Harness Self Doubt
Confidence is the belief that you can rely on someone or something.
Confidence is the belief that you can rely on someone or something.
When it comes to personal success, that someone is you.
Self doubt is the opposite of self confidence.
Self doubt is the lack of confidence in yourself or your abilities.
Self doubt is often a limitation imposed by others or yourself, as a result of past experiences.
And like everything, self doubt has its pros and cons.
The pros:
Self doubt can help you identify gaps, allowing you to address these gaps.
Self doubt helps keep your ego in check. It keeps you humble, and humility is useful to help you to connect with others.
You’re more likely to be express empathy and be open to other’s opinions, which will help your relationships.
Lastly, a small dose of self doubt can work as a motivator and inspire you to work harder.
The cons:
In the play Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare wrote,
_“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” _
If you’re frozen by self doubt and fear to start something, this becomes a problem as it will stop you from achieving your potential.
When you’re unable to achieve the things you should, you might suffer from damaging thought patterns that leave you disappointed, frustrated, or even resentful of yourself.
Don’t be a victim of yourself.
How do you overcome self doubt and use it to your advantage?
According to Brendon Burchard in his book, The 6 Habits of Growth,
He suggests that instead of letting self doubt stop you, use self doubt as trigger to get better.
Harness self doubt and use it as a signal to learn, develop and prepare.
Adjust your mindset, YOU are not lacking -
you just haven’t done a particular thing enough to develop the confidence,
so the more you do, the more familiar you become with it, and the more your confidence will grow
Whenever you experience self doubt - take action - do something.
Action, however small will get you get closer to your goal.
And the closer you get, the clearer things will become and the easier things will get.
Importantly, you don’t have to have if all figured out, if you are moving, you can always adjust your course.
**So use self doubt to your advantage. **
Use it to maintain a healthy ego and to motivate you to improve.
Next time you experience self doubt and harness it to trigger the habits that will ultimately improve your confidence.
Image credit:
Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash