5 Questions To Quash Self-Doubt

The voice in your head isn't always speaking the truth.

We all are self-critical. so we need to make sure when we the voice in our heads that creates self-doubt speaks,  we challenge it successfully.

If we are continually second-guessing ourselves, it's hard to stay motivated and find success. Or when we find success, we don't fully appreciate, validate, and celebrate our accomplishments.

When I first started my career in software, I held tons of self-doubt. I had business degrees, not computer science degrees. I focused on where I lacked or needed experience in coding and killed myself trying to do as much as possible to prove my worth. I never felt I had time to relax because I was always working or thinking about work.

I started to feel burnt out and knew something needed to change. While brainstorming how to change, I realized I had a whole host of skills I could bring to my technical job, a unique perspective that could help me succeed. I started working on communicating between less technical and more technical folks, ensuring everyone was on the same page on projects. I felt more confident, and the voice in my head that said, "you shouldn't be here," went away. The imposter syndrome went away.

So listen, here's the big idea. When you feel self-doubt, you need to check if your experiences match up. You need to ask yourself, "how do you know?" Because when I did, I found my confidence and went into a fantastic chapter of my career.

So when you feel uncertain about what you are doing, here's a checklist of questions to help you move from hesitancy and into feeling more assured.

1. How do you know that's true? TELL SOMEONE you why you believe that thought to be accurate, because sometimes when we have to explain the feeling, we find out we don't have evidence to support it
2. Where am I confident in my life, and how can I borrow that confidence to be more confident now? I love this question because it reminds you where you are strong, and so many folks forget all the great things they do!
3. What happens if my self-doubt isn't correct? What would I do? I love this question because it gets you thinking about what to do if you were bolder, and usually, the answer here is your action to feeling more certain about yourself.
4.  Who needs me to be strong right now? Sometimes our greatest strength comes from how we role-model for others.
5. What's the voice in my head sound like if it were encouraging me to learn right now? The shift from where we feel deficiency into where we notice we are learning is a powerful force in the universe. It uses doubt as fuel to learn and grow! 

I love these questions because it keeps me from spiraling into indecision and inaction. Having these in my back pocket to help me feel more confident, or working with my mentors through them, has helped me succeed in my career and life. It's similar to the questions I help my coaching clients make, too, so I know it works out in the world.

If you are struggling with self-doubt and need more support or a process to help you feel more confident and vibrant, check out this video about the #1 thing that keeps people from progressing. There's a super-cool offer at the end, so be sure to check it out!

Challenge the voice in your head that says you are not enough! It's usually wrong, and you deserve a better life!