their competence. Learn what the Impostor Syndrome is -- and isn't. This live presentation includes strategies to help you to start seeing yourself as the intelligent and competent person you really are. handbook / ebook / CD program from Changing Course
> more titles:
change / growth : books---impostor syndrome 2 :
quotes articles books....
perfectionism 3 :
quotes articles books......self-esteem / self concept : sites articles books
self-coaching.quotes articles books.....self-limiting resources : articles books.....
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