What Are The Causes Of Self-Doubt And How Can You Overcome Them?

 

What Are The Causes Of Self-Doubt And How Can You Overcome Them?

Your inner villain and inner hero can appear to be two totally distinct persons living inside your head at times.

The small voice inside your head that says, "I'm not good enough," every time you aspire for success is your inner villain.

It's your inner voice that draws attention to your inadequacies and causes self-doubt.

Your inner villain is countered by your inner hero, a small voice that affirms your abilities and enhances your self-esteem.

When you're dealing with stress or worry, your inner hero battles your inner villain. When your inner villain gets the upper hand, it can lead to severe self-doubt.

And if your inner villain is continuously stomping on your inner hero, your chances of success are severely limited.

“We all have the villain living inside of us,” Dean Graziosi always says. But there's also this hero who's simply waiting to be liberated... This is your opportunity to choose which one you feed, as that is the one who will take control of your life!”

You've come to the perfect place if you want to discover how to defeat your inner villain and overcome persistent self-doubt.

We're going to talk about what self-doubt is and where it comes from today.

We'll also show you how to determine whether your self-doubt is good or unhealthy.

We've also got 9 recommendations on how to get rid of those pesky self-doubt sentiments.

Tell your inner hero that it's time to put on his or her armor because we're finally going to get rid of your adversary for good!

What Is Self - doubt And How Does It Affect You?

What is self-doubt, and who is your inner villain?

Your inner villain is a slang term for your inner critic, which is the portion of your mind that refuses to believe you're good enough.

It's that inner voice that constantly criticizes your performance and makes you feel unqualified.

The biggest source of self-doubt is your inner critic.

Self-doubt is a mental habit of questioning one's own value all of the time.

It happens when you lack self-assurance or believe you can't trust yourself to execute things that are well within (or barely outside) your capabilities.

Self-doubt also forces you to stay in your comfort zone for far too long.

You may use this to avoid failure or shame when attempting new activities.

It's a frequent misunderstanding that self-doubt is linked to mental illness.

Self-doubt, on the other hand, is a natural aspect of being human!

And it can be beneficial at times, such as when you're doing something new that could be dangerous. For example, before making a major shift, such as deciding to relocate and start over, a little self-doubt is typical.

Healthy self-doubt and harmful self-doubt, on the other hand, are not synonymous.

Healthy self-doubt motivates you to do a test swim before diving in head first.

Unhealthy self-doubt, on the other hand, prevents you from entering the water altogether.

Let's examine the distinctions between the two in greater detail.

Unhealthy Vs Healthy Self-doubt

Although it may seem counterintuitive, the capacity to doubt oneself can be beneficial.

You can become overconfident in yourself and make a lot of unsafe mistakes if you don't allow yourself some health self-doubt

Healthy self-doubt sounds like a voice in the back of your head asking, "Are you sure?" before taking significant risks. It ensures that you consider all of your options before taking a risky action .

Self-doubt on the other hand can quickly deteriorate from healthy to unhealthy which is actually harmful  when you constantly hear, "Are you sure?" before everything you do, even things that aren't dangerous at all and thus unhealthy self-doubt begins to sneak in

When excessive self-doubt takes hold, you lose faith in your ability to make decisions. Over time, this can lead to low self-esteem and confidence.

When your self-doubt becomes unhealthy, there are a few warning signs:

i.   If your first reaction is self-doubt.

ii.  If self-doubt prevents you from taking advantage of fresh opportunities.

iii. If your self-doubt is interfering with your ability to concentrate and accomplish your work.

iv.  If you have doubts about yourself in many (or all) aspects of your life, from work to personal life.

v.   If you are continuously regretting your decisions due to self-doubt.

If any of the above warning signals sound familiar, you may be on the verge of developing an unhealthy level of self-doubt.

To reduce your self-doubt, you must first figure out what's creating it.

What Are The Causes Of Self-doubt?

You might be wondering, “Where does self-doubt come from, anyway?” at this point.

Self-doubt feelings are highly personal to each person.

There are, however, a number of frequent causes of self-doubt that many people experience.

Let's take a look at what might be causing your self-doubt in the first place.

1. Experience And Mistakes In The Past

It's no secret that your feelings now are influenced by your past experiences. This is especially true if you've experienced traumatic or humiliating experiences.

When you suspect you're about to face a situation that feels eerily similar to a previous negative experience, those unpleasant feelings can resurface.

Your inner villain can really amp up your self-doubt in these situations. Your subconscious mind will try everything it can to keep you from experiencing those emotions again.

However, keep in mind that your past does not determine your future.

You'll never be able to make room for fresh possibilities if you keep repeating the same mistakes.

2. Upbringing And Childhood

Aside from previous events, your childhood and upbringing have a significant impact on your mental patterns. Support from family or friends on a daily basis increased your self-esteem.

When they told you they loved you, were proud of you, or were thinking of you, they fed your inner hero.

People who constantly criticized you or told you that you weren't good enough, on the other hand, fueled your inner villain.

When you're a child or a young adult and don't get the assistance you need, you can develop a habit of constantly questioning yourself.

