How To Work With (Not Against) Your Inner Censor
Do you ever hesitate to say exactly what you want to say?
Or find it hard to actually get your stories written and out of your own head?
Or feel just plain stuck with your storytelling?
If so, your obstacle might be your inner censor.
The inner censor is a bit like the inner critic, but slightly different.
While the inner critic says, “you’re not good enough”, or “your work won’t be good enough,” the inner censor sounds more like:
“You can’t say that.”
“What if you’re misinterpreted?”
“You don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
“You don’t want to sound like ________.”
“What if you come off the wrong way?”
"Maybe you should just wait until you know exactly the right thing to say."
When you’re starting to write, or even thinking about what you want to say, the inner censor can put up a big, red stop sign — halting the work before it's even begun.
This can be a problem, but it’s not all bad.
The inner censor can stop your writing in its tracks, but it also has a job to do.
It can help you make sure that you say what you mean, and do so with compassion and consideration.
It can help you carefully consider your tone and how you want to come across.
It can help you consider your audience and the implications of your writing.
It can help ensure that you tell stories that align with your values and the impact that you want to have.
The problem isn’t the inner censor, per se. It’s when the inner censor gets on the scene too soon.
That’s because the inner censor is best used in the editing process, not in the writing process.
The writing (and ideation) process is deservedly messy. It can be emotional, angry, ranty. It can be raw. It can be ridiculous. It can be filled with more vulnerability and gory details than you ever want anyone else to see.
This is often the phase where we get to the heart of things.
If we censor too soon, we’ll never discover the stories we really have to tell. What we’re most passionate about. What our unique, unfiltered perspective is. What our most impactful, honest, ground-shaking stories are.
But writing is only one part of storytelling. Editing is another crucial step.
The editing process is when you take your initial ideas and drafts and make them better. That’s where the inner censor is useful. If used appropriately in this phase, your inner censor can challenge you to do conscientious, thoughtful, and deliberate work.
In this context, your inner censor isn’t holding up a stop sign, but a caution sign, letting you know when something isn’t quite right, or needs more consideration.
Obviously it’s best if your inner censor doesn’t redact the entire page; we need to be bold and daring at times. But you’ll never get to decide how bold you want to be if you don’t first put something on the page.
So, if your inner censor is cropping up, save it for the editing process.
In the meantime, here are two methods to prevent it from commandeering your storytelling efforts.
Method #1: Get it all out first.
If your inner censor is halting your writing, give it a voice. List all the ways you don’t want to come across, the tone you don’t want to have, all the stuff that you’re worried about or want to avoid with this topic. Consider it all duly noted. You’ll heed those concerns later.
Then, having put a pin in that, you’re now free to say whatever the heck you want to say. Go nuts. You’ll edit later.
Method #2: Turn down the volume.
Know that the censor is going to keep popping up, saying things in the background, chattering away.
Let it happen. But rather than following all your censor's threads and ideas, imagine turning down the volume on them.
You can turn the volume up later if you want (i.e. in the editing or review phase) but for now, just quiet them down so you can keep writing.
Yep, that’s it. When in doubt, just keep writing, doing the work you’re proud of, striving to make things better as you go.