Want to Overcome Self-Doubt? Listen Up!

Transcript

You’re Listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast, Episode #25 which is all about how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt.

Today we’re diving into one of my favorite topics… silencing that inner voice of self-doubt, and turning it into unshakable confidence so you can learn how to stop self-doubt.

Imagine if you never questioned your abilities or your worth ever again and finally learned how to stop procrastination.

Imagine if anytime you set out to launch a new product or get on a call with a potential client, you didn’t hear the voice in your head saying… you don’t know the answers. This would be the perfect way to learn how to step self doubt.

What if you knew all the answers? What if you knew how to stop procrastination? What if, bottom line here folks, you believed in yourself? What if you knew how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt overall?

What would that do for you? For your business? What would that give you?

I imagine you might say, I’d finally feel free! Or, I’d be able to create the kind of impact I want to create. Or, I’d be able to make more money in my business, or I’d be able to show up as unapologetically me.

Well today, I want to help you tap into this power by shifting that voice of self-doubt into the voice of confidence and unshakeable belief in yourself.

You deserve to feel empowered, to do the work you’ve been put on this earth to do, without the voice of self-doubt holding you back.

Are you ready to dive in? This is one you won’t want to miss.

[INTRO TRACK]

Welcome to another episode of the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast. Today's episode is all about how to stop self doubt as an entrepreneur.

I’m your host Courtney Elmer. One of things we’re known for at my company, The EffortLESS Life®, is equipping you with the mindset needed for entrepreneurship and overcome doubt.

There’s a lot of people out there giving you systems and strategies and how-to steps to do things like grow your email list, launch a digital program, create content that converts, run FB ads, and all kinds of things you can learn and apply to your business.

But chances are, few have taught you how to cultivate the mindset you need for entrepreneurship. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people out there are saying you need to have the right mindset in order to grow your business and transform your life, but how do you actually do that?

Today we’re diving into one of the major reasons WHY so many entrepreneurs struggle with how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt, especially during those early years of their business, when all those big dreams and goals they started with begin to feel out of reach.

One of the reasons this happens is because this little voice starts to creep in and plant seeds of doubt in their mind, sometimes without them really realizing it.

They start off in business feeling super confident, but as they go along, they begin to become more aware of how much they DON’T know. The more competent or skilled they become, the more their confidence starts to dip because of a strange psychological phenomenon that starts to kick in … the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. The more you feel you have to learn.

I see this all the time with our students and even sometimes our high-level coaching clients.

They start to say things like, “well I can’t charge that much for my program! People won’t pay that, because this stuff is really easy! I’ve just packaged it up for them so they can learn it.”

Or they might say, “I’ve got this student in my membership right now and I’m struggling to help her. I feel confused, therefore I don’t think I’m the right fit for her.”

And what happens? People start to value their abilities less because the more they know, the more their confidence in themselves decreases.

What’s really happening is that the more skilled they become, the more room for growth they begin to see.

And so they start to say these things like “I can’t charge that for my services, because it’s so easy for me!”

On what planet does that make sense? Just because something has become easy for YOU doesn’t mean it’s easy for someone else. Believe me, someone will pay you when you show them the value of what you’re providing that would take them years to learn on their own. Just like it took you years to hone your craft and begin to master what you do.

The problem is, when things become EASY for us, when our work begins to feel super-natural, like, it’s just what we do, that inner voice of self-doubt gets louder.

You’d think it’d be the opposite right? The more we learn, the more we know, the more confident we feel. But that’s not what often plays out in real life.

And so people start to feel like a fraud in their business. Imposter syndrome kicks in and they start to think, “Who am I to be doing this? There’s so much I don’t know!”

There’s actually a name to this phenomenon, it’s called the Dunning Kruger effect. And if you haven’t heard about this before, listen up bc we see this happening a LOT among entrepreneurs and it’s one of the things that causes people to struggle unnecessarily. And I don’t want that for you. I want you to know how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt.

It’s one of the reasons WHY that inner voice of self-doubt can get so loud sometimes, and today I am going to teach you what you can do to begin to silence it so you can stay focused on the things that really matter and that really move that needle.

now I want you to play a fun little game here with me for a second. I want you to fill in the blank. It’s really easy, you just have to finish the sentence I give you with whatever comes to your mind first as it relates to your business and to you selling your products and services.

Little side note here, if you’re in a place where you can write things down, you may want to write these down, they will be very revealing.

Ok ready? Here we go.

If I’m not an expert, then ______
If I feel confused, and am struggling to know how to help someone, then ______
I’m not qualified to do that, therefore _____
If I ask for money for something I'm not doing at an expert enough level, it means _____
I really thought I was going to close that sale, but I didn’t. That means ______

Did you get them? If not, or if your mind was blank and there was no answer there for you, rewind and take a deep breath and ask yourself again. And listen.

Because the answers you hear in your mind, whatever you notice coming up for you, will illuminate where the voice of self doubt is coming from.

From the belief you hold to be true about yourself right now. The story you’re telling yourself on an unconscious level.

Now. One of the biggest mistakes I see struggling entrepreneurs making is that they begin to listen to the voice of self doubt. They begin to believe it is true. And if you begin to believe the story you’re telling yourself is true, then guess what will happen next? What do you think you’ll begin to notice playing out in your life? Do you think your beliefs will adjust to fit your life? Or do you think your life will adjust to fit your beliefs?

This process typically happens unconsciously. Our beliefs don’t show up as beliefs. They show up as “the way it is.” So it’s not something you'd naturally be aware of if you’re not trained to be aware of them.

Yet if you continue believing those answers to be true about yourself, the blanks you just filled in, then do you think this will speed up or slow down your progress?

Do you think feeling like you don’t know enough will cause you to work less hours, or spend later nights at your desk binging on that new course you just bought to learn how to create an online course, or start a membership, or start growing a team or write better copy, thinking you need to learn more in order to feel more successful?

The voice in your head right now might be saying something like, “you’re not there yet, which means you’re not doing enough. If you want to get there faster, you need to work harder to learn more. People who are authorities and experts are authorities and experts because they know a lot, therefore to become an authority or an expert, I need to learn more and gain a lot more knowledge.”

Be honest here for a second. Is this the voice of truth?

I want you to consider, any unpleasant emotion you’re experiencing right now in your business, whether it be frustration, or anxiety, or worry, or guilt or any unpleasant emotion is caused by what you and I are going to call a lie. And it’s a lie because it’s a thought or belief or perspective that God refuses to hold about you. It’s only something you’re holding right now about yourself.

So whatever answers you came up with just now, are what’s causing you to feel these symptoms of guilt or worry or frustration in your life, in your business. And if these unpleasant emotions are caused by a lie, a thought/belief/perspective that God refuses to hold about you, then what does that mean about all those answers you came up with?

That they are lies, right?

So are you ready for my next question?

If that’s a lie, what’s the truth? How can you start to overcome doubt? How can you stop procrastinating?

If you are beginning to recognize now that those things you’ve been telling yourself, the voice of self-doubt in your mind that you’ve been believing up until this point isn’t true… then what is true?

Can we agree that if all of these thought patterns of self-doubt are lies, that they aren’t true, and they’re causing you to feel anger, frustration, sadness, guilt, shame, fear… if all of these are caused by a thought/belief or perspective that God refuses to hold about you, then these are perspectives moved away from God.

So if it’s a lie, what is true? What is the perspective that God / Source / The Universe holds about you and already knows to be true as it relates to you and your business? What are the best ways to learn how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt?

I want you to get quiet and answer these questions about how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt. Maybe pause this episode right now and get still, and notice what comes up for you when you answer this question.

What is the perspective that God holds about you and already knows to be true as it relates to you and your business?

Awesome, and how does it feel when you try that on? What are the ways on how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt?

Get really clear on how it feels, right now.

Then I want you to ask yourself: what’s one concrete action you can take RIGHT NOW in alignment with this truth? What can you do to learn how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt?

The process of turning self-doubt into unshakable confidence is simple. The first step is to become aware of what that voice is telling you.

Then to ask yourself, is it true?

And even to ask, who’s voice is it? Often, it’s not yours. Sometimes it’ll surprise you who’s voice it is!

I had a client once who struggled with self-doubt. Was afraid to make a decision because she was afraid of it being the wrong move. Worse, afraid of what her family would think. When she started tuning in she realized the voices she was listening to weren’t hers… we started working together to help her get clear on HER voice and her true heart’s desires, and then laid out a clear plan with action steps for her to take that helped her turn things around and instantly gain the confidence she was lacking.

So to wrap this all up, here’s what I want you to do next. I want you to start paying attention to the things you’re telling yourself this week, and notice if it’s your voice or not.

Try to notice the thoughts going through your head whenever you feel an unpleasant emotion. If you feel confused, step back and ask yourself, what’s the thought behind this feeling right now?

If you feel frustrated, step back and ask yourself, what’s the thought behind this feeling right now? Ask yourself what's the best way to learn how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt?

And remember, in life, in business, you’re going to feel things that are unpleasant sometimes. You’re going to feel doubt. You’re going to feel anxiety, to feel fear, worry, guilt, shame. You’re going to feel a lot of things that are unpleasant. And you know what? These unpleasant feelings you might experience aren’t something that’s happening TO you. They’re happening FOR you. They’re there to highlight areas where you have room to grow, and that’s a GOOD thing because you learn how to stop self doubt, how to stop procrastination, and overcome doubt. Because to close the gap from where you are right now to where you want to be, it requires you to lean in and grow, even when it feels hard, right? Even when it feels uncomfortable.

My mentor uses this metaphor to describe this of falling off the horse.

You falling off the horse is the indicator that you’re going for something big. The goal is not to try to avoid falling off the horse. The game is to figure out ‘how fast can I get back on?’ How fast can I get back to my equilibrium, my peace, to get back to the truth?

I have all the same problems and struggles as you -- I’ve just learned how to get back on the horse faster. What if you could learn how to do the same? The ups and downs of entrepreneurship will come. The goal is to learn how to move through these ups and downs of entrepreneurship really fast -- to bring yourself back to the truth anytime you’ve found you’ve unknowingly moved away. To bring yourself back to love. That’s the only perspective that God holds for you. Pure, positive, abundant, unconditional love and truth about who you are and who He’s created you to be.

This is not always something you can do on your own. You can get better at it, but it’s still a process. It still takes time. That’s why I’m here, to help you speed up that learning curve and that’s why we offer the kinds of high-performance coaching we do, to help busy entrepreneurs like you create the income and impact you deserve, without burning out along the way. To help you discover the truth. To live in freedom. To trust in yourself. And to stop self doubt, to stop procrastination, and to overcome doubt, so you can finally be free to create the bigger impact you were put here on this earth to create.

I appreciate you so much, I love hearing from my listeners and what you guys have to say about the show, and as always go forth and live your EffortLESS Life®. Be bold, take the right steps to overcome self doubt. You’re the best — see you next time right here on the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast.