I don’t sleep well. I haven’t in years. The minute my head hits the pillow, my brain decides it’s time to party. The other night, despite my best efforts, I let self-doubt creep into my thoughts and steal a good night’s sleep.
The thing about self-doubt is that it doesn’t discriminate.
Even the most confident people experience it at times. It’s one thing to acknowledge that you may doubt yourself every once in a while. It’s another to let it stop you in your tracks every time. Self-doubt is one of the main contributors to developing a lack of confidence and has serious side effects, including loss of motivation, a decreased sense of control, and difficulty making decisions.
As a career and leadership consultant, clients often come to me with a lack of confidence in a particular area such as interviewing, asking for a promotion, handling conflict, or stepping into their first leadership role. I recognize that it’s easy for us to be everyone else’s cheerleader. But when it comes to cheering for ourselves, we come up short. If you find yourself allowing self-doubt to take over and are in need of a confidence boost, here are some tips to help you along the way:
1. Take a self-inventory. Sit down and make a list of all of the accomplishments you have achieved, goals you have reached, people you have influenced, projects you have completed, ways you have improved or developed, and the natural talents and skills that have helped you along the way. When you’re feeling less than, refer to this list to remember who you are and what you’re capable of.
2. Lean into your community. You’re not in this alone, so why do you feel the need to battle self-doubt in a silo? It’s easy to turn to isolating behavior when we aren’t feeling our best. Fight the natural urge to withdraw and instead, lean into your friends, family, colleagues, and mentors for reassurance. Oftentimes, those who know us best see the most wonderful parts of us that we have trouble seeing ourselves.
3. Be your own hype(wo)man. Do something to increase those dopamine levels and hype yourself up. For me, it’s blasting 90’s hip hop and dancing while no one is around (because no one should ever have to see that). Identify one thing that can instantly change your mindset or mood, whether it is exercise, talking to a friend, playing with your dog, or crushing some candy. (If you know, you know.) You can also dust off that old elevator pitch and revamp it, reminding yourself of who you are, and why you’re amazing in your own right.
As consultants, one of the most rewarding parts of our job is when we get to participate in the process as clients move from a place of confusion and fear to a place of confidence and clarity. There is no room for self-doubt. Remember, you are in control of the level of belief you have in yourself to do the hard things, to take the risk, to be capable of change. So, what are you waiting for? You got this.
We strive to equip clients with the knowledge, support, and customized tools needed to gain forward momentum. 
