Get Out Self Doubt!

By Kimberly Englot

Everyone suffers from self doubt. Everyone. Even the most successful person in the world occassionally has self doubt, it’s part of being human and having a functioning brain!

I have a feeling that self doubt starts off as a good thing…it keeps you safe as a child. Your mother may have constantly been warning you to be wary of strangers and to always look before you cross the street. As you got older, the need for those safety precautions disappeared, but they stayed with you!

You are constantly watching and limiting your behaviour. Don’t say that you might look foolish! Don’t wear that, it makes you look fat! Don’t read that you’re not smart enough! Don’t…Don’t…Don’t!

All of these don’t are your brain’s way of keeping you safe, and they work in a not-good way! Sometimes safe isn’t good! There are certain ways in which safe keeps you small and stagnant. You cannot grow and learn if you’re always safe.

I guarantee that if you talk to anyone you consider to be successful they will tell you that they take risks! They might be calculated risks, but they’re still risks! (And there lies the key to success, the calculated risk….but that’s another blog post…) .

I do something that scares me at least a couple of times per week. Not in the range of jumping out of an airplane or mountain climbing, but something that definately stretches my comfort zone! The whole time leading up to the actual “scary event” I’m aware of my limiting beliefs. And I know they’re there…I hear the self doubt chattering, but I don’t get involved in it. I don’t let it become the truth! With each scary thing that you conquer you will see your self esteem grow!

“Feel the fear and do it anyway” Susan Jeffers