Self-Doubt: What It Is, How To Overcome It, And Oh God, Am I Sure I Should Be A Self-Help Author?
Introduction
This self-help article is all about “Self-Doubt.” Are you in the right place?
- If you answered “yes,” great! Nice to meet a fellow Doubter. Read on.
- If “no,” boy, am I jealous of you! You should be writing this article! (Seriously, I don’t think I’m qualified.) Please read on and let me know where I can improve this article.
- If “I don’t know,” that’s quintessential “self-doubt.” I’d say you’re in the right place, but you should read on just to be sure.
Self-Doubt: What Is It?
“Self-Doubt” is the lack of confidence in oneself and one’s abilities. (I think.)
What Are the Symptoms?
- Questioning your own worth
- Constantly apologizing for everything (For instance, I’m sorry that I don’t have a better list of symptoms)
- Second guessing every decision, like my decision to write this article
- (That last one may not be a symptom — may just be a “me” thing (I don’t know (I’m sorry)))
- Anxious overuse of parenthetical digressions (to clarify and/or apologize for what you’re trying to say)
- Constantly questioning the stylistic format of your lists, like choosing bullets over numbers (This is similar to the fourth bullet in this third section (Sorry, I should’ve numbered everything (Stupid, stupid me)))
- Being unfairly critical of oneself and one’s work, like this stupid article I’m writing
- Diarrhea (rare, but not irregular)
Where Does It Come From?
Maybe it’s our relationship with our dads? No, that doesn’t sound right. I had a great relationship with my dad.
Wait. Did I?
I’m a Visual Learner. Do You Have Graphs?
I do now! (Because I’m supposed to have one right? If not, I’ll take it out. Please just tell me what to do.)
As you can see in Figure 1, the more you act like yourself, the more self-doubt controls who you are. What can we conclude from this?
It is better to act like everyone else.
Oh jeez. I just realized a lot of people don’t like line graphs. Sorry if you’re one of them.
Here’s a bar graph for Figure 2:
Orpheus was the greatest musician of all time, but he doubted himself when he looked back on his way out of Hades and forever lost Eurydice. He was later killed and torn to shreds for his doubt. 100/100.
Nick DiMaso is the unfortunate author of this article. Nick recently left his high-paying job to start a business helping others cope with their self-doubt. He regrets this decision, he thinks. 80/100 (90 on a bad day).
You came to this article looking for answers. I’m sorry that I have none to offer. 50/100.
No Doubt (band) is an American rock band formed in 1986 by vocalist Gwen Stefani. Even a band that famously claims to have “no doubt” still has some doubt! 10/100.
Everyone else is each person you interact with: your friends, family, strangers on the street… All of them are perfectly self-confident and wear flattering, stylish clothes. 0/100.
What Does Overcoming Self-Doubt Feel Like?
(To be written at a future date (when I overcome it (hopefully (fingers crossed! (God, Tony Robbins should have written this article (I’m sorry))))).)
Conclusion?
I’m on the phone right now with my dad, asking him if he thought he did a good job of raising me. He’s now questioning whether he did, and I’m apologizing for even implying it.
Great, and now he’s apologizing that I’m apologizing!
In conclusion: I don’t know if I’m the best person to write about this subject.
But okay, here’s maybe something: when I look back at Figure 1, I think there’s another way that we can interpret the fact that when you’re nothing like yourself (0%), you also have no self-doubt (0):
If you’re nothing like yourself, then you’re nothing at all.
So, maybe the answer is: we all have some self-doubt, and others are just better at hiding it? To “everyone else,” we are “everyone else,” therefore, according to Figure 2, we seem to have 0 self-doubt? Maybe some self-doubt is human, and we should love ourselves — even the self-doubting parts — and seek to connect with others?
I don’t know. But you’re in the right place now: the end of this article. Congratulations!
(Crap. Should I have included a bibliography?)
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