Fire your inner critic: it’ll be your best restructure yet
By Mark Jones
It wasn’t until I had a proper breakdown that I understood why people harp on about self-care.
I’m so glad we’re normalising conversations about wellbeing and mental fitness these days - eat well, move your body, take breaks and micro-breaks, breathe, sleep well. It’s all good advice.
But I was too busy for any of it.
My eating, sleeping and exercise habits were all bad. Until my bubble of invincibility burst one day in Bunnings with a devastating panic attack.
“Breakdown in Aisle 10”
The irony of being in a medical professional’s office being told I need to fix my eating, sleeping and exercise – when all I wanted was a quick fix to “get back to normal” – is not lost on me now.
At the time, I was thinking: thank you, Doctor Obvious. I paid all this money for basics?
Well, once I got over myself, I was forced to face the truth. I’d crashed and hit rock bottom. But the mountain of responsibilities and privileges as a father, CEO, freshly minted professional speaker and entrepreneur was still there.
The mountain wasn’t falling over. It was me.
How many of us carry a belief that if we stop, the mountain will fall over?
The turning point
I found a sleep psychologist, joined a gym, started logging food and being intentional about nutrition, and armed with a Mental Health Care Plan from my GP, started therapy.
Which is where the first spark that’s now lighting up The Story Code flared.
In therapy sessions I discovered I had a problem with self-belief and self-talk. I was telling myself negative stories. Or rather, my inner critic - I call her Margaret - was in the wings, throwing me lines, like -
“I’m not a real CEO.”
Saying that out loud undid me in one of my sessions.
There were a bunch of expectations I’d put on myself – a story narrative, if you will – as to how my life should unfold; what sort of person, father, boss, character I was meant to play, and with a script I’d never questioned.
And the story playing out was not the life I’d imagined.
Rewriting the script
Five years down the track, I’ve never felt a stronger sense of purpose and confidence in who I am and what I can offer the world.
Launching 28 October, The Story Code™ is more than a book.
It is the culmination of:
me recognising the crippling power of a negative storytelling mindset – one where our inner critic is in charge of the script; and,
realising the very tools I’d built my identity and career on as a “master storyteller” for brands, and a journalist for mastheads like the Australian Financial Review, could be re-engineered to change the stories we tell ourselves.
It may seem like my version of Doctor Obvious saying, “Exercise, eat well and sleep well.”
The truth is, changing your story changes everything – and I really, really want you to get serious about it. It could save your life and career. It did mine.
The leadership mirror
If you lead people, here’s a truth-bomb: your self-leadership narrative is likely mirrored in your leadership performance.
Look closely at the things you love and loathe the most about your team.
If you secretly believe you’re constantly behind, your team likely feels that pressure.
If you secretly lead from self-doubt, your team likely feels you question them a lot.
If you secretly feel out of control, your team likely feels you micro-manage them.
By contrast, when you lead with an intentional storytelling mindset – casting yourself as the lead who is grounded, optimistic, authentic, for example – that energy multiplies.
You take back control of the script, and you’ll start to notice other people’s performance in different ways.
The four Story Code Keys™
This book isn’t another “fix yourself” manual. It’s a call to rediscover who you already are beneath the noise.
Interview after interview, I heard again and again that the leaders who thrive are those who take all four self-care pillars seriously. They give themselves permission to rest, reflect and rewrite. They know that clarity and confidence start within.
Sure, it requires a level of boldness and vulnerability to confront uncomfortable truths. But hey, that’s the story of life – you can try and outrun the struggles, but they’ll catch you eventually.
My four keys to cracking your inner story code are:
Challenge your story
Overwrite with truth
Decide your new direction
Encode your new beliefs in daily habits
Happily, that’s an acronym for CODE.
The Story Code is a proven process for turning the abstract idea of “positive mindset” into a lived experience. I’m healthier than I’ve been in a long time, and humbled by the feedback from those who’ve read my manuscript or completed our Flip the Script course already: “It changed my life.”
Why it matters to you, right now
If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re enough, replayed old failures, or felt you’ve lost your spark – this book is for you.
You don’t need to wait for a crisis or burnout to make a change. Start by asking one simple question:
Is the story I’m telling myself right now helping or hurting me?
When you start noticing your inner critic, you’ll see patterns. Some stories lift you up. Others hold you back. The moment you recognise that, you’ve already begun to change.
That’s the power of The Story Code.
A story worth believing
When people ask me why I wrote The Story Code, my answer is simple: our collective understanding of wellbeing undervalues the importance of an intentionally scripted storytelling mindset.
We need healthy bodies and calm minds, yes. We need to fuel ourselves with well-balanced nutrition, yes. But we also need healthy beliefs for strength from the inside out.
You get to fire the inner critic, scrub limiting beliefs from the script, and cast characters – including your own – to play key roles in your new story.
I’ve lived it. I’ve seen it. And I want it for you.
By crafting a new storytelling mindset, you don’t just feel better – you lead better, live better, and inspire others to do the same.
The Story Code is my invitation to you: to pause, listen, and begin the most important conversation you’ll ever have – the one with yourself.
Onwards,
Mark
Register free to join me for the live-stream book launch:
📅 Tuesday 28 October
🕖 7:00pm AEDT
If you can’t make it live, I can send you a post-event recording - let me know?.
Feeling burnt out?
Burnout is a very real, shared human experience right now. Maybe things look good on the outside, but on the inside,
You feel burned out and exhausted
Your inner critic says, 'You're just faking it!'
You feel stuck or at a crossroads in your career
Join a 4-week peer-based executive coaching program - September and October places still available, $995
I’ve created a neuroscience-informed process that shifts your identity, not just your habits, with a proven framework for rewriting your story based on decades as a Financial Review editor, brand strategist and master storyteller, author, CEO and Certified Professional Speaker (CSP).
Ready to FLIP the SCRIPT and re-fuel your energy?
Onwards!
Mark
Hey, you got to the end! Nice work.
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