The Gremlin Within You

A Gremlin is one of the most powerful entities known to man. We all experience them. Each of us has one. It is that little voice in your head that tells you that you are not good enough.

The individual message may vary. It may be that you are not ready for the challenge. It might speak to you just as you are about to make a decision about something and make you question your choice. Whatever the words are that it speaks, it has a decided and lasting impact on your life; so long as you let it.

I speak to organizations who want their people to be more confident, be better decision makers and be more profitable. And when I am the speaker at those events I almost always bring up the subject of the Gremlin.

I have no idea who first called that little voice a “Gremlin” but it is an apt label. It lurks around in your subconscious mind waiting to strike. It is ever present, ready to tell you at anytime that you are not fit for the task.

Don’t misunderstand me. I have a Gremlin, just like you do. I deal with it every day. I will hear some speaker give a presentation and think, “Wow, he is so much better than I am.” But he isn’t really. He is just different than I am.

I just came back from the annual meeting of the National Speakers Association. These are such great meetings and they drive home to me the realization that we are all good at what we do so long as we are true to who we are.

I meet speakers who are eloquent, and have a beautiful stage presence. They are the superstars of the speaker business. Then a few minutes later I meet a speaker who looks so ordinary and who has a voice that sounds so commonplace. I look at her badge and see that she is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). That is a high achievement. That speaker got there by being true to who he or she was, not by trying to be someone else. Not by listening to her Gremlin.

What does your Gremlin tell you? Stop listening to it. Oh, you may not have even recognized that you had a Gremlin until this very moment. Be aware that it exists. It will never go away. But you can stop listening to it and prosper being the best “you” that you can be.

Fight back against the dreaded Gremlin.