5 Steps to Overcome Doubt

What if you believed in your dreams, the same way you believe in your doubts?

I really do hate to be the one to burst your bubble.

But I discovered this truth and I don’t want you to be caught unawares.

Many of you believe that when you get to a certain level of success that all doubts will disappear.

We often see successful people as confident and secure and so we assume that they have no doubts.

How to overcome doubt and worry in your life

That is simply not true.

They have doubts and even fears.

The difference is that they do not allow these doubts to stop them.

You too can overcome the doubts that so plaque you.

Eventually you will see them and you will not panic, you will not call SOS.

You will overcome them and here is how.

5 Steps to Overcome Doubt

Observe

Long shots do win.

Watch movies like “Miracle” the story of the US Hockey team that won the gold medal against all odds.

Read the “Pumpkin Runner” where an old farmer wins an ultra wearing rubber boots.

Stories abound of unlikely people living successfully.

These can help us overcome the doubts as you realize that these men and women were nothing overly special.

If they can overcome their doubts and succeed I know that I can as well.

Miracles do take place in our world.

Find those miracles in your circle of influence.

I have a cousin that was born premature and overcame more health issues than I have words in this blog post to describe.

Amazing things happen.

I recently read about a bestselling author who scored almost as low as possible on the English portion of the SATs.

Find these stories and use them to encourage you.

You will also enjoy our article on fear and doubt.

Overcome

Sometimes the doubts simply will not shut their mouths.

They strive to make you stay in bed, to not engage and to in essence quit.

You are important, you add to our community.

There are moments when you must push on and through the pain.

Find the right music, the right quote or meme and determine that you are never going to give up.

When you overcome the small doubts the big ones will begin to tremble.

Our doubts do not define us and you are not a failure for even having those doubts.

Overcoming requires us to focus our efforts to prove them wrong.

Many times I know that I need to listen to my feelings.

When doubts are shaking me I need to make sure that I don’t listen to them.

Succeed

A little success will help you to overcome the doubts.

When I was a young man I was in a tennis tournament.

Now you should know that I was and am fairly terrible at tennis.

That summer I took lessons and had improved greatly.

That is how I ended up in this tournament.

I was confident in my new found skills until that moment when I realized that in the first round I had drawn as my opponent an accomplished tennis player.

He was a nice young man off of the court but on the court he could be brutal.

I had watched him make fools of the best and here he was standing in my way of any chance for victory.

To say I was now covered in doubts would be an understatement.

If this was a Hallmark movie I would now tell you that I not only beat him in some dramatic fashion.

That did not happen.

Success in this case was showing up for the match and scoring a few points.

No one else scored any points on this young man so yes that was success.

That little bit of success showed me that I should always face my fears and do my best even when the odds are long.

That lesson has come to my mind many times over the years.

Neighbors

Now these might literally be living or working right around you.

However, more than likely you will have to search high and low to find your support team of neighbors.

Neighbors are those that are going to encourage you and strengthen you.

Every project that is worth the effort will run into obstacles.

These neighbors will help you find a way to work around the challenges.

Just the other day my son was trying to cook a pizza and cookies at the same time.

He was stumped since the racks were too close together to allow him to pull it off.

His plan was to cook one and then the other.

I showed him how to move the racks and he could go back to his original plan.

He was not stupid or foolish.

Many times it simply takes another set of eyes to help you see the trees in the forest.

Neighbors do that for us.

Many times I have enjoyed sitting with a group of creative secure people and brainstorming solutions to a problem.

Some solutions turn out to be quite silly and pointless but the conversations always end up with fantastic possible solutions.

We need neighbors to help us overcome our doubts.

Sometimes they help us come up with solutions, other times though they are good to have around simply to let us know that we are not alone with these difficulties.

Study

By far the best way to overcome doubts is to prepare for the challenge.

Study for that test.

Train for that run or competition.

Dedicate your efforts toward the success.

Examine what others have done in your shoes.

How did they succeed?

If someone fell short of their goal what did they do wrong?

Talk out your doubts and concerns.

Preparation proves to shake out the doubts most handily.

Take time to watch videos, read books, listen to podcasts and whatever other tools that you can find.

The more knowledge you have the less room you will have for the doubts that want to stop you.

Several years ago I took part in a speech contest with Toastmasters.

I had tasted success at the initial three levels of competition and this contest would, if I won, send me to the National Championship.

Routinely I practiced with several different audiences; my NEIGHBORS gave me great feedback and encouragement.

Many of the doubts ran from my inner being.

While my nerves were still on edge I determined that I would never quit.

“I can do this,” I told myself multiple times.

I would OVERCOME.

That earlier contest showed me that I could be SUCCESSful.

I took the time to watch previous championship speeches.

I OBSERVED that they were ordinary men and women and that my speech could win.

Even the morning of the contest I continued to STUDY my art and practiced until I was filled with confidence when I took the stage that night and gave the best speech of my life.

No Doubt.