Seth Godin has written that, as freelancers, we’re our worst boss.
We wouldn’t tolerate a boss who talks to us the way we talk to ourselves.
Meichi Ng, the brilliant cartoonist behind Barely Functional Adult, said,
I think I still don’t have a bulletproof way to silence that voice. But I try to focus on what friends told me. I try to focus on what I know to be true. That might be a bit more positive than what I’m thinking about at the time. And then, if anything, I just talked to friends about it. And I feel like it’s always a good reality check to have someone else tell you what they know about you as opposed to you kind of spiraling into darkness.
Maybe look at your work, imagine it being done by an employee, and imagine giving that employee a figurative pat on the back. It always feels good when the boss recognizes your work. So recognize it in yourself.
