Overcoming Self Doubt
Self-doubt can be a paralytic. It is insidious and can be blindsiding. Self-doubt at its core is a lack of self-efficacy. Our self-efficacy is our core belief in whether or not we have the abilities and competencies to succeed. When our self-efficacy is high, our self-doubt is low. Self-efficacy is a high context belief system. It impacts every aspect of our lives. It is the judge of whether of not it is possible for us to execute tasks that are as simple as boiling water to as complex as succeeding in mapping out and executing a career path. Self-efficacy also impacts our sleep, pain management, and emotional resiliency. Emotional resiliency and sleep impact out ability to act rather than react.
When we are constantly reacting rather than acting, we lose all of our power and are largely ruled by our darkest emotions and the actions of others. In a reactive state, it is nearly impossible to overcome self doubt because we are not being the best versions of ourselves. Being continually in a reactive state, there is no time to plan and our entire life becomes about the actions of others. This is a miserable way to live and fills my heart with compassion for anybody struggling with self doubt because that only heightens this reliance on others for our well-being and knowing what to do.
Self-doubt creates a deep need to be right. To do the right thing and to collect “wins”. When we are full of confidence, we are less concerned with proving we are right and more focused on being best version of ourselves because we know the best version of ourselves is amazing. Taking the space to think about what really males our heart sing and then making a plan and executing it to improve our happiness starts the process because what we need is successes, not wins, to believe in ourselves. Success is not always a win. Sometimes, deciding to do that hard and scary thing is where our success lies, and that is not going to be the ego hit that winning is because there will not be anyone on the other end losing.