How to Overcome Doubt

Best way to conquer doubt is to accept it.

This scene must sound familiar to everyone that you were starting or in the middle of some plans, for instance, learning a new language, training for the first marathon, or writing a book! Then you heard a voice whispering in your head, saying there is no way I can make it, I’m just wasting the time, or it looks really dumb to work that hard… This is the voice of doubt.

Take my writing project, this is my fifth post but it’s not my first time starting a writing practice plan. I can’t even remember how many times I have given up on this and re-start again. It’s true that the first step is important, however, the most challenging part is actually to keep going toward the end. Give-up always seems so tempting, especially when it's hidden in all kinds of excuses.

The biggest reason people couldn’t stick to a plan committed by themselves is their fear of potencial failures. Because we are so used to evaluating the cost and gain while we invest our money, time and efforts in everything. If we sense the risk of failure, the self-doubt will keep challenging our confidence and eventually pull off our commitment to ourselves.

However, as long as we realize what cause us to give up our plan, we will be able to prepare and prevent the tragedy. Just like Steven Pressfield wrote in The War of Art, “Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do.“ If self-doubt is normal and predictable, there is no reason to be afraid of it anymore, the only thing we need to do about doubt is to manage the fear and avoid the failures.