3 Powerful Tricks To Banish Self-Doubt That You Can Do Today

Does self-doubt hold you back from getting what you want? 

The reality is that self-doubt is often derived from a fear of something.  

A fear of failing, a fear of what others will think of you, a fear of losing something for example. 

We all experience fears at some stage, and these fears no matter what the root cause can hold us back from achieving, or being, what we really want. We are hard wired as humans to remain safe. And so, when fears bubble up our reaction of self-doubt and lack of confidence is there to prevent us from harm. 

Makes some sense, but for most of us we know that the fears we face are in fact not life threatening at all and are an annoying feeling that we wish we didn’t have. So, what to do about it? How can you banish the self-doubt once and for all?  

Why not start by trying these 3 tricks to overcome self-doubt today?   

Trick 1: Normalise It In Your Mind

Self-doubt is mostly caused by a lack of confidence, rooted in fear. These fears can have us believing that we’re not worthy, not good enough, and often stems from comparing ourselves to others. We look at others and think that we’re not as good as them, not as confident, not as smart or whatever it is. That comparison can leave us feeling like they have it all, that they have their life perfectly laid out meanwhile we are struggling on the sidelines.  

The perceived gap exacerbates our doubt even more. How can we possibly ever be as good as them? 

But what if everyone was feeling the same, what if everyone was looking at you and thinking the same about you – wishing they had your confidence, your life?  

While it may not be EVERYONE, research shows that over 85% of people suffer from self-doubt at some stage in their life. So, normalise it. Know that the person you compare yourself to is right at the level you’re at – comparing themselves to others, self-doubting at times, and feeling the fears.  

So, no-one is better and in fact you’re part of quite a popular club.  

Trick Number 2: Re-Wire Your Brain (not as hard as it sounds!)

The brain is a powerful beast, the control centre of your very being. But we have the power to change how it acts and to create the outcomes you want. The reptilian or ‘primal’ brain is the part of the brain that keeps you safe, fundamentally the part that ensures your survival from danger (such as a Tiger chasing you down for lunch!). But when it senses fears that may occur in our everyday life, such as a fear of judgement from public speaking, it doesn't know the difference, and deploys a fight or flight response in the same way it would for that pesky tiger. And it’s arguably a little overkill. Not to mention, a real hindrance to you doing the things you want to do - hello self-doubt.  

But as we’ve evolved, we’re cleverer than that and you can teach your brain a thing or two.  

Here’s the thing, every time you choose to act despite the feeling of self-doubt you activate new neural pathways in the brain which strengthen the habit of confidence. So tell yourself that this discomfort and doubt you feel is temporary, it’s only that old primal brain trying to keep you safe, and on the other side of action is an empowering place of confidence. Because each time you do, you prove to your brain that you survived and so it learns not to hold you back next time.  

As cliché as it may sound it may come down to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway.’ Future you will not only be grateful but will probably look back and laugh at how you once felt. 

Trick Number 3: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize 

If you really want something; to get the promotion, to be confident to speak up, to apply for the new role, your reason why you want it should run pretty deep. Meaning to say that your driving force should be meaningful, powerful and incentivising to you on a personal level.  

When you don’t have a good enough reason, your ability to overcome self-doubt and feel the fear and do it anyway, can get tricky. The prize on the other side, quite frankly may not seem worth it to you. 

In which case I would encourage you to re-align and dig deeper on your ‘why’ and / or change or scrap the goal because it may be that you’re chasing the wrong thing. 

That said, once you’ve got a really juicy reason why, you need to keep your eyes on it. Stay focussed and clear on what you get on the other side of this fear once you overcome self-doubt. Tune into how you‘ll feel once you’re there and relish in that feeling. 

You can then weigh up your choices by asking yourself ‘what do I want more? To stay ‘safe’ in my comfort zone or to speak up in that meeting where I so desperately need to voice my opinion?’  

If the prize is worthy enough to you, you’ll start to see that taking the action is an appealing place for you after all.  

Self-doubt is present in almost 100% of the coaching clients I work with to some degree, no matter how senior or experienced they are, and no matter their identity or background. There are many ways in which you can overcome it but these are three of my favorite and most powerful ways, so give it a go.  

And of course, if you need more help with this or anything in relation to your career send me an email and let’s uncover your next best step to get to where you want to go.