From Defensive Tackle to Offensive Guard: Transforming Your Inner Gremlin Into an Ally

December 2025

Hello Community—I hope everyone’s holiday season is off to a great start! As I’m writing this, college football playoffs and bowl games are being announced. While I never attended UCONN, my dad has been a season ticket holder for the football team for over 20 years. I try to make it to at least one game each season with him. Last month, I joined him and his friends for the UCONN vs. Duke game.

My dad and his friends take tailgating very seriously. We were one of the first twenty cars in the parking lot, and true to tradition there were multiple meals cooked both before and after the game. The day did not disappoint. The weather was perfect, the food was on point, and the game was as exciting as it could get, with UCONN pulling out a 37–34 win!!

Now, I don’t know a lot about football, though I understand the basics and have a foundational grasp of the terminology. What I really enjoy is the event of it all—the marching band, the crowd’s energy, and the performance unfolding on the field. To me, the different plays feel like choreography: improvisational scores where each athlete executes their specific part in relation to everyone else.

And at one point during the game, out of nowhere, I was reminded of a deeply impactful coaching session from several years ago—one where I was the client. It was a session that completely shifted how I understood my inner world and my relationship with my Gremlin.

From Defensive Tackle to Offensive Guard:

Transforming Your Gremlin Into an Ally

If you’ve worked with me or if you’ve been a longtime reader of this newsletter, you’ve likely heard me talk about Gremlins before. But if the concept is new to you or you need a refresher, here’s a quick overview:

Your Gremlin is…

• the inner critic voice that whispers (or sometimes shouts), “Not enough.”
• the part of you that tries to “protect” you by keeping you small, safe, silent, or stuck.
• a master of fear, doubt, comparison, and perfectionism.
• most active during stress, uncertainty, transition, or moments that invite you to grow.

The Gremlin is one of our Internal Blockers—the mental and emotional patterns that filter how we interpret ourselves, challenges, and the world around us. The other Internal Blocks are:

• Assumptions
• Interpretations
• Limiting Beliefs

These filters often operate beneath the surface, and they shape our reactions, decisions, and behavior more than we realize. They can hold us back or keep us cycling in the same patterns.

However, once we recognize and acknowledge these internal blocks, we can shift them, reassign them, or release them so we can take aligned, intentional action.

Today, I want to focus on the Gremlin and why the football game reminded me of how I began shifting my relationship with mine.

One of the first ways I started changing that relationship was by giving it a name. For now, we’ll call her “A.” Naming your Gremlin can be incredibly powerful because it signals to your brain that the Gremlin’s voice is not your voice. It creates space. It helps you see the dialogue as something you can observe, challenge, and even renegotiate.

For years, “A” showed up loud. She still has her moments, with some of her favorite lines being:

“You’re not ready.”
“Others are more qualified.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“You’re doing too much.”
“You’re not doing enough.”

If these sound familiar, then your Gremlin might be friends with mine.

In that coaching session, my coach said, “You don’t need to get rid of your Gremlin. But if she had a different job, where would you want her energy to go?”

In that moment, I had a vivid image of “A” as a football defensive player but on the other team. She was reading my moves, anticipating my steps, and slamming into me the moment I tried something new. She blitzed, she tackled, and often knocked the wind out of me.

As I described this to my coach, something inside me shifted. I said, with great clarity and conviction, “I want her on my offensive line.”

If I’m the quarterback of my own life, I want her clearing the path for me. I want her blocking the noise, not creating it. I want her supporting the plays I call, not sabotaging them.

That image—a protective, powerful force working for me—hit me hard. Though this time, instead of taking my breath away, it made me feel more grounded and empowered.

For the first time, I understood that my Gremlin wasn’t trying to ruin my life. She was trying to protect me; she was just using outdated tactics.

Since then, I’ve helped countless clients explore their own Gremlins, and the patterns are universal:

• The Gremlin before a big presentation: “Don’t mess up.”
• The Gremlin in a new role: “Everyone will find out you’re not as capable as they think.”
• The Gremlin in relationships: “You’re too much.” or “You’re not enough.”
• The Gremlin in entrepreneurship: “Play small—it’s safer.”

Underneath every Gremlin message is a deeper fear: rejection, failure, visibility, inadequacy, abandonment, disappointment.

And here’s the truth: How you relate to your inner experience determines the energy you bring to your outer one.

When we shift our relationship to the Gremlin. When we stop fighting it and instead acknowledge it. Our external world shifts too. The fear never fully disappears, and that’s OK. Fear is part of being human.

What matters is the role fear plays.

When you pause, acknowledge your Gremlin, listen to what it’s trying to protect, and redirect its energy, you move from fear being in the driver’s seat—speeding, swerving, and making choices for you—to you in the driver’s seat, with fear sitting calmly in the backseat… or maybe even tucked safely in the trunk.

Take a moment to pause, breathe, and reflect:

*What is your Gremlin trying to protect you from?
Fear of failure? Being judged? Losing control?

*What are its tactics?
Perfectionism? Procrastination? Overworking? Shrinking?

*What is it scared of happening if it doesn’t step in?
Get curious, not judgmental.

*What new job could you give it?
Protector? Advisor? Gatekeeper of your priorities?

*What would compassion toward your Gremlin sound like?
Remember, this voice believes it’s helping.

*If you had a conversation with it, what would you say? What would it say back?

You might be surprised by what comes through.

Imagine yourself as the quarterback of your own life—clear-eyed, grounded, and focused. Where does your Gremlin belong—the bench, the locker room, on the field with you?

What if the thing you’ve been fighting could actually become a source of strength?

Growth rarely comes from trying to eliminate parts of ourselves. It comes from integrating them.

P.S. If you or your team are ready to shift the internal blocks that hold you back and step forward with more clarity, confidence, and intention, I’d love to support that work. Through coaching, leadership development, and team facilitation, I help individuals and organizations strengthen their inner game so they can create sustainable, people-centered success rooted in awareness, trust, and aligned action.