Your self-doubt can run rampant with your inner villain at the helm.

This is why it's critical to devote time to improving your mental health and personal growth.

You may not have been able to beat your inner villain as a 9-year-old, but as an adult, you can.

3. Analogues With Others (Comparing Yourself To Others)

Let's face it: we all compare ourselves to others from time to time. On social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, we compare our work to that of our colleagues or our lifestyles to that of others.

We set a mental goal to outsell, outperform, or outsmart our opponents.

However, not all competition is good for you.

Healthy competition motivates you to give it your all and enhance your performance for the greater good of yourself. Competitiveness forces you to compare yourself to others, which is unhealthy.

If you lose in a healthy competition, you'll only have more to strive for in the future. You believe you are unworthy if you lose in an unhealthy competition.

Remember, you'll never be enough if you constantly compare yourself to others based on what you believe you lack. You should only compare yourself to who you were the day before.

4.  Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

It's called your "comfort zone" for a reason: it's where you feel most secure. When you're in your comfort zone, there's no need for self-doubt since it's your home territory, and you know the game like the back of your hand. However, as you begin to venture outside of your comfort zone, self-doubt begins to sneak in.

Feelings of insecurity or uncertainty might make you feel exposed.

Worse, your inner villain may utilize these feelings to convince you that you will fail.

You start to believe that you'll never be able to do anything outside of your comfort zone.

You must, however, leave your safe haven in order to pursue possibilities for growth.

Self-doubt keeps you from venturing outside of your comfort zone, and that's only one of the many ways it holds you back in life.

How Can You Be Held Back By Self-doubt?

Successful people guard against self-doubting thoughts for a reason: those ideas aren't useful!

Self-doubt can make you feel as though both of your feet are trapped in mud.

Consider the following example if you're not clear what we're talking about:

Your efforts are finally beginning to pay off after months of hard work at your job. You've been given a leadership role for a new endeavor you proposed to your boss. In an ideal world, you'd use this as an occasion to congratulate yourself; after all, this initiative was your brainchild, and now you get to lead it!

Your inner villain, on the other hand, erupts and pushes your self-doubt into overdrive. “What if this was a horrible idea?” you think. or "What if they discover I'm not smart enough for this part?" This reasoning makes you to feel anxious and fearful and doubt your ability thinking that you will fail and make a complete fool of yourself.

Fear makes you procrastinate, which prevents you from gaining momentum before you ever begin.

Do these words ring a bell? If this is the case, then you are not alone in the least.

On a daily basis, millions of people are affected by this cycle of self-doubt. This way of thinking, on the other hand, sabotages your success. You work half-heartedly in fear of failure, rather than being confident and giving it your all. And instead of looking for fresh ways to expand your horizons, you stay in your comfort zone perpetually.

This is only one of the many symptoms that self-doubt is preventing you from achieving your goals.

Let's look at a couple more.

Signs That Your Success Is Being Sabotaged By Self-doubt

There are various symptoms that self-doubt is hindering your achievement, just as there are various reasons of self-doubt.

These indications indicate that you're allowing your anxieties to hold you back in your personal and professional life.

Take a look at the indications below to see if your self-doubt is preventing you from achieving your goals.

a.  Compliments Are Difficult To Accept

Self-doubting thoughts can make you believe you're not deserving of praise — or that you're not as brilliant, smart, or humorous as you think you are.

If you feel anxious or uncomfortable after receiving a compliment, it could be an indication that unhealthy self-doubt is hindering your achievement. It could also be an indication of imposter syndrome, which is one of the most common forms of self-doubt among employees and entrepreneurs.

The dread of being exposed as a fraud is known as impostor syndrome.

It makes you feel as if your achievements are undeserved. Impostor syndrome makes you believe you aren't as talented as your peers. For example, no matter how far you advance in your work, you always fear making a mistake that will reveal you as a fraud.

Self-doubt is a kind of impostor syndrome. It comes from a tendency of constantly doubting one's own abilities and achievements.

Furthermore, people who suffer from impostor syndrome have a hard time accepting compliments. Those pleasant comments can come off as a deception rather than a complement.

If this describes you, self-doubt is probably preventing you from realizing your full potential.

b.   Seeking for confirmation on a continual basis

Feeling like you need affirmation all the time is another indicator that self-doubt is harming your achievement.

You don't trust yourself or your abilities if you have to ask for confirmation every time you need to make a decision.

Of course, it's natural to seek advice from friends or family members from time to time, but if you never trust yourself to make the proper decision, it's likely that self-doubt is preventing you from doing so.

c.   Giving credit to yourself is difficult

Having trouble giving oneself credit, just like having trouble receiving praises can be another indicator that self-doubt is harming your achievement

If you find it difficult to praise yourself for a job well done or don't take the time to enjoy a victory, your inner villain may be to fault.

Allowing your inner villain to run amok drowns out any positive messages your inner hero has to offer. Instead of letting your inner hero to rejoice in your achievements, you wonder if there is anything to rejoice about at all. Doubt becomes your default way of assessing your success.

