Self-doubt is that inner voice that prevents us from moving forward. Whenever we try something new, it tells us we can’t do it, and we back down in fear. We miss out on many great opportunities because an inner voice tells us it’s too difficult, and we won’t be able to do it.

But the truth is, every great achievement is difficult. However, it’s not complicated. With effort, willingness, and hard work, a person can make the impossible possible.

When you doubt yourself, even easy things seem difficult; that’s why we often don’t even start things that are easily achievable.

It’s true that before starting anything, one should consider their capabilities and limitations. Only fools undertake tasks without assessing their abilities—but that doesn’t mean you should back down if you have some shortcomings. Instead, identify those shortcomings, fix them, and then try, and you will succeed.

However, most of us already know these things. Yet, for some reason, self-doubt holds us back.

That’s why it’s crucial to know how to overcome self-doubt to progress in life. Today, you will learn 10 effective tips to overcome this problem, so you can use them to resolve self-doubt whenever it arises in the future.

01. Control Your Mind

In the 1970s, self-development guru Earl Nightingale compared the human mind to a powerful car in one of his audio programs. The human mind is an incredibly powerful thing. It has the power to make anything impossible possible. But most people don’t realize that they are the driver of this immensely powerful vehicle. They can steer it in any direction they choose. But if the steering wheel isn’t held firmly, like any car, the mind will lead you to ruin.

Earl Nightingale says you can achieve anything using your mind if your hand is firmly on the steering wheel. That means if you drive the car in the right direction.

A core feature of the human brain is that it always wants to keep its owner safe. But in keeping us safe, it doesn’t allow us to take risks—it magnifies small risks, causing us to retreat from many good opportunities. Besides, the mind mostly wants to be immersed in entertainment and indulgence.

Ordinary people rarely try to control their minds because they believe their minds are controlling them. But the truth is, you can control your mind if you choose to.

When you’re doing something or taking an important step, if irrational negative thoughts or self-doubt enter your mind, you’ll realize the mind’s car has started going in the wrong direction. At this point, grip the steering wheel firmly. Force yourself to think positively. Keep telling yourself, “I can do it, it’s possible for me.” And force yourself to believe it. After a while, you’ll see those negative inner voices stop. It’s that simple. Successful entrepreneur and motivator Gary Vaynerchuk says, “People are just looking for secrets. The biggest secret is there are no secrets. Using ordinary things correctly can lead to extraordinary achievements.”

Whenever irrational self-doubt arises, don’t delay—strangle it. Drive the car in the direction you truly want to go.

02. Reflect on the Past

Whenever you experience self-doubt, especially when taking an important step, take a moment to reflect on your past.

How many people do you know who have achieved great things by overcoming the most difficult circumstances? Most of the people who have made history started from situations where there was no possibility of them achieving anything significant.

Even today, you can find many people who have accomplished much greater things by overcoming circumstances far more difficult than yours.

Perhaps you yourself have done such things before. Maybe out of necessity or encouragement from someone, you have successfully completed tasks that seemed impossible. If you could do it then, why can’t you do it now? If they could, why can’t you? When you think this way, you’ll find your self-belief increasing significantly, and your doubts and hesitations diminishing. Once you start working, those doubts and hesitations will completely disappear.

03. Talk to a Positive and Optimistic Trusted Person

There are some people around us who can always stay positive. They have a smile on their face even in bad situations. They always hope for something good.

Among your friends, colleagues, or relatives, there will surely be someone like this. Such people can not only stay positive themselves but also spread messages of hope to those around them. If you ever doubt yourself or feel disheartened, go to such a person and confide in them about your situation. You’ll see them beautifully point out the positive aspects of the situation. At the same time, they will energize you with their optimistic attitude. After talking, you’ll feel less disheartened than before.

Additionally, if you know less about a topic, talk to a familiar (or unfamiliar) expert on that subject. This will prevent you from suffering from a lack of self-confidence when starting a task.

04. Don’t Compare

When people compare themselves to others, they become most vulnerable. Most of the time, we don’t compare in the right way.

If Alibaba founder Jack Ma is your idol, comparing your current situation with his current situation will get you into trouble. He is now worth $40 billion, while you might not even be earning $40,000 a month. You need to think about what he did when he was in your situation or even worse, and how he overcame that situation to come so far. Only then will you get more encouragement.

If you constantly compare yourself to others, you are more likely to be disappointed. You need to define your own definition of success. Then you need to work for that success. Being successful in the eyes of others or people around you is not true success. True success is being able to do what you truly want from your heart.

Every key is a key, but not every key can open every lock.

Instead of competing with others, compete with yourself. Utilize every moment of today to make yourself better tomorrow than you are today. This way, you’ll find yourself surpassing others without even realizing it.

05. Keep a Journal

Renowned self-development coach Brian Tracy emphasizes writing in all his books and speeches. According to him, journaling or writing about one’s life goals every day is crucial for properly achieving those goals. It increases the chances of success many times over.

The habit of journaling can benefit you in many ways. In overcoming self-doubt, it can help you in two main ways:

When you doubt yourself for any reason, trying to write down the reasons for this doubt on paper will bring them to your mind very clearly. When writing anything, our brains work more than usual. Thoughts become much clearer.

After writing down the reasons, start writing remedies for them next to each. Normally, if you just think about them, the remedies might not come to mind very well. But when writing, many minute details will come to mind. You’ll be able to find solutions to problems very easily. Writing down different aspects of problems and their solutions will greatly increase your motivation and interest in working on them.

