Perfectionism?

I'm not quite sure what your question relates to-avoiding making a mistake in the first place or avoiding your inner critic's voice. If you are referring to avoiding making mistakes-you are quite the perfectionist! Since no one is perfect, we can't avoid making mistakes no matter how hard we try. Instead of expecting perfection from yourself, do your best and then when your inner critic rears his ugly head, tell him to SHUT UP! Then bring up your nurturing inner voice and tell yourself that you tried your best. Tell yourself that everyone makes mistakes and that all we can do is learn from them and move on.

If your question involved quieting your inner critic before he speaks up-that is nearly impossible. Unfortunately, we cannot permanently quiet our inner critic by challenging him or telling him to shut up. This helps at the time, but eventually his voice will return. That is why it is so important to try to replace his voice with another voice-a nurturing inner voice that will substitute the critic's negative messages with positive ones. If you continue to practice bringing up a nurturing inner voice in time your inner critic's voice will not be as loud and you won't hear it as often.