1How to Become Aware of Self-Doubt

In order to reprogram your feelings of self-doubt you must first become aware that it exists. If you have lack of self confidence and frequent negative thinking, these are indications that you doubt your abilities. Self-doubt is generally instilled in you at a very early stage in your life. It can come from lack of parental support when you were growing up or any other similar factor that would cause you to doubt your abilities to achieve the lifestyle you want. As a child, you hang onto these experiences and remember them for a long time after.

Some of the characteristics of self-doubt can include low self-esteem, frequent embarrassment, unresolved anger that stems from your childhood, and overall feelings of worthlessness. You also may refrain from expressing your ideas in front of others and remain unseen in social situations. If some of this sounds familiar these are all symptoms of self-doubt.

2How to Deal with Self-Doubt

Origin of Self-Doubt: First, the most important step you must take to deal with self-doubt is to identify where it comes from and then resolve some of these issues. You may have been frequently told during the early years of your life that you would never amount to anything. This is a harsh statement to make to a child but unfortunately quite prevalent in a lot of households.

You may have been teased by your classmates or put down by your siblings or you may have failed at something you attempted without anyone to show you support and help you pick up the pieces. These are all imprints that are created in your mind during childhood and then you rehearse them over and over again in your mind when you become an adult. These are called conditioned thoughts so your job is to reverse this process in your mind because it an underlying factor that stands in the way of your achievements. Whatever happened in your past to cause self-doubt must be faced and then resolved so you can begin to move in the direction of a positive and fulfilling lifestyle.

Reconditioning: Once you have resolved some issues from the past you can begin to work toward reconditioning your thought process. Understand that this will take time and you must be patient because your thoughts of self-doubt have been ingrained for so long you cannot reverse this process overnight.

Whenever you feel negative thoughts kicking in you must train yourself to replace them with positive thoughts to condition your mind to end the cycle of negative thinking. To do this you have to realize that although what you are feeling is real, the thoughts are lies that were instilled in you and are not the truth about who you really are. You are an individual with your own unique talents. It is just that your inner self was somehow shattered when you were young so you must work to pick up the pieces.

Reconditioning your thought process requires work and consistency but if you stick with it you will gradually start to see an improvement in your self esteem and positive thought patterns. Keep in mind that working through feelings of self-doubt involves a process that is incremental.

3Be Kind to Yourself

If you are trying to overcome self-doubt one of the most important steps you can practice is being your own best friend and encouraging yourself. Although we would like to believe that everyone grows up in a "Leave It to Beaver" type of household, the harsh reality is that sometimes you have to be your own cheering section.

Make it part of your daily routine to practice positive affirmations. This is a method that you can use to talk out loud about your special talents and your ability to achieve what you want out of your life. If you are not comfortable doing this in the company of others, find some quiet time to be alone to practice self-assurance on a daily basis.

4Validate Your Feelings and Needs

If self-doubt was instilled in you at an early stage in life it is also likely that your needs may have been ignored in the process. When children do not get their needs met they begin to develop inner feelings of being unlovable and unworthy of having their needs met. You may have been told that what you are feeling is not the case or you faced resistance when you asked for something you needed. These circumstances all lead to feeling self-doubt.

Learn to accept your feelings as valid and a part of who you are and condition your mind to accept your needs as important. You can do this by reversing your thought process every time you feel you are being selfish when you ask for something or you are dismissing the way you feel about a particular situation. It all comes down to going against the grain and reconditioning your mind.

5Abandon Negative People

If you grew up being berated and invalidated you may tend to continue the trend into adulthood by gravitating toward people that remind you of early events in your life. Although this is not healthy, it is familiar so you are attracted to people who treat you like you were treated early in your life.

If you are taking the steps to recondition your thought process, keep in mind that it may require you to distance yourself from the negative people you have developed relationships with and start surrounding yourself with positive people who can support you when you go through the dark moments. Being around positive people will also enhance your efforts to change your thought process.

These are some of the steps you can take to eliminate self-doubt and take control of your destiny in life. Although it is not an easy journey, the pay off will be well worth the time and effort you put into changing your life.