5 Ways to Overcome Fear and Self-Doubt

Fear can dismantle your dreams and worrying can suck the life right out of you. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people stay away from what gives them anguish, since it makes them feel bad. Staying in our comfort zones is foolish since most of our greatest desires are on the other side of our fear and self-doubt. 

Try these strategies to banish fear from your life:

1. Be present. We often live in the past or the future, and completely disregard what’s happening in the moment. I’ve fallen victim to this too many times. I get so focused on the future; I look past opportunities right in front of me. Not being present added a ton of anxiety to my life. One of the strategies that I utilized to combat this was mindfulness techniques. I learned this concept through the app, “Headspace.” By injecting mindfulness into my life, I became more present and was able to lessen my anxiety.   
2. Visualize success. I’ve heard many people say, “fake it ‘til you make it” over the years. That concept always rubbed me the wrong way. Since I value authenticity, I hate the idea of faking it. With that said, you can still be a real, authentic person and visualize yourself being more successful than you currently are. I started utilizing visualization about 19 years ago when I wrestled in high school. The night before my matches, I would envision my hand raised victoriously. As silly as it may sound, this alleviated a lot of my self-doubt when it came to wrestling. 
3. Recognize that everyone has fear. We’re not alone. Seriously. I recently coached a CEO on an upcoming speech that he had. I put this individual on a pedestal since he runs a company of tens of thousands of people. Do you know what his biggest challenge was in life? Fear. He told me that he had an inferiority complex and that he’s struggled with self-doubt his whole life. By outward appearances, very few people would think this guy has any issues with fear, but he does. He’s like everyone else; human. As humans, we continuously battle fear and self-doubt. 
4. Take action. Over the years, I’ve learned that the best way to overcome my fear is through intense action. The more I do what scares me, the stronger I get, and by default, the easier it gets. It’s like a rubber band. If you stretch out a rubber band as far as it will go without breaking it, then it will never go back to its original state. Action is a lot like that since we change though effort. The more activity, the more our fear tends to shrink.
5. Shoot for a B and skip being perfect. I’m a perfectionist. It’s plagued me my whole life. I use to wear it as a badge of honor until I realized that it was the cause of a ridiculous amount of stress in my life. You know stress kills, right? There is nothing fun about anxiety. It eats away at our mental health. I did this crazy thing a long time ago that fundamentally changed my life. To all the other perfectionists out there, this is going to sound stupid. I remember an English class I took many moons ago, and I purposely didn’t turn in my term paper. By doing this, it broke my 4.0. I deliberately forced myself to get a B. Why? Instead of getting stressed out over grades, I could focus more on learning. I not only learned more, but I did it with a healthier state of mind. Since that day, I shoot for a “B” in everything. Why write the best email in the world? It takes too long, and you don’t need that kind of stress. Why try to be the best dressed in the room? Too time-consuming and not worth the anxiety. Why try to have the most organized house on the block? It’s not worth your mental sanity. Believe me, if you want to lessen your stress in life, shoot for a B. By doing this, you will end up having way more action, and your “B” will end up being phenomenal without all the stress.     

Ask yourself, “how much does fear and self-doubt control my decisions?” Think about everything you desire in life and think about how much fear is holding you back. What could you accomplish from now ‘til the end of the year if you figured out how to handle your worries? Take a moment to look at everything that is causing you to be uncomfortable and freakin’ do them. You’ll notice that these challenges will become a lot easier over time. Once you build momentum conquering your fears, keep going, and slay bigger dragons in your life. But first, you need to prove to yourself that you can overcome your self-doubt, so start small. Your goals, dreams, and desires all depend on how quickly you can face your fears, so do it now.