We all have at least one critic, that voice in your head that constantly gripes about your work not being good enough, not being marketable, not professional looking, not original enough, and blah, blah, blah. Critical voices have their uses: They can help keep you on task, remind you of the client/market’s needs, and keep you looking for ways to improve your work. But most of the time, these jerks in your head  just distract you, stress you out, and force you to play it safe instead of following your instincts, seriously hampering your creativity and stopping you from growing your skills and talent.

With the critic is in your head, it seems nearly impossible to get away from it. But you can. It takes a little effort and on some days, it will take a little time, but you will work smoother, more creatively, and faster if you can muzzle it for a while.

Here are some things you can try that can quiet down the critic–

• Practice your craft first thing in the morning, before coffee or news or email or even getting out of bed if you can. When your brain is still groggy, you are less likely to be self-critical due to your brain not producing much in the way of beta waves (present with critical and anxious thinking). And that state of mind tends to stay with you during the day–it’s like setting a default state of mind by making it your first experience of the day.

• If your critic is really mouthing off and you can’t get anything done, do something different, something either energy releasing or calming. I like to dance, sing or sketch. For some people, a jog helps, or playing a purely reactive (not problem solving) video game, or cooking. Do whatever switches you to a calmer, more open state of mind.

• Displace the critic in your head with a live voice. Share your project with someone you trust and ask for them to give you their impression (not their critique). Another person’s feedback will help you see your work in a new light. The process of having to explain  your work in answer to a question or to explain your reasoning will force you to spell out what you are doing–something that doesn’t usually occur when it’s just you and the voices in your head. You should be able to see more clearly after this, but just be careful not to let that one person’s opinion become a new critic in your head. It’s just one person’s opinion.

• Take nap. This will reset your brain. And when you wake, stay laying down with your eyes closed and let your mind wander over the issues with your project, let if free transfrom the images or the storyline and see what comes up. I’ve solved more design problems this way than with anything else.

You don’t need to shut up your critic permanently but, especially at the beginning of a project when you should just be focused on getting forms, colors, words and ideas down, being too self-critical can really cut you off from all the possibilities. Invite your critic back when it’s time for final editing and touch ups. That’s when its useful.