Even the most confident of us experience self-doubt in our work and life, some more so than others.
But with some careful planning, your critical eye can be used to your advantage to sharpen your work.
This post originally appeared on theCrew Blog.
The storyThe Little Engine That Could, really ticked me off as a child.
There were oceans between how that train felt and how I felt.
The engine’s positive attitude annoyed the living daylights out of me.
What was it so sure about?
Why was it so sure it could doanything?
That train should have more realistic expectations, I thought as a child.
Where Does Self-Doubt Come From?
The “self” word is a tricky idea to pinpoint.
Our entire brainworkstogether to create our sense of self.
There isn’t just one thing we can point to that can explain self-doubt.
you could think of self-doubt as the opposite of what’s known asself-efficacy.
That’s the belief that you might successfully use your skills and abilities to achieve a desired result.
I had previously believed that self-doubt was due to low-self esteem, but that’s not the case.
People with perfectlygoodself-esteem can experience self-doubt and people with low-self esteem don’t always experience self-doubt.
For some of us, our fear of failure is so strong that we engage in self-protectivebehavior, likeself-handicapping.
When we self-handicap we are trying to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and possible failures.
Instead, people handicap their performance by procrastinating or limiting how much effort they put in.
For example, “I failed the exam because I stayed up so late last night!”
While this kind of behavior may limit exposure to failure, it also increases self-doubt.
Instead, they believe it comes from a disconnect we feel our “desired self.”
Desired self: These are realisticgoalsyou can actually see yourself achieving.
Your desired self provides you with powerful incentives to pursue future opportunities and obtain goals.
What the researchers found was that people with a strong desired self had less self-doubt.
Theiractionswere highly organized, energized, and guided by the goals they wished to achieve.
you’ve got the option to overcome this.
The desire to get rid of unpleasant experiences and sensations is one I can relate to all too well.
I haven’t listened to a voice message in five years for that very reason.
Still, I understand that self-doubt serves a real, functional purpose.
You’ll never banish self-doubt for good and any article that tells you that is lying.
What you could do is get your self-doubt into check.
Like any feeling or emotion we have, you never want to feel all one way or another.
There has to be balance.
For a long time, people assumed that more confidence meant better performance, but that isn’tnecessarily the case.
Too much self-confidence can result in alack of effortand can make someone more prone to making mistakes.
That’s where some self-doubt can be a good thing.
Having a little self-doubt canincreasehow much effort you are willing to exert so you can achieve your goal.
So how do we find a balance between having some self-doubt and being overwrought with it?
When I let these thoughts go unchecked, that’s when my self-doubt begins to havenegativeconsequences.
Vincent van Gogh
“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt.
Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.”
It may sound silly, butresearchshows that this actually helps you combat self-doubt.
Root yourself in what you are confident in.
Then, make a plan for what you want to accomplish.
When I write without an outline, my self-doubt runs amuck because I have no structure.
Working with an outline, having thoseclearlydefined goals, helps me direct my actions.
If you write an article, it is not the totality of who you are.
Creating a website is not the definitive moment of your life.
It just feels that way to us.
Involving other people helps you keep that in perspective and help keeps you on track.
Just Do It
Introspective self-doubters spend a lot of time thinking about self-doubtsI know, big shocker.
That’s howself-doubtperpetuates itself.
At some point you’ve got to ask yourself, what it’s worth to you?
What is your self-doubt costing you and is the price too high?
Is it worse to try and fail or to not try at all?
This is what you must come to terms with.
There comes a time when you have to stop thinking and start doing.
Extend yourself beyond yourcomfort zonefor a little bit.
If self-doubt is a cycle, then it is one that can be broken.
You break it by doingsomething, by taking clear steps and directed action for yourself.
I suppose I dislikedThe Little Engine That Couldso much is because it never seemed realistic.
I just didn’t buy into the “believe in yourself and you might do anything” bit.
I’m not afraid of a little self-doubtin fact, a little bit is good for you.
Image remixed fromGeralt(Pixabay) andHans(Pixabay).
Photos byAnais Gomez-C(Flickr) andJohn(Flickr).
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