Be The Writer Of Your Own Story.

The start of my company as a business psychologist here in Switzerland was not easy. I had no network, didn’t know the culture, and my German was flawed. I felt quite vulnerable. That’s why I tended not to make waves. My mind wanted to protect me from criticism.

As a psychologist, I knew that was not the right approach.

I had to overcome my fears if I wanted to be successful. The way to do that was by doing the very thing all my instincts told me not to do: exposing myself as I was, with my flaws and vulnerabilities. I chose LinkedIn as the platform and video as the format.

The day I recorded my first video, I could feel my anxiety building up. The peak was when I had to click “upload”—it took me a full minute to do it. Finally, I clicked.

The reaction from most people was kind and supportive. But, of course, the critics didn’t take long to appear. Many of them focused on my accent. “Until you speak perfect German, you have no chance,” some said. The message, more or less, was “You are not enough.” I’m sure many of you have received or are receiving similar messages.

I could have listened to them and stopped making videos, or I could double down and see what happened. I chose the latter. Since then, I have found fantastic and supportive people like you who have helped me achieve my current success.

Don’t get me wrong: I am very aware that I am far from perfect, and I worked every day to improve, especially my German and English. But I know that I am more than capable of doing my job. I had a successful company in Spain before coming to Switzerland, and I had already changed the lives of many people as a psychologist.

So, who should I listen to? Them? Or myself?

Anyone can lose their self-esteem at any time. I have incredibly successful and intelligent clients who have had difficult times and lost trust in themselves. I help them find their inner strength again, so they can reach the next level of success.

Learn to listen to yourself. Your inner voice must be stronger than the noise of naysayers and critics. You have to know and trust yourself to a level where nobody can affect you. It is a process. It takes work.

Self-esteem is the engine that drives us toward our goals. And the foundation for your self-esteem is knowing who you are. Knowing your real story. So, my question to you is:

Are you going to write your own story, or are you going to let the critics write it for you?

Carmen Lopez, Business Psychologist