Your private inner dialogue can either be a powerful stepping stone or a major obstacle to reaching your goals. If you constantly make negative predictions like, “I’m going to mess up,” or you call yourself names, your self-talk will rob you of mental strength.

Your thoughts affect how you feel and how you behave. The way you think has the power to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Thinking, “I’ll never get this job,” may cause you to feel discouraged as you walk into an interview. Consequently, you may slump your shoulders, stare at the floor, and make a poor first impression–and inadvertently sabotage your chances of success.

If you have a harsh inner critic, you’re not alone. Self-doubt, catastrophic predictions, and harsh words are common. But, you don’t have to be a victim of your own verbal abuse.

Although there are many exercises that we use in therapy to help people change the way they think, here are seven ways to tame your inner critic: