how to overcome self doubt

How To Overcome Self Doubt

Self doubt can be a troubling and persuasive voice that holds you back in a number of ways. It can hold you back from seizing opportunities that come your way and also makes getting started or finishing things harder than they need to be.

Doubting yourself can sometimes be useful as it helps you to soberly see your current limitations or simply recognize a half-baked or bad idea. But for the most part it is holding you back from the life you really want.

So what can you do about it? How can you overcome those times of self-doubt so that you can move forward once again?

Can you reach a state where you never doubt yourself? That is probably unlikely as even the most confident people will suffer from this during their lives but overcoming self doubt can be incredibly liberating and allow you to unlock your full potential, so it is definitely a skill worth mastering!

7 Tips To Overcome Self Doubt

Here are 7 ways to help you to stop doubting yourself. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, as there are many ways to tackle this issue, but at least these will point you in the right direction.

The key is to be persistent with these tips. Suffering from self doubt is a habit that you learned and mastered throughout your life and it is going to take time to undo it.

Many ‘gurus’ will say “Do not doubt yourself, you can achieve anything you want” but that isn’t really practical advice is it? It’s just motivational speak.

Hopefully these 7 tips will give you practical guidance to eliminate self doubt from your life.

Stop comparing yourself to others! This is a big no-no! If you start comparing yourself to the accomplishments of your colleagues or peers, you can quickly start to feel inadequate. The thing to remember is that everyone is on their own journey through life so comparing is a waste of energy. Plus, you never know, they may be doing exactly the same thing with you!
Forget about what others may think of you! This is a bit of an internal self defence mechanism to try to shield you from judgement or criticism but doesn’t really work and can increase anxiety and thus self doubt. Worrying about how others perceive you can really hold you back from achieving your true potential so stop doing it.
Gain clarity! Take the time to write things down. This can really help you to alleviate any fears and doubts you have. Look at what is causing you to feel these feelings objectively and look at the pros and cons of the situation. Doing this can give you focus and can help you to find a way forward.
Be optimised! Spend some time listening to music, audiobooks or podcasts from people who inspire you and make you feel positive and motivated. I’m not just talking about fluff, but people who can give you a real boost to turn your self doubts into optimism and can help you to think constructively about the challenge ahead.
Be decisive! Stop procrastinating and getting caught up in making a decision as this is a quick road to self doubt. Just make a decision and stick to it. This can be very liberating, and you will actually get stuff done. If the decision is ‘wrong’ you can course correct as you go, but at least you are moving forward!
Use a journal! Take some time at the end of the day to write down what you have achieved that day. This is much better than wallowing in self-pity, yes? This will help you to feel grateful and releases endorphins and put you in appositive frame of mind just before you go to sleep. If you are a spiritual person, you can pray a prayer of thanksgiving too.
Remember that setbacks are temporary! Don’t spend too much timing beating yourself up if something doesn’t go according to plan. Nothing goes smoothly in life, so don’t think that everything you do is doomed to failure because that isn’t true. Treat failure as an opportunity to learn and grow so you can increase your skillset and avoid these things in the future.

Self Doubt Is Understandable, But Crippling

Even the most confident person you can think of has an occasional bout of self doubt. The trick is to recognize it for what it is and then get on with the business of being successful.

That’s how successful entrepreneurs beat the self doubt plague. Consistent self doubt is as crippling as clinical depression and you may soon find yourself in a rut that’s difficult to extract yourself from.

As a fledgling – or seasoned entrepreneur, you have a lot riding on your ability to stay focused. Your ultimate level of success and satisfaction with your chosen career depends on it.

It’s imperative that you develop the resilience to overcome self doubt you’re sure to experience and replace that negativity with other thoughts designed to build your confidence rather than bringing it down.

Self doubt can cause indecision and procrastination – both lethal detriments to your ultimate success. Yet, every challenge you face in your quest as an online entrepreneur brings with it old hauntings from your mind that may prevent you from overcoming the challenges and achieving your goals unless you can get a grip on them and see them for what they are – lies.

The higher you climb on the ladder of success, the more self doubt you’re likely to have. What can you do to alleviate some of these obstacles and direct your energy in a more productive manner?

It begins in your mind and progresses to taking action as you learn you really are capable of facing and overcoming any challenges that come your way. First, you should know and be comforted that you’re not the only person (successful or not) who has suffered from self-doubt along the way.

Acknowledging that others have felt as you do and became successful in spite of self doubt can alleviate your worries and help you get past the feelings more quickly. If you haven’t already set some personal and business goals for yourself, do it immediately.

It’s part of the plan that you’ll use as the map to the magic kingdom of success. It’s perfectly okay to set lofty, long-term goals. Just make sure you set attainable, short-term goals, too – so you can experience success in small increments along the way.

Short term goals are important because they provide continuous realization that you are moving along quite nicely and are well on your way to meeting those long-term goals. It lets you bask in the sunshine of the smaller wins, while waiting for the big payoff at the end.

Some things will happen along the road to success which is beyond your control. It’s important that you recognize this and keep from blaming yourself. In all lives, a little rain must fall. Be prepared in every way you can and press onward to your goals.

I hope the 7 practical tips in this article help you to manage the feelings of self doubt in your life and remove their crippling effect on you so you can start to achieve at the level you want.

Overcoming self doubt and achieving what you want in life all comes from having the correct mindset and this is why many entrepreneurs and business owners work on their thinking to achieve at the highest levels.

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