What do you do when you’re doubting yourself? What are the most powerful ways to overcome self doubt permanently? Self-doubt can be one of those difficult obstacles we come up against as people, and as entrepreneurs.
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It holds us back from doing and experiencing amazing things. It’ll also prevent you from making good decisions or cause you to continuously second-guess the ones you’ve already made.
Self-doubt is an all too common experience. But how do you overcome it? How do you stop questioning your abilities and remove the doubt that has been woven into our thoughts and minds?
Here are 5 Powerful Ways To Overcome Self Doubt
1. Overcome Your Inner Critic
I can’t tell you how many books I have bought that were designed to help me conquer doubt. Most of these books, though they meant well, made me feel like there was something wrong with me because I did suffer from self-doubt.
The truth is that struggling with doubting yourself is normal because of how many times we’ve been told the word “no” or been told that we can’t do “something”. Each of those negative experiences created our “inner critic”.
So the key to overcoming self-doubt is to overcome your inner critic. The critic that lives inside our head is that voice that says “You’re dumb as heck!”, or “You’re stupid for even trying!”, “There is no way you going to be able to do this! You know that. Right?”
To overcome this inner critic and trust ourselves again we need to identify what that critic is telling us and separate those negative thoughts from what we actually believe about ourselves.
Your inner critic is not you and it’s important that you know that. Make it a point to respond to this inner critic whenever it rears its ugly head. When it tells you that you’re not good enough, tell it that though you aren’t perfect you are more than good enough.
Do this as often as you need to and quiet that voice until you’re barely even able to hear it.
2. Surround Yourself With The Right People
The people you surround yourself with makes all the difference in your life, after all, you are the sum total of the 5 people you spend most of your time with. When you keep to yourself and don’t allow positivity in, then it gives your negative thoughts time and space to flourish and grow.
Surrounding yourself with positive, encouraging and uplifting people that support you and your goals, makes it harder for the negative, poisonous thoughts to thrive. Talk to people you’re close to about your self-doubts. Ask them for advice, prayers and encouragement when you’re feeling down in the dumps.
Opening up about the things you’re going through to the right people is like letting light into a dark room. Encouragement breeds positivity and growth. Positivity and growth overcome our doubts and fears.
3. Write Love Notes To Yourself
Sometimes all it takes to bring yourself out of a sad pace and put a smile on your face is a love note. Too often we focus on all the negative parts of ourselves or all the things that we can’t do that we forget to pay a compliment and just be nice to ourselves.
What has worked for me is writing myself a few notes and hiding them around my apartment and office so I can find them when my self- confidence is at a low point.
The best person to help you feel better when you’re blue is YOU.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to come home and find a kind, thoughtful, hand-written letter from yourself? Our dark sides (the part of us that doubts, fears and worries) doesn’t like to be complimented or loved. This is why this little exercise is so important.
Do this any time you need to and tell yourself that you are more amazing than you could ever imagine. Here is a sample letter to inspire you. Feel free to use it as a jump-off point to create your own love letters.
Dear Me,
I have known you since the day you were born and it was the best day of our lives. I’ve been with you forever so I know you both inside and out.
I’m here to tell you that you are amazing and I’m sorry that I don’t tell you this more often. I admire your beauty, your intelligence and your courage.
You are strong, capable and full of love. You are my hero.
All my love and support,
Me.
4. Don’t Beat Yourself Up About Things
Once again, I have to mention our inner critic. When it comes to self-doubt this vicious, negative voice can pack quite the punch. I’ve dealt with my inner critic for years and there have been many days where I beat myself up about everything.
If something went wrong, it was my fault and if I failed to reach a goal, I was just the worst person in the world.
Beating yourself up does nothing but feed that nasty inner critic and it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to stop beating yourself up and start being your biggest cheerleader. Give yourself a break and stop beating yourself up!
Everyone makes mistakes or has setbacks and failures because you don’t come with a manual on how to get it right all the time, and that’s okay. You will fail sometimes, not because you planned to, but simply because you’re a human being.
So every time you do something good go ahead and pat yourself on the back and smile. Smile every time you see yourself in the mirror and be thankful that you are forever growing and learning. Forgive yourself of your past mistakes and work to constantly develop yourself daily.
When you beat yourself up, you only leave feeling defeated and discouraged. Fight back by doing the exact opposite. You can’t spend your life beating yourself up for something that happened in your past.
5. Stop Comparing Yourself To Others
Comparing ourselves to others happens all the time. So much so that it has become second nature for us. But how does comparison affect us? It causes us to doubt ourselves, our abilities and our potential to be great. The best way to end this is to stop comparing your life to other people’s Instagram or Facebook feeds
Scrolling through these feeds used to be a favourite pastime of mine until I started feeling horrible each time I did.
All of these other entrepreneurs were having 5, 6 vacations per year while I struggled to make ends meet every month. The comparison game is old and played out as it does nothing but bring us down. You might be thinking that everyone is somehow better than you are, but all you’re really seeing is the image they want others to see. Everyone and I mean everyone, has their own fears and weaknesses — after all, we’re all human.
If you sit down daily and use other people’s success to measure your own success, self-doubt will wash over you like a flood. A better way, the only way, is to compare yourself to yourself.
Look at how far you’ve come and all that you’ve achieved thus far. Realize that you have done some pretty amazing things and you’ll just keep going up from there.
You Are Not Alone
Everyone and their grandmother has doubts and though this is true, doubt kills way more dreams than failure ever will. Entrepreneurs at every level of success have suffered from self-doubt. It’s all part of the journey and it’s also part of being human.
As I continue along this path of helping others to not be afraid and to live their lives with boldness, doubts will come up. That doesn’t mean that they have to stay. Believe in yourself, in your abilities and your own potential and don’t you ever let self-doubt hold you back. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.
Fear and self-doubt, while they can be our biggest enemy don’t have to stop us from chasing our dreams. If you’re going to doubt anything at all, doubt your limits. The moment you start doubting your limits is the moment they cease to exist.
I hope you found these five powerful tips to help you overcome self-doubt helpful! I would love to hear any ideas you have that help when you’re feeling doubtful!
