Self-doubt getting in the way? Here are 5 tools to help you overcome it

Whenever I try something new, I always come up against that little bit of self-doubt that says “can I really do this?”. While some self-doubt is healthy, you can't allow it to stop you from doing the things that you really want to do—that's when it becomes a problem. In today's episode I'm sharing 5 tools to help you overcome self-doubt when it starts to get in your way.

– How understanding your mind's patterns will help you to realise what's really going on.
– Why focusing on the value you're sharing to help others is more important than your comfort zone.
– Why reflecting on all of the things that you once doubted you could do will help you to realise that you actually *did* successfully do all those things.
– How keeping track of the positive comments and feedback from your clients will help you to see that you're making a difference.
– The importance of leaning on others for support.

 

 
Today we are talking about self-doubt and I think this is one of the things that holds back so many business owners, no matter what level you are at in your business. It's going to be one of those things that pops up whenever you're doing something that is a little bit unfamiliar, a little bit outside of your comfort zone. 

So, today I'm sharing five little tools that can help you to work through that self-doubt when it does pipe up.

 

#1: Know that it is your mind trying to keep you safe and that we all struggle with self-doubt. 

Every time I do something new, I always come up against that little bit of self-doubt if I can really do this. And I know it's hard to believe that the people you follow online, the podcasts you listen to, the people you watch presenting live, all of those things, it's hard to believe that those people struggle with self-doubt. But believe me, we really do. I no longer feel the self-doubt when I hit record on a podcast episode because I've been doing it for so long.

But when I first started this show, oh my goodness, every time I hit record, every time I went to outline an episode, there was always that doubt of, is this going to be valuable? Is somebody going to learn something out of this? Should I really be doing this? 

All of those sorts of voices started to pipe up but because I'm aware that it was my mind trying to keep me safe, trying to stop me from embarrassing myself on stage or being rejected by the audience, then I know, okay, I'm not going to listen to this voice. I'm still going to go ahead and do the scary thing and some of this might be imposter syndrome. So we want to keep it in check when it pipes up and it might just be a simple question like saying hey, can I know for sure that I'm going to fail at this? 

If the voice in your head says you're going to fail, can I know that for sure? Is that real? Is that true? No, you don't have any evidence that you're going to fail. The only way to actually get that evidence is to do the thing and if you do fail, guess what? You'll survive. You're, you're still closer than you were before because now you've learned something. You've learned from the mistake and you wouldn't have learned that if you'd stayed in your comfort zone, grappling with that self-doubt, overthinking it.

 

#2: Remember that it is not about you. 

It is about the people that you can help by doing that scary thing. If you start to make the scary thing more about the value that you are sharing or the impact that you are having, then your self-doubt becomes less important. If you're on the fence about starting a new business and you're doubting whether you can do it, remember how much of an impact you might be able to have if you actually go ahead and do it.

If you're doubting whether you can start a podcast like I was six years ago, I realised that I had so much value to share and that I was doing my potential audience a big disservice by not sharing that stuff.

 

#3: Make a list of all of the things that you once doubted you could do and that you actually successfully did. 

This is a fun one because we often will sit in self-doubt for a long time and then when we do the thing, we're like, okay, cool, onto the next thing. But if we actually reflect, you'll probably notice that there are a lot of things where you were in that self-doubt and then you succeeded.

And maybe once upon a time, you doubted whether you could start a business and you did it, or maybe there are some things that aren't even related to your business. Like maybe you doubted you could give a speech at your best friend's wedding and you did it, or you doubted you could run a 5k and you did it.

This list becomes a really nice reminder of how capable you actually are and once you have that list, ask yourself, If I can do all of this, what else could be possible for me? Come back to it, whenever you're feeling that self-doubt popping up. Come back to the list, remind yourself of all of the things that you didn't think you could do, and that you did. And then ask yourself, this thing that I want to do, that I'm doubting whether I can do, is it possible that maybe this thing could be on the list one day? The list of things that I didn't think I could do, and actually did.

 

#4: Start a little happy feedback folder.

Whether it's in your inbox or on your phone, in your notes app, wherever it is, just have somewhere where you can save every piece of happy client feedback, every positive comment that somebody makes about your content, every podcast review, anytime that you are making any kind of a difference to someone else's life, whatever it is, screenshot it and save it because this then reminds you of the impact that you can make when you put yourself out there and if you can make this kind of impact right now, imagine what else you could do if you tiptoed out of your comfort zone a little bit further.

 

#5: Lean on others for support.

I could never have grown my business and this podcast to where they are without having really close friends who also run businesses. I would say most of my wider friendship group now are business owners as well but two of my now best friends also run businesses. We didn't know each other pre-business and we now have this group chat where we are constantly supporting. When we are feeling a little bit of doubt, or when something's not going well, it's so nice to know that I have these two awesome humans who have my back, and I have theirs.

But when I first started out in my very first business, it was lonely. And I made an effort, I'm quite an introvert by nature, but I made an effort to go to events that felt a little bit scary. And then, you know, connecting with people online on Instagram, meeting people in real life, joining mastermind groups, going to retreats, going to other events, all of those things where I could have that connection with real humans and that's how I built those friendships. 

And then when that self-doubt pops up, you have a support network you can share it with, you can talk to them, and they will remind you that it's totally normal and that they deal with it as well, and that it's not a sign that you shouldn't do the thing, but it's rather just a sign that you are on the edge of your comfort zone and you're about to do something really, really awesome, and it just feels really scary at the moment.

 

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