Replace Self-Criticism With Self-Correction. Look At The Positives, Too. Be As Kind To Yourself As You Are To A Stranger. Let Yourself Be Human. Focus On Your Goals, Not On Your Self-Critic. One way to turn self-critical thoughts into productive ones is to try to identify the reasons why you’re critical of yourself. Once you know the reasons, you can start to work on addressing them. For instance, if you’re critical of yourself because you feel like you’re not good enough, then you might want to start by trying to find things you’re good at. Once you have a list of things you’re good at, you can start to build up your confidence by doing things that make you feel good about yourself. Additionally, you can try to remind yourself that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Recognizing and accepting this fact will help you to stop beating yourself up for making them.