Taking Doubt Out of the Equation

Doubt is another destructive force in your life, and is often closely related to fear. In fact, fear can cause doubt, and doubt can cause fear. They can act as aggravators for each other, or co-exist together and make your life hell. 

Worse, doubt is the Dream Destroyer. It’s the Anti-Hope. It causes you to abandon your dreams before you even know for sure if they’re possible or not. You simply decide they are NOT possible and drop them. Doubt can cause you to hang back when you’d rather be moving forward, and it can make you question your inner knowing. 

At their core, doubts are simply another form of limiting beliefs. If you doubt your ability to do something, you won’t do it. You won’t even attempt it. If you doubt the availability of opportunities, you will resign yourself to what you already have. If you doubt the goodness of other people, you will resist any help offered to you. 

In order to push your limits, you need to take doubt right out of the equation. You do this by embracing the opposite of doubt: BELIEF. It’s not as difficult as it sounds.

What you have to do is make the DECISION to BELIEVE instead of DOUBT. It really is that simple! This is a decision you will need to make moment-to-moment, not just once. Every time you feel doubt creeping in, replace it with fervent belief. 

➤ “I doubt I can do this effectively.” becomes, “I KNOW I can do this effectively.” 

➤ “I doubt it will turn out right.” becomes, “I’m going to make SURE this turns out right.” 

➤ “I doubt I have what it takes to succeed.” becomes, “I know I can develop any quality I need to succeed.” .

At first, you may feel as if you’re lying to yourself. You may not really believe the words you’re saying, but if you persist in choosing to believe them you will eventually. But it has to begin with a choice. 

Doubt can be sneaky, and it often masquerades as disinterest, bitterness, distrust, or resistance. Sometimes you have to take on the role of detective to figure out what’s really going on inside of you. With a little scrutiny and a lot of brutal honesty, you’ll see things more clearly. If you struggle to find a connection, try writing the answers to these questions:

➤ “I am disinterested in __________ because I doubt that __________.” 

➤ “I feel bitter about ___________ because I doubt that ___________.” 

➤ “I’m distrustful of ___________ because I doubt that __________.” 

➤ “I’m resistant to ____________ because I doubt that __________.”

If fervent belief won’t eliminate your doubts, you can also dissect them and challenge the underlying components, just like you did with your fears. You will likely discover that your doubts are based on disappointing past experiences or hurtful things said by others in your life, and you DO have the option to disregard them completely. Dissection of any doubt (or fear) is a valuable tool because the individual components that make up the sum are often less frightening than the sum itself.

➤ Dissecting your doubts is as simple as completing this statement to the best of your ability: “I am doubtful about ________ because ________.”

Once the root causes are known, you can deal with them one at a time by altering erroneous beliefs, facing fears and expanding limiting beliefs.

If all else fails and you can’t eliminate or dissect your doubt, the only thing left to do is IGNORE IT. Take action anyway, even if it seems like a futile undertaking. Make a promise to yourself that you’re going to give it your absolute best, no matter what. Even if it seems to be a waste of time, even if there seems to be no way to create a favorable outcome, and even if the going gets rough - you will still try. It takes courage and determination to do this; don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise. But more often than not, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results.