6 Tips To Overcome Self-Doubt
It’s normal to experience self-doubt when facing a new or challenging situation. Some people are more conscious about what others think about them, which leads to self-doubt. Others seem to lack the confidence to approach a problem and find its solution. Sometimes self-doubt can be confused with self-criticism. Although the latter is a good habit that prevents a person from seeming over-confident, the former (self-doubt) is a problem that will rot you from the inside and will become your most significant obstacle to success.
If you are looking for ways to overcome self-doubt, you are in the right place. In this blog post, I will explain how self-doubt can cause imposter syndrome and share 6 tips for overcoming it.
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome is an adverse effect of self-doubt. Psychologists define it as an experience or feeling of being a fraud despite tremendous success in personal and professional life. Imposter syndrome also leads to depression and often makes one overthink their decision. Imposter syndrome is also related to a lack of courage because once people start doubting their own decisions, they never muster the courage to present their ideas or share their thoughts with the world.
6 Tips to Overcome Self-doubt
Self-doubt and imposter syndrome are related to depression, and it’s crucial to remove these uncertain and unhappy feelings from the mind for personal development. Below are some of my best tips to fight self-doubt and start believing in yourself.
1. Remember Your Past Achievements
When in doubt about your decisions and life choices, always look back at your past achievements. The same goes for professional life. Sometimes, we forget how our past decisions have brought us success. Looking back at those times can help improve mental performance and remove self-doubt. However, severe self-doubt patients tend to base past achievements and success on luck. If you are one to blame your past success on luck and not because of your decisions making skills, think about the number of times you have been right. You can’t be lucky all the time – maybe it’s you.
2. Avoid Comparing Yourself to Others
Everyone is unique and special in their own way. We possess skills that others don’t and vice versa. Therefore, it’s not healthy to compare yourself or your success to others. Although some people have different circumstances and situations, your situation doesn’t need to be the same as theirs. Moreover, if a person is born with a silver spoon, there is nothing you can do about it. Therefore, focusing on yourself and your personal growth will help you become better than whom you were once compared to. Moreover, everyone’s journey and the idea of success are different. What you can do is pay attention to yourself and forget worrying about other or whether you will be able to live up to their expectation or not.
3. Seek Supportive People
Spending time with people who are always doubtful of your aims and ambitions is never good for mental health. If you want to improve yourself and overcome self-doubt, you need to change your company. Spending time with people who are supportive of you and your efforts is a treat, and you should never give up on such company. These people are there to lift your morale and boost your confidence to overcome self-doubt. However, such a company is hard to find so you might have to say ‘no’ to many people before you find the right gang.
4. Validation From Within
Seeking validation from people around you is like asking people to compliment you. Moreover, if you are bent on pleasing others, you will never have time for yourself. Those who seek validation from others never seem to achieve their goals because in someone else’s eye’s your efforts are never worth validating until you are successful. Therefore, you should only seek to impress yourself and become better than who you were yesterday. Moreover, seeing validation from others can serious self-doubt because different people mean different opinions.
5. Identify Your Values
Self-doubt is the by-product of a lack of decision-making skills. People often get confused in making decisions because they haven’t identified their values. The path to personal growth and development comes from good decisions making based on strong values that provide the power for battling self-doubt. So if you ever want to overcome overthinking before making decisions, recall your values. You will know what needs to be done.
6. Practice Self Compassion
Don’t be too hard on yourself when you make a mistake. Remember, we are all humans, and we all make mistakes. It’s our choice whether we wish to learn from these mistakes or not, and this determines our success. Practicing self-compassion and looking after yourself is the best way to overcome self-doubt. This is because when you become your worst enemy, you can’t escape yourself; while experiencing the stress of not living up to your own expectations, you start to doubt yourself and your abilities. So, go easy on yourself, and don’t be your own enemy.
Ending Note
The key to overcoming self-doubt lies in your ability to face challenging situations and coming out victorious. When in doubt, you can refer back to your past achievements and your values. If your decisions are aligned with what you believe, you won’t be wrong. Finally, stop asking others for validation on your decisions. People are often jealous of others’ success, and they will try to show you the adverse sides of your decisions. The best way to remove self-doubt is to find comfort in your company and appreciate yourself for the hard work you put in.
If you enjoyed reading this blog post, there are plenty more on my website for personal development.
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