However, keep in mind that you have an option. You have the option of feeding either your inner villain or your inner hero.

So, have a look at these nine tactics for overcoming self-doubt and empowering your inner hero.

9 Strategies For Overcoming Self-doubt

It's time to break the cycle of self sabotage and permanently reduce your degree of self-doubt.

Finding tactics that work for you is the key to conquering your inner villain.

So, take a look at the list of nine tried and true techniques and pick a few of them that seem like a good fit. Then gradually include them into your daily regimen

1.   Accept And Embrace Your Self-Doubt

Yes, you read that correctly. If you want to overcome your self-doubt, you just have to accept it as a fact in your life. It's necessary to grow uncomfortable with your unpleasant feelings, even if it sounds counterintuitive.

When you are dealing with self-doubt, it's simpler to avoid it than to tackle it

However, this will not make the feelings go away. If you try to escape bad thoughts or feelings, they will almost certainly return with a vengeance.

So, rather than running for the hills, confront your self-doubt! You show your inner villain that you are good enough, that you desire better for yourself, and that you are capable by confronting your negative beliefs.

2. Stop perceiving your thoughts as facts

Did you know that in a single day, the average human has over 6,000 thoughts? Isn't that a lot of thoughts?

Some thoughts are beneficial, such as when you're fixing an issue or conversing with a friend.

Other thoughts, such as "I'm going to completely screw this up," are far less constructive.

This is why you must cease taking what you think as fact.

A thought is exactly what it sounds like: a thought. It's a mental habit you've developed over time, not a fact.

And, fortunately, habits can be unlearned at any time.

So, be cautious of your thoughts, especially the ones that are self-doubting. You'll soon be robbing those thoughts of their influence over you.

3. Create a positive attitude

You'll need a positive mindset to defeat your inner villain and remove self-doubt.

A positive mindset might assist you in remaining critical of your thoughts and combating self-doubt.

Reframing your negative ideas in a more positive light is one technique to cultivate a good mentality.

For example, if you make a mistake on a report, you may be concerned that your manager will think you're unfit for the job. Because of your self-doubt, you believe, "My career is over." Reframe that concept to be less pessimistic and more realistic. You might rephrase that as, "I made a mistake, but this is an opportunity to learn from it." My supervisor knows I'm a valuable addition to the company, and one slip-up won't ruin my reputation.”

4. Determine your purpose

Self-doubt might deceive you into believing that you aren't good enough or talented enough to achieve your goals.

And this can make you fearful of pursuing your passions or finding your life's purpose. This is a sign that you should reconnect with your sense of purpose! Your goal will stoke a fire within you that will drive even the most ruthless inner adversary to flee.

5. Surround yourself with friends and family members who are positive.

Sometimes your self-doubting thoughts are simply cruel. It's critical to surround oneself with positive individuals while you're having negative thoughts.

You'll become more accustomed to hearing great things about yourself if you hang out with a more optimistic crowd.

You can learn to accept compliments and then reciprocate by giving yourself compliments.

6.   Select Affirmations that increase confidence

Affirmations that enhance your confidence might also help you think positively.

Affirmations are short, uplifting sentences that you repeat to yourself every day as mantras.

When you put your whole heart and soul into your affirmations, you start to persuade your subconscious mind that they are true.

You may drown out your inner villain (your negative thoughts) and  fuel your inner hero by sayings things like "I am enough" or "I am worth it" every day

7.   Get involved in healthy competition

We said earlier that not all competition is beneficial.

When you compete against others solely to prove something to them, you are engaging in unhealthy competition

Healthy competition, on the other hand, is when you compete against yourself and no one else.

Healthy competition aims to help you become a better version of yourself. That is, you compete to improve your own abilities or learn new ones. You learn not to measure your worth based on your success by participating in healthy competition.

Plus, you prove to yourself that if you set your mind to it, you can achieve anything!

8.  Practice self compassion

Self-doubt makes you feel inadequate and incompetent. You may grow to dislike yourself over time.

But keep in mind that there is only one of you in the world, and you are your own superpower.

Begin by reminding yourself of your best attributes or personal achievements to practice self-compassion. It's critical to recognize that under your self-doubt, you have an inner hero waiting to be released.

9. Keep a gratitude record

Finally, keep a thankfulness notebook to help you overcome self-doubt.

A thankfulness diary is a special place where you may write down everything you're thankful for.

You can write about anything you like, including your sense of humor, your career, your family, or anything else that interests you.

A thankfulness journal's objective is to remind you of all the good things in your life. — even when you're convinced that nothing is going well because of your self-doubt

Today - more than ever before - Move On From Your Self-doubt.

This is your opportunity to feed either your inner evil or your inner hero.

Remember that you are in control when imposter syndrome and self-doubt seep in.

Stop allowing your inner villain to rule your life by incorporating some of these 9 tactics into your everyday routine.

Do you want to channel your inner hero instead of your inner villain?

We would be delighted to read from you just one experience you have had with self-doubt and what you did to overcome it.

Share your experience as a comment in the comment box below

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