There is that voice in your head that always says….
You are going to fail, You cannot do it, You will never be good enough.
That voice bothers you whenever you set your objective. It critiques you when life gets hard.
It puts you down when you fight to stand up against when it continuously runs in your mind.
Letting self-doubt bother you is a big NO, NO if you want SUCCESS, although sometimes, you just cannot control it and it goes beyond your barriers.
When it is on the loose, it destroys logic and reason, steal happiness and strips logic from your mind. In the end, it leaves you with only insecurity and fear.
Clear your mind off your self-doubt by pressuring yourself to “think positive.” Although, in reality, the more you go against self-doubt, the harder it fights back. But, armed with understanding and self-knowledge, you can use self-doubt to your advantage.
As self-doubt never really disappears, in time, you just keep getting better at facing it. It will confront you to get out of your comfort zone and whenever you struggle to do something GREAT.
These doubts are only thoughts, not your FUTURE. Something may always go wrong, if you never try, if you won’t clear your mind of it, you will always lose a chance of you to SUCCEED. As the saying goes…. “When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.” ~Honore de Balzac
So what's a couple of extra steps you could take to clear your mind of self doubt?
1. Past Achievements: Spend a few minutes each day focusing and reflecting on the things you are most proud of, previous achievements, even the little things make a difference.
2. Listen to Audios or Read Books: There was many a times on my entrepreneurial journey that I had doubts and fears creep in, and questioned whether if I could make it. A book that really made a difference to me was "What to Say When you Talk To Yourself" by Shad Helmstetter. Sometimes you may not be able to control your thoughts but you can always empower yourself by reading the right books or listening to audios that will help you to develop the winning mindset.
3. Affirmations: Remember, you are who you say you are. The late Mohammad Ali always said he was the best, so he spoke his beliefs into reality. Its important to be conscious of your communication and if its not something that propels you forward then replace it with something more empowering. If you were your ideal self what would that look like?
4. Peer Group: We are a product of our environment - I remember my grandmother always used to say to me: "if you lie with dogs, you'll get fleas". Its important to examine your peer group and assess, is it a peer group that celebrates me, the empowers me to stretch and grow? Or is it a peer group that holds me back? These may be uncomfortable questions, but at the same time, sometimes the self doubt may be a result of the wrong peer group planting those seeds.
5. Face Your Fears: This is the magic right here - Recently I was on a trip to Africa. Previously I suffered from a fear of heights and I remember my mentor always saying to me that when you face yours fears the life you love is always waiting on the other side. So I love doing adrenaline activities, but I remember my first and last bungee jump left me a little traumatized so when I was standing at the Gorge Swing in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe it triggered that fear of falling. You can see the look on my face from the picture below- clearly I was not excited at that point. But I kept on hearing on of my favourite motos playing in my mind over and over again: Feel the fear and do it anyway! So I jumped, and before I knew it, it was over and I was at the bottom and you can see the excitement on my face knowing that once again I faced that fear. Once you face your fear all of a sudden its like you forget what you even feared in the first place!
E-stands for Embrace the Challenges, the next step to the word SUCCESS. Stay tuned for this, as I'll be sharing what are the keys in embracing the challenges you face and how you can grow from them and build the life you love.