What do you do with Self-Doubt?

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Shalini Neelakantan, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

While ‘believe in yourself’ seems to be a mantra that is widely propagated today, maybe we need to look at what hinders us from believing in ourselves? The most obvious answer to this being self-doubt.

To chant ‘believe in yourself’ without dealing with self-doubt is like opening a tap that has’t been fixed to the water pipe and expecting water to flow out. It is not the phrase that helps you believe in yourself.

Here are five steps to dealing with your self-doubt:

1. Journal your self-doubt: Journaling brings much clarity to your thoughts. whether you want to have a written, audio or a video recorded journal – the choice is yours… but journal your journey.

2. Articulate your self-doubt: Yep. Precisely the reason why I said journal it. You need to describe your self-doubt with a tile and brief description.
For example – Fear of speaking in public. I’m scared that people will laugh at me if I express my point of view. As a result I choose to remain silent. Sometimes I wonder why I’ve kept silent when the suggestions that were spoken, didn’t even come anywhere close to the thoughts and ideas I had in my head!

3. Dig Deeper into your self-doubt: What past experiences support your self-doubt? Is it true of you even today? Do you have concrete examples or is it all in your head? Remember if you do not have concrete examples, it is all in your head. And if it is all in your head, you could very well have created an untruthful reality for yourself.

4. Question your self-doubt: This is your little project. Are you current beliefs about your ability really true? For ex: Is it that people laugh at you when you say something? When was the last time this happened?

If yes – why do the keep laughing at you? is it because you are playing joker or is it because they have labeled you? Is it happening with one group or all people or groups that you connect with?

But more likely than not, your answer might be ‘no’. It gives you an insight into your new reality. That people are not actually laughing at me when I speak. It used to happen as a young adult or a child but not any more. And therefore…

5.Challenge your self-doubt head-on: At this point you’ve collected much information on your self-doubt. The best way to challenge your self-doubt is doing exactly what you’ve doubted about yourself. As we continue with my example: If you fear expressing your point of view even in a small group, start doing it – share your point of view. Go back to your journal – describe the experience, how did people respond, what new did I learn about myself, what do I need to change or do differently. And try it again another time, with the changes you want to make and keep at it… keep at it… keep at it.

There is great joy in dealing with your self-doubt. Don’t miss the opportunity by succumbing to it.

Have a friend or a coach partner with you on this journey. And enjoy the learning!