06. Don’t Overvalue Others’ Opinions

When you excessively worry about what others might think of your work and words, your self-doubt will increase. Eventually, you’ll be afraid to even start working. In fact, a primary reason for self-doubt about one’s own work and words is over-attaching importance to others’ opinions.

Truth be told, very few people genuinely care about your words and actions. And those who constantly find fault with your work—it’s just their nature to find flaws. No matter how good your work is, they will always find fault. According to successful entrepreneur and business trainer Gary Vaynerchuk, these people are actually incredibly unsuccessful and unproductive in their own lives. They criticize others to hide their own deficiencies.

The uncle next door who worries more about your BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) exam than your father is often just a clerk or something similar. They haven’t achieved anything notable in their own lives, but they are experts at meddling in others’ affairs. Similarly, those who make negative comments on others’ posts or pictures on social media usually have nothing productive to do.

People who are genuinely busy with their own work don’t have time to worry about such things. Those who truly care about you will always encourage you and wish you well. Instead of criticizing, they will point out mistakes and offer constructive advice.

So, don’t back down from any work or step out of fear of “what will people say.” Always remember that your life belongs to you and your dearest ones. What others say outside of that doesn’t matter to you. When you can adopt this mindset, you’ll find that much less self-doubt arises.

07. Motivate Yourself

If your every day starts with messages of hope and learning something good, your mind will stay positive throughout the day. Your self-belief will also be much stronger.

Every morning, read or listen to motivational quotes or speeches. Read biographies of successful people. Then you will see your confidence in yourself and your work increase. India’s youngest billionaire, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, enrolled in college at a young age. Coming from a Hindi medium background, Vijay was so humiliated by teachers and classmates for not understanding English lectures that he would skip class and sit in the library. There he would read biographies of successful people and practice English. Eventually, he became so successful that those same teachers and classmates couldn’t come close to him.

When Hal Elrod, the author of The Miracle Morning, lost everything and became penniless, he would tell himself positive things every day and listen to motivational books or similar content. This way, he found confidence in himself every day and gradually regained his lost fortune.

Whenever you have time throughout the day, read, listen to, or watch something good and motivating. This will make your self-confidence and optimistic attitude permanent. Whatever you try to do or say, irrational doubts will not come to mind.

08. Remember: All Failures Are Temporary

Failure has no inherent power unless we empower it. It only becomes powerful if we consider it important. Past failures often shake our self-belief. But the truth is, failure is just an event. It might have had an impact in the past, but in the present, it has no existence outside of our minds.

Remember, just because you failed before doesn’t mean you are a failure. If you learn from past failures and start again, that failure won’t defeat you again. Always remember, you cannot succeed without failure. If you start a task, failures will come. By learning from those failures, you will eventually become an expert in that task. You learn the way by making mistakes.

You should definitely think deeply about past failures, but only to figure out what lessons you can learn from them. After that, dwelling on them is just a waste of time. To prevent past failures from spreading doubt about your own abilities, we have published an entire article titled “9 Tips to Overcome Past Failures and Build a Beautiful Future.” You can read that article if you wish.

09. Continuously Strive to Increase Your Skills

If you have knowledge and skill in a particular area, you will have much greater confidence in making decisions or starting work in that area. Often, we want to take a step but cannot, due to a lack of sufficient knowledge and skill in that area. The main way to increase skill in any area is to study and practice that subject.

Many people lack the courage to speak in front of others. If you read books on presentation skills and enroll in a course, practicing regularly, you will find yourself becoming very skilled in the subject sooner than you expect.

According to world-renowned self-development coach Brian Tracy, if someone spends 3% of their income on increasing their skills (through buying books, taking courses, etc.), they will become one of the best in their field within a short time. To know more about this, you can read the article “How to be the best in any field: The 3% Formula.”

No matter what field you want to excel in, continuous practice and knowledge acquisition will always keep you confident—and you won’t have the mindset to give importance to self-doubt in that regard.

10. Divide Big Goals into Small Goals, and Achieve Them Step by Step

When talking about success or self-development, this point will always come up. When you set a very big goal, it’s natural to have some doubt about your ability to achieve it. The best way to shake off this doubt is to break down a big goal into smaller goals.

Suppose you want to climb 10 floors of stairs. Looking at the 10th floor all at once might make you feel a little intimidated. Instead of thinking about the 10th floor, think about climbing one floor at a time—or just 5 steps at a time. When climbing one floor, don’t think about the next. Focus entirely on one floor. Then you’ll see you won’t feel nervous anymore.

Remember a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

In¹ a marathon race, competitors have to run 26 miles continuously. No one acquires the ability to run 26 miles all at once. First, they run 1 mile continuously, then 2 miles. This way, after long practice, this strength and skill are achieved. Compare your big goal to a marathon race. Always think about this race—you’ll find yourself getting encouraged.

If your goal is 10 years, just think about this year for now. Divide the year into 12 months, the month into weeks, and set daily goals this way. By achieving small goals every day, you’ll gain confidence for the next day.

This way, with each step you cross, the confidence to move to the next step will automatically be born within you. Doubt about your abilities or success will largely disappear.

Conclusion

“He who believes can achieve.” This is the meaning of Shakespeare’s quote given at the beginning of this article. Many promising lives fail simply by not taking the first step, by not believing in themselves. No matter how much self-doubt arises, don’t give it importance. If you genuinely have a weakness in something, work hard to overcome that weakness, acquire knowledge. Perhaps you lack education in a certain area—but you certainly have the ability and time to learn. All you need is belief and effort.

This article is meant to instill that belief and the enthusiasm to try within you. If this article has helped you even a little in overcoming self-doubt, then our effort is successful.