How to Overcome Self-Doubt and Unleash Your Creativity?

Although overcoming self-doubt is challenging, anyone who is aware of the steps to follow can do it. In order to prevent your fears from getting in the way, take the following tips and put them into practice.

Note: This article is based on author Tyler Tervooren, who tells us about his experience overcoming fears and doubt.

Self-doubt is one hell of misery. This is due to the fact that even a minor setback can cause you to doubt your skills. Once this happens, all you know is that you are not good enough or smart enough to do anything, so you quit trying.

Although this is something that we have all experienced, not everyone handles it the same way. In spite of all the reasons why he feels helpless due to self-doubt, I want to share with you the tale of a young genius who discovered how to share his abilities with the world:

A four-year-old who sits at home and plays with his toys, hungry but  keeps it to himself, tired but only his condition shows it, four years and he can't (or won't) talk. Every day, his family wondered, "What's wrong with this boy? Is he disabled?"

When he started attending school, his teachers and colleagues thought he was stupid. They were trying to teach him art and languages. But he did not learn like the rest of the children; he learned only enough German to manage.

He used to repeat things to himself throughout high school, which made everyone think he was dim-witted. He tried out for college but didn't do well on the entrance exams; however, he eventually received his degree. He was unable to secure the teaching position he desired, though. He consequently spent his days at the dull patent office.

But in the many years that he had grown up thinking he was incapable of doing anything, the young man had told himself a different story. He knew he was good at something, and that was science.

This young man was Albert Einstein, a scientist, and in 1905 he presented four concepts that would later form the cornerstone of modern physics. We all know that Einstein was brilliant, but this was not immediately apparent when he was younger.

Did he make an impact on the world just because he was smart? Does intelligence shine despite the odds? probably not. Many bright people never overcome the obstacle of feeling uncomfortable. Brilliance was one of the main components of Einstein's personality, but no less important was his ability to overcome his self-doubt and keep working.

Today, there is compelling evidence that how well you do in life depends a lot on how much you think you can improve when it seems like you're not getting anywhere.

How Does Self-Doubt Ruin Your Performance?

A Stanford-supported study of 643 Australian high school students revealed some interesting insights into the beliefs you hold when you're in a cycle of doubt about your ability to perform and achieve goals.

The study examined three distinct beliefs in students' intelligence:

1. Intelligence is a constant feature; I have a certain amount of it, and I can't do much to change it.
2. Some people can increase their intelligence, but I can't.
3. Intelligence is generally flexible, and how smart I am today does not indicate how smart I will be in the future.

The data was clear: children who believed their intelligence could change achieved higher scores, got better grades, and were more enthusiastic and engaged learners. That is, children who thought they could get smarter really did.

This was not the case for those who did not believe in themselves or those who thought that intelligence could change, but they couldn't change their intelligence.

If you have experienced a horrific spiral of self-doubt, you know what that looks like too. While everyone around you continues to improve, you remain stationary (or get worse). It brings with it peculiar sufferings like anxiety and fear.

So what is the cure? Just decide that you're smart and strong, and you could be the next Einstein too. And when you're trapped in a cycle of self-doubt, you'll discover, like everyone else, that you can't just simply shake it.

Strategies to Overcome Self-Doubt

What all motivational talks have in common is that they don't work. Those high-spirited sermons like, "Be your best; you can do it, handsome," are inspiring and great for people with high self-esteem, and they're just what you need when you believe in yourself and need that little push to improve your performance. It's like words activate a hidden energy in your cells that inspires you to take action.

But when you're stuck in a bind and your confidence is plummeting, it's like having someone you know to be a liar telling you how amazing you are.

What studies have shown is that we're very bad at getting out of trouble (but we can get better with a little help), so what's the point? Like Einstein and the students in the study above, how do you make yourself believe you are capable of more and then actually boost your performance to match that belief?

There are three important things you can do, none of which are particularly intuitive when you have to empathize with someone:

1. Take action instead of trying to convince yourself to change

It is easier to act in a new way than to think of a new way to act, and one of the basic principles of psychologists who help people with depression is to get them to reduce the importance of everything they think and to convince them to start doing things, even if these things are not good at first.

Instead of trying to convince yourself that you can do better, just give yourself a chance, so that if you fail, the work motivates you and encourages you to try again, which of course increases your odds of success and directs your thoughts in the right direction as well.

2. Focus on past successes

Psychologists have discovered that the way you remember your past determines how you feel about yourself in the present. Do you focus on the negative? or the failures you have experienced? or the positive? the successes you had?

Your answer has a big impact on what actions you take next and how well they work for you.

I often wake up on a Monday morning and find it difficult to write. I might have a brilliant idea, but I don't have a clear methodology for how to write it. It's frustrating, but I often have an almost guaranteed way of dealing with it.

Looking at another article I wrote a while ago that I was happy with, it reminds me that I am able to work with high quality even when I have difficulty, and I know it's true because the evidence is right in front of me, and that's exactly what I need to get the job done now.

3. Build momentum by celebrating small wins

When you're stuck in the abyss of self-doubt, it consumes your attention. Although it's not true and it's not a big problem, you make it real and turn it into a big problem in your head, and you're the one making the illusion. Just as it took a series of important small actions to get to this level, it takes small but important actions to get started.

Small wins are motivating because you see real progress being made, and the momentum created by those small changes builds up quickly.

In Conclusion

Self-doubt is challenging to overcome, but anyone who is aware of the actions to follow can do so to a large extent:

1. You have to believe that you can do what you can to actually do better, but it's very easy to forget when you're in trouble.
2. Believe that you are able to perform better; you have to draw your motivation from the right decision.
3. The "right decision" often means focusing on actions that produce results and stimulate further action.

It really comes down to putting yourself in the right circumstances, even when you don't feel it. Getting out of self-doubt depends on finding a small action you can take, succeeding in it, and relying on the next one. When you do, you become unstoppable, and success becomes a matter of time rather than a mere possibility.

Although Einstein was a tireless genius who earned the respect we give him today, there was a danger that he would lose some of that brilliance due to criticism and self-doubt.

We must consider ourselves quite accomplished if any of us can overcome our self-doubt for long enough to accomplish even a small portion of what he did.