Learning How to Overcome Self Doubt

Self doubt is a lack of confidence in your ability to succeed at a given task, job, or life. Self doubt is one of the children of low self esteem and has often been programmed into your head from a very young age. You can, however, learn coping mechanisms to overcome self doubt, gain confidence, and move ahead with pride in yourself and what you do.

Self doubt creates a myriad of grandchildren for self esteem: embarrassment, fear, internalized anger which often results in depression, and greater feelings of worthlessness. Self doubt may have caused you to compromise in the past, hold your tongue when you had a creative idea or expression, or cower in the background letting your skills and ability go unused and unnoticed.

Not anymore. It is time to identify the lies you have been rehearsing for what they are. Then, you will be able learn new techniques, which applied over time, will help you become a more self confident person and put self doubt away once and for all.

Reprogram your mind to overcome self doubt.

The first step to overcoming self doubt is to reprogram self defeating and self deprecating thoughts.

Where did your self doubt originate?

You may have failed at a significant task, been told that you would never measure up, or have compared yourself or been compared to a sibling or friend who seemed to do everything better than you. When we are children, are little mind holds onto those words and events.

We own those negative experiences of failure and rehearse them again and again in our minds until we create one strong heck of a neuron pathway along that thought; the thought that we don't measure up. Even when events that fill us with self doubt happen when we are adults, we go through the same process.

Think back and try to identify why it is that you feel self doubt and lack of self worth. You may need to talk with a trusted friend or therapist to fully address the origins of self doubt. If at any time the process of discovery becomes overwhelming seek the help of a certified therapist.

Whoever or whatever happened in the past that made you feel as if you were inferior must be faced and left in the past. In order to move forward you will need to close the door on the negative thoughts and emotions that you have been fed.

Change your thought process from self doubt to self appreciation.

It will take time, but you must begin to reprogram your thoughts now in order to overcome self doubt.

Negative, self defeating thoughts about how you don't measure up must be replaced. When you sense those thoughts recurring, cut them off. Stop them in their path.

Help your mind to begin to build new thought pathways that affirms that you do have self worth and there is no need to doubt who you are or what you can achieve. Remind yourself that those old thoughts are lies. The truth is that you are a divinely created individual with special skills, gifts, and talents. You are a person of value who brings life and perspective into the world that only you can bring.

Close the door on negative thoughts that create self doubt. It is a process that you may have to repeat every time you begin to feel self doubt and feel negative thoughts approaching, but over time, you can replace those words, actions, and ideas that have filled you with self doubt and replace them with positive self nurturing thoughts that help build self esteem.

Overcoming self doubt is a process.

I wish that your insecurity and doubt would go away over night, but it will not. The good news is that it can and will go away. Changing your thought process is the beginning of re-creating your mind so that self assurance replaces self doubt. It is a process in which you must be a conscious participant.

Realize your worth and you can begin to stop negative patterns of thought that create self doubt today. That will put you one step closer to your goal of greater self esteem and accomplishment.