Inner Critic Inner Success: Claiming Your Success While Taming the Critics

by Stacey Sargent

Inner Critic Inner Success straddles the worlds of business and self-help in a way that’s bursting with smarts yet is full of soul. It’s a guide to finding the sweet spot in life where you can hold both success and doubt in a way that feels actionable and spacious instead of pointless and stuck. This book helps you capitalize on the dynamic and powerful relationship between critic and success. With attention and awareness, you’ll become adept at seeing the dynamics of how success and doubt play off each other on a daily basis. You’ll begin to transform that negative Inner Critic voice into a beam of light that spotlights your most cherished hopes, values and strengths. It challenges you to define success in a radical new way — on YOUR terms (versus what society, culture and business dictate) and from the perspective of how you feel about success not just how you think.

BOOK REVIEWS

"Simply 'acting' more confident has limited women at best, and made them feel inauthentic at worst. But Inner Critic takes a close look at self-defeating voices and uses them to achieve authentic career success. Feels like a one-on-one coaching process. This book will help students, employees, entrepreneurs and executives alike take charge of achieving their own definition of success."
-- Caroline Simard, PhD, Associate Director, Stanford School of Medicine Office of Diversity and Leadership and STEM diversity consultant.

"I feel like I spent the last decade of my career searching for a book like this. In Inner Critic Inner Success Stacey managed to stop me in my tracks with her humorous, yet inspiring approach toward self-awareness and creating success. Many of the pages felt like they were speaking directly to me and my struggles over the years. Her book provides practical exercises, tools, and playful stories that keep you engaged while stretching you in new ways. It's an absolutely brilliant read...the type that shakes you in all the right ways."
-- Joanna Lord, Chief Marketing Officer, Big Door

“Brilliantly written, with humor and a willingness to offer real life experience, Sargent gets to the heart of the matter and connects with her readers in a real way. The beauty of Inner Critic Inner Success is that is starts from the inside out. It doesn’t ask you to change who you are, but rather leverage who you are to experience more success.”
-- Tracy Burns, CEO, Northeast Human Resources Association

“A deep bow of gratitude to Stacey Sargent for having the courage, humor, and wisdom to tackle this topic. A gift that will empower readers to shift their own relationship with their inner critic.”
-- Matt Walker, CEO of Inner Passage and Author of Adventure In How the Five Elements of Adventure Create a Life of Authenticity, Purpose and Inspiration

"An intelligent look at why fighting fear doesn’t work, and how learning from your inner critic can transform your life, your work and your world. Thanks to the author’s leadership experience, willingness to share personal struggles and practical tools that invite real-life change, this is one of the best books on the inner critic that I’ve read.”
-- Lynn Baldwin-Rhoades, Founder, Power Chicks International

Genres: Self Help, Psychology, Business, Leadership, Nonfiction

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2013

About the author

Stacey is an inspiring, energetic and authentic facilitator, coach, speaker and author – and the CEO of Connect Growth and Development. She is an advocate of bringing humanity back into the workplace. She has held positions over the last 20 years in evolutionary industries performing leadership, strategic and design vision roles in business, accounting and finance, consulting, client relations, software design and development. Stacey paired her degree in Business with a Masters in Applied Behavioral Science to create the “work love of her life”.

Her approach is about whole-person intelligence – partnering the logical with the creative, the rational with the emotional, our brain and our body. She helps people make the connection between their inner and outer selves so they can bring all their superpowers to any endeavor, in work and life.

Stacey is the author of Inner Critic, Inner Success: Claiming Your Own Success While Taming the Critic. She aspires to do more of the work she loves with more fantastic organizations, helping them discuss What Really Matters.


Photo credit: Mallory MacDonald

Reviews

[Colin Bodell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book. Almost as good as being in class with Stacey. What I love about Inner Critic Inner Success is the very pragmatic way it covers key topics; the case studies are invaluable examples of real life situations we've all come across before. I found the book to be a great refresher on a number of topics that Stacey has taught me and my team. I'm also recommending the book to friends and colleagues with little formal background in the areas cover by the book as it's a *very* approachable read. Makes my stocking stuffer list very easy for this year's holidays! Congratulations Stacey - an awesome book filled with your personal passion!

[Heather Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like having an honest conversation with your best friend. I will come back to this book often. It gives good advice for understanding yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and then ways to leverage both. That's the brilliance. Greatness and weakness go hand-in-hand. Stacey brings that to light in funny and honest dialogue. This is a must read.

[Daniale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I never thought that I could be the one holding me back from being better in any regard. This book definitely opened my eyes. I can't believe the things I have learned so far and to be honest, I had to stop reading this book. Not because I found it lacking, but because I could see and understand that i needed to slow down and take the activities one at a time. It's not easy, this fight against my inner critics, especially Bella and Dita as I have named them, but Stacey Sargent has provided the guidance needed for me, and she can do it for you too.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine book. I am surprised. Anything about the 'inner critic' is a bit too yoga for my liking...

Normally...

But I very impressed by the management of emotion in the workplace. I argue very strongly that boundaries are crucial to enabling professionalism at work.

I still agree with myself (!!!), but Sargent argues that emotions are triggers for self-reflection, fear or embarrassment.

Also, there is a strong honesty in this book, presenting the balance between being underconfident, yet continuing to strive for success.

Excellent. And inspiring.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wasn’t all that impressed

I’m not sure why I was sent this book to read. I’m a life coach among other things. There is nothing new in this book just maybe the activities were done slightly different than what I’ve been doing for years. all of it seems more ego stroking to me but that might be because I don’t really like authors who just talk about themselves and their clients. To each their own though.