Having self-doubt is a tough thing, it is a feeling of inadequacy that haunts you, even when you are doing great. Sometimes you feel like that the world is too kind to let you shine in the light of glory, self-doubt is paralyzing, it restrains you from taking certain actions, acting on a certain plan and the ability to take up a challenge, which is worth it.

Self-doubt comes from not being appreciated enough, self-doubt comes from a feeling of lack. No matter what you do, you still feel like that there is something missing, whatever I am right now, is inadequate to deal with the current situation.

I feel you. Please do not worry at all, it might have been haunting you from ages, however what I am about to share with you in this blog, is amazing. It’s my self Analysis, suggestions that I gave my friends when they were tackling self-doubt and some life theory to live confidently all the time.

Let’s get to know how to remove self-doubt from your life and live boldly.

1. Everyone is a work in progress, so be shamelessly you, whatever that you are

 “With age I have become both more pious and more shameless.” – Mason Cooley

With age we all will regret the things that we did not do, rather than the things we did. Yes, if it was something really sinister you did then it’s okay to regret, otherwise in general majority of things that we do during our lives are well cherished and well preserved memories. The things that we thought were extremely embarrassing become extremely funny and we are always glad that it did happen.

If you notice a school kid will find answering a question asked by the teacher cool and being punished an embarrassment, however a High school kid will take pride in being grounded and how cool it was to be asked to leave the class in a particular fashion. Our perception of acceptable and unacceptable changes with age.

We might fret about the little problems now and later we realize it was nothing at all. It’s always like that. If you speak with the elderly, they will tell you majority of the things they thought were Important during their whole lifetime, were actually a complete waste of time and majorly sapped their happiness. Gave them stress and anxiety.

So self-doubt asks you questions like this “will I be able to do it?” “Should I try a challenging course, what if I fail?” “Should I finally join the dance class?” “Should I apply for that job?” Try that business, declare my desire to write a book, approach someone I like, will I make it in life? Maybe I am not good enough, maybe it’s okay if I just avoid it and why will they entertain me, there are obviously better people to do that, than I am?

Now let me tell you this, none of the answers to those questions matter. It’s completely useless. A complete waste of time. And instead of bothering about nonsensical stuff, you should Just do it without a doubt. Do it with thought but without a doubt.

Because I don’t want you to mindlessly try jumping from a building and check if you can fly? However I do want you to take a leap of faith in life and believe that this is something great, whatever might be the result, however the world judges me and how big a fool I make of myself, it does not matter.

Because eventually when we are old, I would have lived a very exciting life with full of adventure, when everybody was busy playing safe. I was living at the edge and beyond, When everyone else was defining boundaries.

Let the world judge you if they want to, however just know this, deep down inside, they all wish, they had the guts to live as freely as you. Let them find that better person they are looking for a particular job, if there is one, it’s not your job to think about it, it’s theirs and your job is to just take action.

Let them decide who the better person is, your job is just to face the arena, a champion will be declared with time. You might not know your worth but someone might just know it better than anyone else.

2. Take pride in your hard work

 “Keep calm and take Pride in your work.” – The internet

Work hard, live a life of purpose, do all you can to give yourself a better life, however don’t mind all the judgments passed by the world along the way.

To be honest, most of the times people are so concerned about what’s going on with themselves, they don’t even have a second to notice what you are doing. In a party observe, more than what others are wearing, people are concerned about what they are wearing themselves, just notice and you will catch people adjusting their outfits ever so often.

The people who take a dig at you are usually those people, who themselves have insecurity. Have sympathy, they are affected by self-doubt as well, the only way they know to feel better is by making someone else feel inferior. We are nicer, we don’t resort to such tactics.

So before you think what others will think of you, know that, whatever they think about you is because of their own nature, it’s nothing do with you.

Therefore when I say take pride in your work, what I mean is, never fall short at giving something all you have got, don’t hold back when something has to be done. Your Pride should be associated with your efforts and not your results.

If your efforts are ceaseless, then know eventually you will be farther than majority of the world, don’t garner self-doubt.

So whatever happens, wherever happens and whenever happens it does not matter. Just make sure you never back down, just completely block all those thoughts that hold you back, just do it, whatever comes after, just face it head on. Just decide this once and for all, I take full responsibility of my actions and whatever comes my way, I am strong enough to handle it.

There was a time in my life when I decided to say “Yes” to every opportunity that came my way, no matter how irrelevant it is to my life, if I think something is exciting, I would just do it, once, I sang In front of a whole auditorium filled with college students my age, I am no singer, my voice is average, but somebody asked me “Hey would you like to sing for a short play on the stage?” I said why not, let’s get on with it.

To be honest, I wanted to check if my voice is any good and a small desire to sing on stage as well, I did not receive any concrete feedback about my singing, however I did receive compliments about it and also it is a cherished memory.

I would have regretted saying “No” because saying “Yes” was definitely an amazing experience. Try that.

3. Don’t judge yourself so much, leave some work for the world

 “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” – African Proverb

Self-doubt is judging yourself and fearing how others will judge you. It’s too much of judging to deal with. First let go of all the expectations about how everything should be, this expectations are a tricky area, you don’t know if they were set by you or by your surroundings, from those expectations arises the feeling of inadequacy to meet them. Because you are thinking, what If I don’t do it correctly? Also what will others think of me? Now you are completely overworking yourself here.

First you are creating expectations about yourself which are really difficult to fulfill, then you are judging yourself and remaining brain power is wasted thinking about how others will interpret it.

I would suggest change your department entirely. You take up a full time job in the department of action. Mindless thoughtful action. Give the position of judges and expectations committee to the world. Let them waste their precious time and energy discussing every minute detail about your life and nit picking everything you do.

You yourself completely give yourself to take action, make your life a spectator sport, do so much with your life that people have no time to talk about anything else. You don’t think about all this at all, I am just saying it all to give you a perspective on, what level of commitment to pushing yourself and action you should have.

You should absolutely not even have a single moment to judge yourself, to garner self-doubt, keep yourself that busy in living your life to the fullest. Don’t spare even a single cell and atom of energy to be consumed by self-doubt. Use all of it to execute your plans.

Keep yourself so busy, that you don’t have time to know what the world is thinking of you. It’s only because their life isn’t as interesting that they are talking about yours. It’s a proof.

So know your work, do that. Let the world do what suits them best. To each to this own. I am not judging here, but just wanted to mention all the possible elements that are present in our world. To each to his own, live and let live.

Conclusion

“To escape fear, you have to go through it, not around.” – Richie Norton

Start doing all those things which create self-doubt within you. Action is the ultimate antidote. Face your fears, lose your fears.

Massive action is the key to defeating self-doubt. Knowing failing at something won’t kill you is a great motivator. Every time you do something your mind is doubtful about and you come out alive at the other end after doing it, it assures your mind, hey! It’s not all that bad after all.

Let’s try again and see if I can do better. Also it’s better if your actions are judged, rather than your inactivity and self-doubt. At least your life is moving somewhere, stagnancy is a rut you don’t want to be stuck in.

Rather than doing nothing with your life, it will be better if you fail. Just don’t let self-doubt sabotage your life. Failing is alright, not trying and not living isn’t.

Just buckle up and get on with it.

Don’t forget to share your personal doubts and experiences in the comments with me.