A Quest on Doubt

Every time I open any social media, be it Instagram or LinkedIn, I get instantly overwhelmed by the amount of content. It screams at you from all directions. The Internet is flooded with letters that form words, that form sentences, that form paragraphs. As someone who writes, I feel obliged to read. I’m curious about what others are writing and want my content to be relevant. But I can’t help my mind from trying to escape. The sheer amount of content makes my thoughts shrink, and different doubts creep in.

These doubts take the form of characters—and trust me, it's a full house. Apart from my ever-present best friend, Imposter Syndrome, we also have the Editor-in-Chief (obviously from the most respectable journals, like The New Yorker) who critiques everything—from my topic choice to my sentence structure. Then there’s the Designer who disapproves of my presentation. My mother is always there, of course, saying nothing is good enough and I should do better. And then there’s this other voice, a shape-shifter. Sometimes it appears as a Zen Buddhist, sometimes as a Nihilist. The appearance doesn’t really matter—what matters is the question. Why do it at all? Why write? Who needs this? Why create more content in this endless ocean of words?

This cycle repeats daily, sometimes multiple times an hour. I don’t even need to participate anymore; these voices debate among themselves while I go about my day. And their conversations never result in anything productive—except for more and more doubt.

But is doubt always that bad? ??

In today’s world, bookstores overflow with self-help books promising to eliminate self-doubt, build confidence, and instill self-love. And while I’ve read my fair share, and spent years working on my self-confidence, today I’d like to build a case in favor of doubt.

A Conceit

Maya Angelou

Give me your hand

Make room for me to lead and follow

You beyond this rage of poetry.

Let others have the privacy of

Touching words and love of loss of love.

For me

Give me your hand.

This is a poem written by wonderful Maya Angelou, the same woman that once said in an interview “I have written 11 books, but each time I think, 'Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.'”

While imposter syndrome is often seen as a struggle for women, it certainly doesn’t spare men. Van Gogh lived with crippling self-doubt, yet he produced some of the world’s most beloved paintings. He doubted himself constantly, but he painted anyway. His story proves that doubt doesn’t mean failure—it means growth.

Doubt isn’t just the companion of artists. Some of the greatest minds in history have spent lifetimes wrestling with it.

Karl Popper argued that knowledge doesn’t advance by proving things to be true, but by proving things false. If someone claims, “All swans are white,” we don’t confirm it by finding more white swans. We must instead search for a single black swan to disprove it. This way, science progresses through doubt—not certainty.

Nietzsche took doubt to an extreme, challenging all moral and philosophical beliefs. His famous line, “Convictions are prisons,” warns that strong, unquestioned beliefs can trap us.

Hume argued that we assume things work a certain way, but we don’t actually know they do. His famous example: Just because the sun has risen every day before doesn’t prove it will rise tomorrow.

In my case, I assume that everything worth saying has already been written and that my contributions add little value. And yet, I receive constant evidence that I’m wrong. Every article or post I write generates at least one response from someone saying how timely and meaningful it was for them.

After my last article on procrastination, I received a message from a father I don’t know. He told me that his 10-year-old son was working on a school project about... [drumroll] — procrastination! He asked if I’d be willing to answer a few of his son’s questions over email. Before I knew it, I was receiving a thoughtful email from a school account and spending my evening at 10 PM writing my response. In my 22 years of working, I have lost count of how often I’ve been next to my laptop at 10 PM grinding through work. But this—this was the most enjoyable 10 PM typing session I’ve ever had.

So, let’s go back to the beginning: I doubt, therefore I am. We all know Descartes’ famous phrase, “I think, therefore I am.” But I recently learned that this isn’t the full idea. While some claim the real phrase is “I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am,” this, too, is an interpretation rather than a direct quote. Still, the essence remains: doubt is at the core of thought, which brings it to the core of existence.

I have come to believe that doubt isn’t just not inherently bad—it is essential. It helps us grow. It keeps us honest. As long as we don’t let it paralyze us. So don’t let it cripple you. ?? Keep doubting—and keep doing it anyway. I doubt my writing every minute of every day. And then, I sit down, write an article, and post it here, every Thursday.

Because, as Van Gogh once asked: “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”