HOW TO FREE YOURSELF FROM SELF-DOUBT?

“Someone with half your IQ is making 10x as you because they aren't smart enough to doubt themselves.” Ed Latimore, writer, and former heavyweight boxer.

Self-doubt is the mental habit of questioning your own judgment or worth. It becomes a big obstacle when you want to advance or change your career, start or end relationships and in many other life situations.

Let’s say you decide to apply for a job you dreamed about, and then your mind gets flooded with doubts, negative thoughts, and insecurities. You torture yourself with questions and statements like, ‘what if I am not ready yet, not qualified?’, ‘there are other people who will apply, and they are more qualified than I am, ‘if I fail the interview, it will be a disgrace.’ There is no limit to the rudeness and harshness of the voice of self-doubt.

How to get rid of self-doubt? Unfortunately, there is not a one-size fits all solution, but there are a few things you can do to silence the voice of self-doubt effectively.

1.    Self-doubt comes from your fears: fear of failure, or more often, of being seen as a failure. As with any fear, acknowledge and embrace it. Once you do that, your brain will stop thinking of it as a threat. If you try to avoid self-doubt by distracting yourself from it and telling yourself that it is dumb to feel that way, the self-doubt may persist. But when you acknowledge your self-doubt, you let it know that you’re not afraid of it. And when you are not scared of it, you refocus your energy and attention and do what you want.

2.    Don’t make too much of your self-doubt. It isn’t a personality trait. It’s a thought pattern you’ve unintentionally reinforced and made into a mental habit. Instead, practice being proud of yourself and remind yourself why you must feel confident. Self-doubt is a habit, and regardless of where it came from, you can free yourself from it by building better ones and separating self-doubt from yourself.

3.    Once you acknowledge your self-doubt and separate it from your personality, produce more realistic and helpful thoughts instead of overly negative and unhelpful ones. Think about your values, your achievements, and your success so far. Celebrate your accomplishments. Focus on winning. This will make your brain's automatic negative self-talk more realistic and helpful and less critical and harmful.

4.    Spend time with people who believe in you. Jim Rohn famously claimed, “you’re the average of the five people who spend the most time with.” Spending more time around supportive and encouraging people will weaken and release your self-doubt.

Self-doubt is an uncomfortable and problematic thought process that holds you back. Replace it with a sense of purpose. In sports, most mistakes happen due to self-doubt. Focusing on winning helps athletes to eliminate self-doubt and be successful. You can do the same.