"Like a lot of your personal pieces this resonates with me. I think of these thoughts as dark gremlins. They sit there snidely and insist that things are a certain way. They're just there in the back of your mind, chattering away. Not literally (thinking of Rob Lowe on Parks and Recreation) but ... it's a material thing. I've spent a fair amount of time identifying these dark gremlins, identifying the negative thinking. For me a perfect example was getting over the fear of speaking at conferences. Because the dark gremlins start telling you that no one really wants to hear from you, that people are going to hate your deck, that they're going to laugh at you, that they're going to think you look bad etc. But that's pure crap. You think back to how YOU respond to people when they present. Or course you might have an opinion but it's rarely that polarized and you usually give them a ton of credit for trying - for DOING. Even more though is the fact that you're thinking less about you and..." - AJ Kohn