“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt.”

William Shakespeare

How many times have you wanted to do something but stopped yourself from doing assuming you aren’t good enough? How many times have you blamed yourself when things didn’t work out the way they should?

Self doubt is your worst enemy, like a sinister disease, left unattended, stealing your confidence, hopes and dreams, and eventually your life. It eats up your healthy resources and spreads its roots to places deeper than you would ever realize. And before you know it becomes a part of your habit. You unconsciously begin to revolve your lifestyle around self doubt just like you do when you have a chronic illness. But rather than compromising and making adjustments in your life, it is imperative to treat the root cause.

1. Shake hands but do not hug

As it is with every chronic illness, ignoring its existence does nothing other than delaying it’s healing. Similarly if you want to overcome the feeling of self doubt, before you do anything, acknowledge its there. And that’s okay. 86% of the total population goes through this emotion at some point in life. Once you have acknowledged its presence, tell your mind what it wants to hear. “I am pretty awesome and I can totally do this”, “I am scared but who cares. If not now, then when.” Bombard your mind with affirmative words and see magic happening.

2. Memories of success

When in self doubt always recount the moments of your successes no matter how small they were. It generates dopamine that makes you feel good about yourself from within. Remembering about your past successes helps you believe in your abilities and gives you the initial push to take the leap of faith.

3. Do not compare yourself with others

Comparing yourself with others is like exposing yourself to a termite infestation. It ruins your confidence, nullifies all your experiences and wipes off all traces of hope and courage till the core of your heart is devoid of any strength to believe in yourself. And, eventually you crumble because nothing would seem enough. Always believe in your rate of success and priorities. Your definition of success may totally differ from those of your friends. And hence the timing differs too. DO not let self doubt tell you otherwise.

It is always those initial 5 seconds that determine the course of your decision. Mel Robbins, author of the book The 5-Second Rule, said, “The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within five seconds or your brain will kill it.” So whenever you are enveloped in the blanket of self doubt, count to 5 and take that leap of faith. If you delay more than 5 seconds you are never gonna charge ahead and will end up overthinking and re-analysing a situation which will further give you the space to find excuses to not execute something.

It is okay to have self doubts, but it is not okay to let them define who you are and what you are capable of. You were put on earth to shine bright and let no one tell you otherwise, not even your inner voice!

“When we normalize self doubt, we are able to view our emotional reaction as part of a larger process, instead of assuming we’re making a mistake.”

Anna Mcrae

Further suggestions

Books:

The self confidence workbook by Barbara Markaway

Overcoming low self-esteem by Melanie Fennell

Mindset: The new psychology of success by Carol Dweck

The end of Self doubt by March Sachnoff

Videos :

Blogs: