The Pay-Off of Self-Doubt
There is a payoff to self-doubt.
The payoff is you don’t have to try.
You don’t have to take the risk.
You don’t have to make that move.
You don’t have to go for it.
You don’t have to pursue.
You don’t have to work.
You don’t have to fight.
You don’t have to hustle.
Instead, you can just accept and receive your self-doubt, and sit safe and comfortable where you are.
Why So Much Self-Doubt?
Why do we experience so much self-doubt?
Why does it seem like, no matter what you do or how old you become, you never outgrow self-doubt?
How is it that you can be a fully successful person,
somebody who is a top executive, a high performer,
a major influencer, an industry all-star,
and yet self-doubt never goes away?
The reason why self-doubt never goes away is because you experience a payoff from self-doubt.
Self-doubt is a form of indulgence.
In order to understand how it works, you need to understand how your brain works. Your brain is not optimized for success.
Your brain is optimized for survival, and what happens is your brain functions to keep you safe.
Change Requires Risk
Whenever you have a new goal, set out on a new journey,
want to make a change in your life,
the brain immediately recognizes there’s something new
that is going to require a change.
And change is scary.
Change requires work.
Change requires energy and movement and risk, the risk of failing.
So what does your brain do?
Your brain releases chemicals that says, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
That’s not something you should do.
That’s not something you can do.
That’s not something that most likely would work out.”
And it immediately goes into a mode of trying to slow you down,
to stop you, and thwart your progress.
Unfortunately, the byproduct of that is you lose your dreams.
The things you want most never come true because
your perfectly-functioning brain kicks in and releases chemicals
that cause you to self-sabotage or to self-doubt.
Indulgence
You may not realize self-doubt is a form of indulgence.
Self-doubt is a form of indulgence.
There is a payoff to self-doubt.
The payoff is you don’t have to try.
You don’t have to take the risk.
You don’t have to make that move.
You don’t have to go for it.
You don’t have to pursue.
You don’t have to work.
You don’t have to fight.
You don’t have to hustle.
Instead, you can just accept and receive your self-doubt,
and sit safe and comfortable where you are.
But that is not something that multipliers allow themselves to do.
It’s not something they allow themselves to experience because, for a multiplier and an achiever, an influencer, a leader, they would approach that differently.
You Were Meant For More
I don’t care how uncomfortable it is.
I don’t care what my mind is telling me about why I can’t do it,
or why I’m not good enough, or why I’m not able.
It’s just understood that self-doubt is a natural defense mechanism.
It’s not the truth.
Self-doubt is a natural defense mechanism.
It’s not the truth.
That’s why self-doubt is an indulgence. It’s acquiescing to your most indulgent self, doing the thing that is most safe.
What a multiplier would do—what a high performer, an achiever, an influencer—what we do is we simply hear the self-doubt.
We don’t try to argue with it. We just hear it.
We acknowledge that it’s there and then we set it to the side.
That’s what multipliers do.
They acknowledge it.
They don’t pretend that it’s not there; they just acknowledge it and move it to the side and keep going.
It’s perhaps the equivalent of knowing a storm is coming but I’m going to go in that direction. I can modify my path along the way. But I’m not going to stand still.
I’m not going to stay here where I’m comfortable.
I’m not just going to do what is safe because I know I was meant for more.
You were meant for more.
Your greatness awaits. Your highest self is something you’ve not yet experienced. Your true purpose is something you still have in front of you to achieve.
Don’t allow yourself to fall victim to the indulgence of self-doubt.
What are you doubting? Leave me a comment below.
