Does Doubt Help or Hinder Your Career?

That little voice inside you. You know it all too well. Sometimes it is barely audible, quietly harkening back to tougher times. At other moments, it is so overwhelming that you cannot concentrate on anything else. It can save you from making a mistake, but it can also stop you from fulfilling your dreams.

The voice of doubt. 

When you are making trivial decisions like whether you need to take an umbrella on your walk as the dark clouds gather, doubt can serve as a useful reminder. Remember that last time you didn’t take one? You got soaked. It could happen again, you know. Acting on these little voices can be useful, but in most such trivial situations, it won’t be life-changing if you don’t heed the doubtful voices. 

When it comes to other matters, however, not heeding them can be a high-stakes decision. How we deal with those doubting voices can make or break our lives. When it comes to making crucial life choices, there are few areas more prone to doubt, and more complicated, than our careers. To me, a successful career should be a progression, an accumulation of learning and experience to then be passed on to the next generation of leaders. Does doubt have a role to play in this developmental journey? Does it help our career growth or hinder it?

As with most things, the answer is not clear-cut.

The worst kinds of doubts are those that cause you to freeze and avoid making a decision. We’ve all been in that situation in our careers. We know deep down what we need to do, but the potential consequences of the action are worrisome, so we end up doing nothing. This sort of doubt destroys futures and ensures the continuation of a far-from-ideal present.

But not all doubts are destructive. Some are productive. Some can help shape our thinking. 

A career is rarely a linear progression from small victory to small victory. There will be times when targets are not met and goals are not achieved. Each time that this happens, the natural reaction is to look inwards, sowing the seeds of doubt for the next time a certain activity comes along. 

These more manageable doubts are useful to us. 

If we are worried about public speaking and doubt our ability to present without stuttering over our words, more often than not, we do something about it. We will read a book, take a course or maybe chat with a colleague about how they handle it. The doubts force us to take action in order to deal with difficult situations. If we had no doubts and thought, “Ah, it will be fine next time, no worries,” then the likelihood of repeated failure would be higher. 

If we don’t let them build into foreboding monsters, small doubts in our career can often galvanize us to improve and be better than we were.

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