I've made a few mistakes in my life, but none so detrimental to my own well-being as self-doubt. There have been things over the years that I have wanted to do, but never pursued because of a lack of faith in my ability to achieve it. Those days are gone though. I will be doing a post on my new career path soon!
Am I terrified to try this? Yep
Am I still going through with it? You bet.
If I had actually applied myself years ago, I would be much further in life. Instead, I have worked stupid and unfulfilling jobs as a means to make money. A job is more than just making money to pay the bills.
The career that you choose is important. You spend most of your life at work (thanks to our wonderful government), so it makes sense to be doing something that you like. As people age and still don't seem to have any career fulfillment, ask them why they aren't doing what they really want and you get some self-doubt mixed in with about 30 excuses on why they can't do something. At some point though we have to take accountability for where we are in our personal journey.
Self-doubt is detrimental to human growth for numerous reasons:
π£It prevents you from making a decision and sticking with it. You begin to look for constant encouragement or reasons for why you cannot succeed. Many people would never have been successful if they needed to be fueled by other peoples encouragement constantly. You have to believe that YOU can do it. This causes you to switch from one plan to the next with out finishing anything that you start.
π£It opens you up to self-pity. If something does go wrong in your plan and you immediately resort to self-pity, your whole plan can go down the tube quick. It's okay to be sad about a failure, but don't camp out there too long.
π£It stumps your creativity. When we are feeling thoughts of self-doubt, we are putting ourselves in a situation where we lose our ability to think clearly. If we do come up with an idea that we think would work, we often try and rationalize it and worry what people might think. So instead of taking a bold leap of faith on a business idea, we brush it to the side because someone could make a negative comment about it.
π£It causes procrastination. Instead of acting on something that you should be doing now, you will keep putting it off until it may not even be an option anymore. Many times procrastination becomes a missed opportunity altogether.
π£It prevents personal growth. This is the most important and obvious one of all. My self doubt has put me in a situation where at 33 years old, I look admiringly at a 20 something for their amazing feats! For someone my age, that is embarrassing to be quite honest. Self doubt can effect everyone, but some people don't suffer from this problem as much as others. There are people who have always believed in themselves and those people nine times out of ten go on to do great things in life. Why certain people think or not think this way is a whole other blog post.
For those of you who are in high school or fresh out of high school, here is my unsolicited advice: Do NOT doubt yourself. If there is something you want to do, find a way to make it happen. Watch videos, read books, educate yourself. If you don't know the answer to something, ASK QUESTIONS <<< This will help you tremendously. Don't just settle on not knowing. You'll find that many people who are in the place you want to be in, started off in a worse position than you. You'd be surprised at the struggles people have overcome to get to where they are. Do a YouTube search for vloggers who are in the career you want to be in. This has helped me a lot. You will find that many of them share your struggles and can offer tips on how to overcome them. It would also help to surround yourself with people who want similar things; lose the dead weight in your friend circle. You'll be better off for it. Find a mentor. I don't care if your dream is to be a farmer. Go find the best damn farmer in your town and learn everything you can from them, even if it means working for free. Most people would be more than willing to show you the ropes. It doesn't matter if they are only 2 years into their career, they still have 2 more years of knowledge and experience than you do. Immerse yourself. Fake it till you make it. The more you do this, the more it will become achievable. Never ever give up.
For the rest of you, just know that it's not too late to catch up! I encourage anyone reading this to sit down and make a list of everything you've always wanted to do but didn't because of self-doubt. Maybe it was a career you wanted to get into but didn't think you were "smart enough" or maybe it was a hobby that you didn't think you could master. Or maybe you got married and became a parent at an earlier age and your time/resources are limited. Research and scour the internet. You can find a formula that will work for you! Pick the one most important to you and tackle it! I'm willing to bet that anyone reading this blog could accomplish whatever they picked.
I hope this has inspired someone to reach for the stars. 'The stars' doesn't have to mean making 6 digits a year while living in a lavish mansion in Beverly Hills while driving an Aston Martin. For some people, living in a double wide in the country is fine with them, for others that sounds like hell. Just make sure that how you're living is what you would have picked for yourself. 'The stars' is whatever fills your heart with joy and for everyone, that is a different path.
It doesn't matter what your family says or your friends or even your teachers. You can do anything. What you tell yourself is what you will believe <<< This has given me so much power recently. Don't let someone else's self-doubt weigh you down. Believe in yourself, take action, and eventually you will see your dreams come to pass.
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