How to Stop Damaging Self-Doubt and Focus on Growing Your Business

Experiencing Self-Doubt

If you are experiencing self-doubt or if you have experienced it before, know that you are not the only person out there who has had these feelings. Self-doubt may be stopping you from launching that business that you have been developing for months or it may be stopping you from taking that leap in your business to get your business to the next level.

Regardless of which one of those it is, self-doubt can be crippling. The fears that are associated with self-doubt can lead to us not taking advantage of something that could propel us on our journey to reaching our goals! This is why I want to share 4 strategies that you can stop the damaging impact of self-doubt.

But before I share those 4 strategies, I want to talk a little about what is self-doubt. (Don't scroll past this definition. It is important for us to be clear about the feeling that we are calling self-doubt.)

What is Self-Doubt?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, self-doubt is a lack of faith in oneself.

Though some level of self-doubt can serve to be motivating, a significant amount of self-doubt can attack our self-esteem, steal our motivation, and prevent us from achieving our goals. On my journey to owning and running my own business, I have dealt with self-doubt and there are days when I still do.

This is why I want to share these  4 strategies with you. As a founder and business owner, I rely on using one of these 4 strategies to help me get through the days when my self-doubt is high. These 4 strategies have and continue to help prevent me from being crippled by self-doubt.

4 Strategies to Use to Stop Self-Doubt as a Business Owner

1. Stop worrying about what others think

Why does it even matter what others think? Many of us have a tendency to compare ourselves to others. We might even set our benchmark for success based on what others have accomplished. But guess what? Those other people probably didn’t even have you in mind when they set their benchmarks for success, so why should you!

Another reason to stop worrying about what others think is because when we start focusing on those other people, we start to feel inadequate or inferior to others. Such thoughts can lead to depression and anxiety. Rather than compare yourself, look for avenues where you can collaborate with others.

2. Reflect on your prior successes

Failures are a part of the journey to success. There is a time to reflect on them, but we shouldn’t dwell on them. So we need to stop dwelling on the failures and remember the successes that we have had. I know that this is not always easy to do. 

It’s funny that when someone asks to tell them 3 things that went wrong, we can rattle off 10 in less than 20 seconds! [I see you nodding in agreement. You know what I'm talking about.] But when asked to name 1 thing that went well, it takes us a few seconds and even minutes to identify that ONE thing. The reason for reflecting on our previous success is to remind ourselves of all that we have completed to be getting ourselves one step closer to accomplishing our BIG goal.

3. Distance yourself

It’s a fact that not everyone you meet will be supporting your business. Sometimes, not everyone in our lives believe that we will grow a successful business. Seriously, distance yourself from those negative people. Move away from those people who only have negative things to say about you, your business, and your vision for your business.

By doing this, you begin to be selective in what you pay attention to. You begin to focus on positive feedback rather than negativity and lack of support. In addition to physically distancing ourselves we can use psychological distancing to help.

Here's what I mean by psychological distancing. Use 3^rd person statements when you are having your negative thoughts rather than 1^st person statements. There have been studies on the positive effect of making that switch to 3^rd person. 

4. Set immediate goals

When a campaign or some action you took did not give you the results that you expected, do not sit and ruminate on all of the negatives. Use that as an opportunity to consider possible alternative interpretations of the outcome. Then use what you found to create an immediate goal that you can go after to obtain a better result.

Sometimes, being in a peer advisory board or mastermind group can help you with identifying those possible alternative interpretations. Also, setting smaller immediate goals can help you to track the progress that we are making towards that really big goal that we have for our business. 

Summary

These are 4 strategies that you can use to stop the damaging effect of self-doubt. However, please note that using these strategies will not get rid of self-doubt completely. We will still have a few moments of self-doubt every now and then, but at least with these 4 strategies, we can pull ourselves out of the negative self-doubt loop. 

If you are ready to learn how to implement these strategies in your practice as a business owner, submit your coaching application and see if you qualify for a customized coaching program to meet your specific needs.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article.

Regards,

Dr. Priscilla "Dr. P" Kucer

Solutions+Actions=Results! (SoAR!)