When something goes wrong, it's easy to add another layer of difficulty by being hard on ourselves.
What's wrong with me?
I should be able to handle this.
Why can't I cope?
In this People Soup Quick Spoon, Dr Amanda Super recalls a nurse telling her:
“You're being very hard on yourself.”
That comment helped Amanda discover self-compassion — and it got me thinking about how differently we sometimes speak to ourselves compared with the way we'd speak to someone we care about.
So here's something to try:
Imagine a close friend is in the same situation as you.
What would you say to them?
How would you speak to them?
What tone would you use?
And then ask yourself:
What would it be like to speak to myself in the same way?
A small exercise — but potentially a useful way to notice how we treat ourselves when things get difficult.
This Quick Spoon comes from my conversation with Dr Amanda Super about self-compassion, ambition, boundaries and being human at work.
Listen to the full conversation on People Soup.
People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.
If this episode resonated with you, please consider following People Soup, leaving a rating or review, or sharing it with someone who might find it useful.
Every recommendation helps more people discover practical, evidence-based conversations about work, leadership and being human.
Here's the People Soup Website.
And you can subscribe to the People Soup YouTube Channel here.
Visit Ross' Website.
Connect with Ross on LinkedIn
People Soup on Instagram which also features plenty of Ross' photos of the Andalusian life.
