As an entrepreneur, self-doubt is one of the most crippling actions that you can take against yourself. Inadvertently, you tear yourself down and eventually believe that you are not able to persevere for a number of reasons. It can be a purely mental doubt that you have against your abilities.
You can doubt that you will succeed in your career, in life, or with your relationships. Even the most confident people experience self-doubt. However, successful entrepreneurship happens when you learn to overcome the doubt and push yourself to work hard everyday with these simple steps.
Reflect on your doubt
When you have a moment of self-doubt, explore the thought further. Ask yourself why you are thinking this way of yourself. Is there an event that made you feel unsuccessful? If so, let yourself relive the event. Remember the details and the outcome, and assess how it became that way. Learning from the past is the only way to prevent history from repeating itself.
Once you allow yourself to accept the past, you become open to changing the future. Is there someone in your life who would agree with how you are feeling, and what relation do they have to you? If you can identify external factors that contribute to your self-doubt, you can work to eliminate those factors.
Compare yourself to you
In a world obsessed with social media, it is hard not to compare your life to other entrepreneurs hustling online. However, it is important to remember that the people you are following on social media are choosing what they show. They are only sharing what they want to be shared, and there is so much more to them than that. Instead of comparing yourself to others, try to compare yourself to you.
Compare yourself to who you were in the past, whether that is 1 hour ago or 1 year ago. Looking back is a great way to see how far you have traveled, now that you know what worked and what didn’t to get to where you are now. Compare yourself to your future self too. Think about the entrepreneur who you want to be, and the steps to becoming this person should become clearer.
Talk to someone
Often times, we can get lost in our own minds. We have these preconceived notions about what we can and cannot accomplish when we have not even tried yet. Harboring these emotions is not healthy. Find someone in your life that you can trust to open up to and ask them if they are comfortable listening. Addressing your self-doubt out loud can alleviate the exhaustion that you feel from keeping your feelings buried. You may also realize that the thoughts that you are thinking sound fatuous when spoken out loud.
While overcoming self-doubt is not a quick and easy task, it can be accomplished. The first step is recognizing the desire to overcome this and grow, and from there, the rest will follow suit.