What if there was a way to get rid of those nagging thoughts that tell you you’re not good enough? Self-doubt is a natural occurrence that affects people of all levels of success. It’s that little voice in the back of your head that makes you second guess yourself and your actions.
Self-doubt doesn’t have to rule your thoughts though, and there are ways to overcome it. Powerful people often doubt themselves too, and this article will look at how they can overcome it and how you can too.
When you constantly doubt yourself, it can be a real nightmare. It can absolutely cripple some people, and the big issue is that it doesn’t matter if it’s real or just in your head. When you experience self-doubt, it exists as uncertainty about your abilities and actions. At its core, it is a lack of faith in yourself and a lack of confidence in yourself and your abilities.
We are exposed to the potential for more self-doubt than ever before. This is because of the larger amount of interaction we now have on things like social media. There is more opportunity for negative people to influence your way of thought.
There is also the massive amount of media, advertising, and consumerism that are built around telling you that you are not good enough, smart enough, attractive enough, or successful enough. When you add all of these things together, it’s amazing anyone still has any sense of self-esteem left.
This can leave you feeling hopeless, insecure, and unmotivated. It can prevent you from taking risks or exploring new possibilities in your life. Self-doubt can cripple you from being productive, happy, and successful.
So, recognizing how detrimental doubting yourself can be, what are some ways to overcome it the way powerful people do?
Your brain and your mind are two very different things and many associate the two as one thing. This could not be further from the truth though. Your mind is a collection of many outside influences that can create an ongoing narrative in your head. When you are constantly bombarded with negative thoughts, they influence the way your mind thinks.
It’s important to recognize that when these thoughts of self-doubt come up, that it’s not you who are thinking them – it’s your mind. It’s all those negative messages and images that have been able to infiltrate your mind and now can dictate your actions. You are allowed to control these thoughts, so when any of them start to creep into your head telling you you’re not good enough, stop them in their tracks.
You wouldn’t let anyone walk up to you in the street and tell you you’re worthless, so why should you let your mind? Powerful people realize you can’t eliminate all these thoughts, but you can stop them from progressing. When they creep up, change the conversation, or better yet, laugh them off as a feeble attempt to control you.
Powerful people surround themselves with a close circle who can help them keep moving forward. This can be consultants, mentors, and acquaintances. The point is, when anything comes up, they have others to discuss it with. This can include self-doubting thoughts.
It’s handy to have people you can turn to that can be your cheerleader and help to redirect your thoughts. The main thing is, you don’t want to keep all these thoughts inside. You need to get them out and having someone to vent to is a good way to prevent self-doubt from building up.
If there aren’t any specific people that you trust, you can always journal and write down the thoughts you are having. Sometimes seeing these self-doubting thoughts written in black and white can help you process and move on from them.
Comparison is the thief of joy, and we’re all guilty of it. Everyone is on a different journey, and you are right where you need to be right now. We are impatient and want everything immediately, but that’s not the course of life. It’s natural to want the life of people who may be further ahead, but this will do you no favors. When you compare yourself to others, you allow self-doubt to creep in.
Watching people post the best parts of their lives online can make you wonder what’s wrong with yours. It’s important to remember that you are seeing highlight reels and not their genuine existence.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, compare yourself to yourself. Be aware of the progress you’ve made and how far you’ve come. Write down your accomplishments and reflect back on those when you feel self-doubting thoughts coming on. Powerful people rarely compare themselves to others and instead focus on their own success and achievements.
A side note: Many people report how much freer they feel after deleting social media, so try this for a week or two and observe the positive effects. At the very least, stop following any people that can trigger feelings of self-doubt and insecurity. This can make a huge difference in your life.
Being kind to yourself can go a long way in combating self-doubt. There is a strong correlation between having this self-compassion and improving your mental health. Powerful people practice self-compassion because it can have a powerful result: emotional resilience. This allows them even greater levels of success and achievement.
You can do this by going easy on yourself and recognizing what is causing your own self-doubting thoughts. When you understand where the self-doubt is coming from, and don’t beat yourself up over feeling it, you come out stronger. Remember that none of us are perfect and we all share that from the common man to the most powerful leader.
Self-doubt is like an annoying mosquito bite; It just seems to linger and aggravate you no matter how much you try to ignore it. The important thing is recognizing how real self-doubt is, but that it doesn’t have to control you. Powerful people do not differ from the rest of us and experience this same sense of inadequacy. The main thing is they decide to not let it control their lives and deal with it in some of these ways.
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Thanks for bringing up the topic. I'd like to add to two of your suggestions (2&3), instead of comparing yourself to others, establish realistic goals and benchmarks for yourself with the help of other trusted people and compare yourself to them instead--they measure your true progress, and when you establish a series of smaller goals instead of long-term ones, you can 'pat yourself on the back' more often and verify you ARE on track. Furthermore, if you attach to each goal specific things to do next, you stay on track and have something tangible to share with the people you trust for advice and accountability.
And finally, before you do anything else, decide what's best when you don't measure up to your own expectations...to beat yourself up or learn from the experience...to drop your dreams or update them for something better. Everyone falls short at some point in their life, that's for certain, but what you do next can make all the difference, and when it happens, it's harder to be objective than when you're sitting atop a victory. Write it down and make sure it's readily available, and share it with your closest friends...so when the time comes, you can quickly pick yourself up, and not get lost in the muck....