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Deny your inner critic the power to inhibit your trying new things, speaking out, or creating the life you want.
“I feel a woman should go with her ideas, no matter how crazy she may think they are at the time.” Karen LeCocq, award winning sculptor One of the most common obstacles to success is that inner critic and naysayer, a person who is all too ready to sabotage success. Had Karen LeCocq listened to her self-defeating thoughts, she would have missed the unusual experience that led to her acceptance and success as an “Absolut Artist.” Karen is a painter, sculptor, photographer, and teacher who read an article about Michel Roux, then President and CEO of Carillon Importers and the creative genius behind the Absolut Vodka Signature ad campaign in the early 1990s. He had commissioned such artists as Andy Warhol in ads that read: “Absolut Warhol.” Karen decided she wanted to be one of those Absolut Artists, even though she knew that Roux was receiving hundreds of solicitations from other artists every week. So she set out to do it. “I got out all of my Art in America and Art News magazines and looked up each Absolut artist ad. I visualized an “Absolute LeCocq” ad being one of them. I went out and purchased the four varieties of Absolut vodka so I could construct four sculpture pieces around them.” What Karen calls her “self-stop tapes: were playing full blast, telling her, “That will never work; people will think you’re crazy; you’ll spend a lot of money and once again you’ll end up with nothing.” But Karen recognized those thoughts for what they were: internal obstacles that could be ignored. In 1993 all of Karen’s pieces were purchased by Carillon. She became one of the three Absolut Artists that year, joining such figures as Keith Haring, Ed Ruscha, Kenny Scharf, ,and Ginner Ruffner. The “Absolut LeCocq” ad appeared on the back inside cover of Art Forum, the international art magazine, as well as on the back cover of twenty national magazines, including Conde Nast Traveler, Harper’s Bazaar, and Spy. Karen says now that she does her art because “I believe in it, and because I believe in myself. Of course, there are times I don’t believe in myself—when all that’s in my head are negative thoughts from the many people who have told me that I was crazy, that my work wasn’t good. I feel money is the reward an artist receives when she begins getting recognition. When and if it comes, it gives you validation in the real world. Until then, and even after that, you have to learn to validate yourself.” Karen adds, “I feel a woman should go with her ideas, no matter how crazy she may think they are at the time. I would encourage anyone with a burning desire to do something to just go for it. You don’t want to wake up when you’re in your nineties and realize you never even tried for your dream.” Deny your inner critic the power to inhibit your trying new things, speaking out, or creating the life you want. Have fun, Click here to see all my blogs Pam Gilberd, www.pamgilberd.net, writes and speaks on career, life, and success issues. Her books include: The Eleven Commandments of Wildly Successful Women., The Twelfth Commandment of Wildly Successful Women, and Leadership Secrets of Elizabeth I Only registered users can write comments.
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