--- title: Stop Negative Voice Inside Your Head From Holding You Back description: Learn how to silence negative thoughts in order to reach your full potential in the latest Do It Scared podcast from Ruth Soukup. canonical: https://time.com/5325060/stop-negative-voice-inside-head/ author: Ruth Soukup article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-28T16:47:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:58:03.242Z og:title: How to Stop Listening to That Voice Inside Your Head That Says 'You Can’t' og:description: 'That voice doesn’t think we can do it; that voice keeps us stuck' og:url: https://time.com/5325060/stop-negative-voice-inside-head/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2199937e9e4bd808/698934237cdbac413dd5d475/stop-discouraging-thoughts.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Stop Listening to Voice in Head That Says You Can't og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Stop Listening to That Voice Inside Your Head That Says 'You Can’t' twitter:description: 'That voice doesn’t think we can do it; that voice keeps us stuck' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2199937e9e4bd808/698934237cdbac413dd5d475/stop-discouraging-thoughts.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Stop Listening to That Voice Inside Your Head That Says 'You Can’t' by [Ruth Soukup](https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/) ## Ruth Soukup Jun 28, 2018 4:47 PM UTC  How to stop discouraging thoughts that are keeping you from reaching your full potential. How to stop discouraging thoughts that are keeping you from reaching your full potential.PeopleImages—Getty Images by [Ruth Soukup](https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/) ## Ruth Soukup Jun 28, 2018 4:47 PM UTC At some point in your life, when you’ve thought about doing something a little bit bold, a little bit different or a little bit [outside of your comfort zone](http://business.time.com/2013/06/26/6-ways-successful-people-stretch-their-comfort-zones/), you’ve probably heard a voice in the back of your head that’s whispered: “What makes you think that you can do this?” It might be saying that you don’t deserve that raise, or it could be saying that you aren’t as talented or witty or well-spoken as [your co-worker](http://time.com/money/3859327/coworkers-success/). It might be telling you that you’ll never figure out how to [balance motherhood and your career](http://time.com/4528398/working-moms-80-20-rule-work-life-balance/), or that going back to school in order to further your career will be impossible. You’ve probably heard that voice sometime in the past week, or maybe even today. That voice is always there, at the ready, ever cautioning us about venturing too far outside of the places that are safe and familiar. That voice doesn’t think we can do it; that voice [keeps us stuck](http://time.com/2936351/theres-a-good-chance-youre-in-the-wrong-job/). But, it’s time to banish that voice because it’s limiting, unhelpful and keeping you from realizing your ambitions and [full potential](https://hbr.org/2008/07/reaching-your-potential). And while we can’t always stop those limiting beliefs from popping up or that voice from whispering in our ears, we can refuse to listen to it. Because once we’ve recognized a limiting belief for what it is — just a thought that’s holding us back — we can take away the power it has over us and move past it. That’s exactly the topic that I discuss in this episode of the [Do It Scared ](https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Tdu9CgJyJMF162lzS77A38?domain=doitscared.com)[podcast](https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Tdu9CgJyJMF162lzS77A38?domain=doitscared.com), where I share three practical strategies that’ll help you silence that voice and believe in yourself. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5325060/stop-negative-voice-inside-head/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5325060/stop-negative-voice-inside-head/"},"headline":"How to Stop Listening to That Voice Inside Your Head That Says 'You Can’t'","datePublished":"2018-06-28T16:47:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:58:03.242Z","description":"'That voice doesn’t think we can do it; that voice keeps us stuck'","url":"https://time.com/5325060/stop-negative-voice-inside-head/","keywords":["motto","Living","advice","Career & Workplace"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2199937e9e4bd808/698934237cdbac413dd5d475/stop-discouraging-thoughts.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ruth Soukup","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2199937e9e4bd808/698934237cdbac413dd5d475/stop-discouraging-thoughts.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stop Listening to Voice in Head That Says You Can't","caption":"Woman looking into distance","creditText":"PeopleImages—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5325060/stop-negative-voice-inside-head/","name":"How to Stop Listening to That Voice Inside Your Head That Says 'You Can’t'"}}]}] ```