Here’s the advice I gave my son at the piano yesterday as he struggles with self-criticism:
You have two choices:
- Be less self-critical of your mistakes.
- Be more self-praising of your successes.
Pick one.
They must balance. If you are justified in your self-criticism, you must be justified in self-praise. If being proud of your work is unjustified, then being critical of shortcomings must also be unjustified.