" The biggest trouble with critics is that, most of the time, we’re our own greatest critic. This is a universally understood concept—that you are your own harshest judge. So how do you get away from the voice of criticism when the voice is inside your head?
Where did this voice come from? So often the critic started outside but then moved inside. We rehearsed the outside voice for long enough that it became a part of us.
If you grew up with parents who said you were strong and could accomplish anything you set your mind to, you are much more likely to succeed than if your parents were constantly pointing out your failures.
I gave a speech at a prayer breakfast a few years ago and kept asking my audience, over and over again, “Who do you want to be? What do you want your life to be about?” You get to decide who you want to be. Not anyone else. Not your critics. Not the voice inside your head. You. And if you want to be the kind of person who paves the way for others, who overcomes impossible challenges, who sets the bar higher and higher, who wakes others up to the potential lying dormant in them, who unlocks and unleashes your own hidden and unimaginable potential, then nothing will stop you. Not even your own doubts. "

― Scott Hamilton , Finish First: Winning Changes Everything