3 Effective Strategies on How to Deal With Self Doubt at Work

By Nukhba Khan

We all experience self-doubt at work from time to time. But it’s how you react to this internal self-doubt that determines it impacts you. If you allow this inner-critic to control your decisions, actions, and choices, then it can hold you back from achieving the success and happiness that you want in life.

For example, this happened to me so many times: I would be sitting in a meeting and have something valuable to say, but my inner voice would creep in and say, “no don’t say that! You are stating the obvious; that is not good enough to be said out loud!” And two minutes later, someone else would say the exact same thing, and everyone in the room was nodding and saying, “Great insight!”.

There was a regular battle between my inner critic and my confidence. It was exhausting, and it held me back at work. Only when I started making an effort to consciously deal with my doubts was I able to minimize the impact it had on my actions and choices at work. And, it feels quite liberating.

In this blog, you will learn how to:

1. Catch your limiting self-doubts at work

2. Effectively challenge and overcome your self-doubts, so you can show up at work with confidence.

Why Do We Doubt Ourselves?

Understanding where doubt comes from is key to overcoming it. So, let’s start with a few reasons why you may doubt yourself.

1. Your upbringing and childhood experiences

You might be in the habit of questioning yourself because the caregivers when you were growing up (at home or even at school) made you feel that you were not good enough. Or made you think that you are not trying hard enough and that you lack in something. This reason is extremely common and has led many to internalize the habit of questioning themselves.

2. The habit of constantly comparing yourself to others

When you doubt yourself and you dig deeper, you will find that you are likely comparing yourself with someone else. And telling yourself, you can’t do as good a job as them. We are all guilty of this. We judge our success or failure based on imaginary standards that directly compare us with others.

3. Past experiences and mistakes

If you continue to reference past mistakes and not let them go, the mind imprints that bad experience. If it detects a similar situation, it assumes you are at risk of experiencing something similar. The mind then creates more negative assumptions to try to get you away from that danger. Your mind’s job is to protect you from pain and take you towards pleasure. That’s just how the mind works.

So unless you learn from past mistakes and let them go, your subconscious mind will keep referencing them and cause you to continue doubting yourself.

Why is it Important to Deal with Your Self-Doubt and Anxiety

Here are two big reasons why you need to overcome your self-doubt:

1. So you can get to achieve your big goals and live powerfully

When there is doubt, there is hesitation. And we end up refraining from taking the actions necessary for our growth and our development to achieving our big dreams and goals. Overcoming self-doubts is necessary to get you unstuck from living a mediocre life where you constantly second-guess yourself.

2. To feel less stressed-out

Self-doubt slowly but surely erodes your self-confidence. When your confidence levels are low, you stress over every decision and action. Many of us are constantly stressed out and blame work. But the reality is that we get blindsided and don’t see the real culprit for our stress, i.e., our own self-doubts.

How to Catch Yourself When You Start Self-Doubting

I wish there was an internal alarm system that warned you when you were about to engage in self-doubt. But of course, that does not exist.

There is really only one way to catch your self-doubts: You have to be mindful and alert over your inner voice.

Below are some examples of how self-doubt starts. Keep these in mind to detect your negative chatter.

I can’t…
I shouldn’t…
I am not good at …
I am the worst …
I don’t think I can …
This is too hard for me …
I am not made for this …

It takes some practice to catch your negative thoughts, but with practice, it gets easier to detect.

How to Deal With Self Doubt at Work

Tip #1: Doubt Your Doubts

That’s right, learn to question that inner voice that doubts you, your work, and your decisions. Self-doubt is like a habit, a thought pattern that has been reinforced repeatedly, and now it’s become second nature to question yourself. But the trick is to question your own thoughts.

For example, if you are thinking you just don’t have it in you to do a good job at something, then ask that thought, why not? Why does it believe that you can’t do it? You will likely hear crickets from your mind.

Or, if your mind does come up with something, it’s likely an excuse that can be refuted with kindness.

When you question your own negative thoughts, it’s like you take away the power it has over you.

So the next time your mind tries to talk you out from doing something important, like asking for a promotion or a salary increase that is overdue, stop to question why it’s stopping you and address its concerns. You can also use this as an opportunity to assess and evaluate the gaps you need to fill to confidently do what you need.

Tip #2: Embrace Your Doubts

You are human. You will doubt yourself, but how you react to your doubts will determine the outcomes it has on your life. Learn to accept that inner voice that is posing self-doubts and then simply let it go.

For example, if you are working on a presentation and you know deep down you have done a good job, but you start to doubt yourself. You start thinking of the worst-case scenarios like, that your manager will not think it’s good enough. Or what if someone finds a mistake when you are presenting.

When this starts happening, try to stay present and acknowledge your self-doubts and have a short and sweet conversation with it. The conversation can be something like this:

“Hey you, my self-doubt. You are quite pestering, but I understand that you are trying to look out for me.

(And then add one of the below statement):

I can do this because …
This is a learning experience for me, and I am developing skills to…
I am not perfect at this yet, but I am trying my best to …

Okay, self-doubt, you can stick around here, but I am intelligent and talented and don’t really need you. I am now going to get back to confidently doing what I am doing.

This small pep talk with yourself will help you feel confident and help you get your head back in the game.

Tip #3: Bullet Proof Yourself Against Your Self Doubts

We are our own worst critics. We constantly put ourselves down. It’s become an unconscious habit for so many of us, and we don’t even realize when we are doing it anymore.

So the question to ask yourself is - when was the last time you were kind to yourself and acknowledged your successes in your life?

If you are thinking, yikes, it’s been a while since I celebrated myself and gave myself a pat on the back for all that I have achieved, then it’s time for you to build your Success List!

A Success List is an inventory of your significant accomplishments and proud moments in your life.

You can start by jotting down 8-10 things that make you feel proud and good about yourself. The things you put on this list don’t all have to be professional achievements; it’s good to have your personal accomplishments included as well.

This is a super easy technique to help you shift your focus from your weakness to your strengths at any point in time.

Whenever I find myself getting overwhelmed with negative self-talk that I don’t have it in me to do something, I stop and refer to my list. It helps to quickly shift my energy to believe in myself. It shows me that I have done if before and I can do it again.

The key is to have your Success List easily accessible. I keep my success list on my google drive that I can access on my phone at any time.

Final Thoughts on How to Deal with Self Doubt at Work

It is absolutely common and normal to doubt ourselves. You are not alone in this.

But you don’t need to stay stuck in your fears.

Conquering self-doubts is a practice, and you have to make effort to take back your power over your self-doubts.

Remember that your self-doubts are only thoughts and not facts. So learn to not resist those thoughts (what you resist will persist). But instead, question your negative thoughts, and notice how quickly they start to fade away.

Also, surround yourself with people who stir positivity in you and see the goodness in you.

And last but not least, keep taking action even in the face of those unhealthy doubts, and you will see how unnecessarily you doubted yourself, to begin with.

“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.” —Theodore Roosevelt.

If you are ready to take action to conquer your self-doubts and limiting beliefs, then download this free guide:

5-Steps to Become a Happier YOU at Work

In this guide, you will learn how to:

Let go of self-doubts & limiting beliefs that hold you back.
Confidently handle work struggles, removing the overwhelm or the “dread” you experience at work