How to overcome self doubt and overthinking and unlock your full potential
All of us have felt stifled by self-doubt and overthinking at some point in our lives. It’s a part of being human.
And it can be paralyzing to feel like you’re not reaching your full potential of living an aligned authentic life.
Though it may seem impossible to push through such mental blocks, there is a way to break free from the cycle of fear and unlock the power of creativity within us.
Below, I share three simple but effective exercises that will help you overcome your feelings of uncertainty and build confidence.
And to help illustrate how these exercises can work for you, I’ve included real-life examples of what I’ve seen in my coaching sessions. These examples are composites, based on common experiences I’ve seen across many clients.
By learning these essential practices for overcoming self-doubt, overthinking, and other roadblocks that have been holding you back, you can finally unleash your unique gifts upon the world and unlock your full potential.
First, get curious about your self-doubt and your habit of overthinking.
In our journeys of growth and self-discovery, we often try to block out our fears and self-doubts. Some coaching methods even encourage people to simply banish their inner critics.
However, when we shift our perspective, we can instead listen to these doubts and our overthinking as a valuable source of information.
By getting curious about our doubts and asking ourselves why they exist, we can uncover deeper truths about ourselves.
Perhaps we may discover that our doubts stem from cultural conditioning or past experiences.
Or maybe, we are protecting ourselves from the vulnerability and bravery required to face our fears head-on. Confronting our fear of failure and imposter syndrome can be very uncomfortable work.
By delving deeper into our doubts and fears, we may discover the root cause and unearth a newfound sense of self-awareness and empowerment.
For example, Jasper is really hoping to secure a promotion within the next 6 months.
But he keeps having this overwhelming fearful thought, “I could never get a promotion…” that stops him in his tracks.
When he stops to ask himself why, he realizes there’s a deeper-rooted belief that he doesn’t fit the mold of a creative exec – that he may be “found out” for being different – for having a different background than his colleagues.
When Jasper gets to this root cause, he has the power to work through the real problem at hand, versus the thought that’s keeping him stuck.
Or with Stacy who wants to go out on her own and start her own business: she can’t get over this worry that repeats in her brain: “I can’t make it work financially.”
Stacy’s a parent of young children, and she wonders if entrepreneurship is too big of a risk.
But when she digs a bit deeper, she realizes this worry goes directly against one of her biggest hopes for her children: to be brave and to take purposeful risks to go after your dreams.
Befriending your self-doubt and your overthinking also helps you practice self-compassion, which is key to greater mental health overall, and allows you to take steps forward from this healthier place.
Next, gather more information in order to ease your self-doubt and overthinking.
When we find ourselves in a state of self-doubt and constant overthinking, it's important to remember that knowledge is power.
Sometimes the root of our self-doubt can be traced back to a lack of information.
So, why not take a moment to get curious and gather as much knowledge as possible? Give your doubts the space and time they’re asking for by doing some research.
Whether you're looking to take your career to the next level or simply seeking clarity in a difficult situation, asking questions and doing research can help you depersonalize the issue at hand and gain a better understanding of your options.
By welcoming the unknown with open arms, you'll be able to turn self-doubt into a tool for growth and possibility.
And if we go back to Jasper, who’s hoping to get that promotion, he may be able to completely break through the thought that’s keeping him stuck (“I could never get a promotion”) by simply asking the right questions and gathering more information.
He could begin to do some research to answer these questions:
What’s required to receive a promotion in your current job?
Is there a system in place for promotions or is it ad hoc?
How often are promotions given in your workplace?
Who has been promoted in your workplace and why?
Getting these answers gives Jasper what he needs to make a plan. He may be able to shift from “I could never get a promotion” to “I now know what I need to do in order to get a promotion.”
His lack of confidence and feelings of self-doubt may begin to evaporate with this new information.
And if we go back to Stacy, she may need to get clearer on what entrepreneurship could look like for her by answering some key questions:
What problems do I want to solve with my business?
Who do I want to solve them for?
What are other people doing in related businesses? Be careful with this one! If this creates some compare-and-despair feelings, you may want to wait to do this research.
What finances do I need to be successful?
Do I need to build savings first or start the business on the side?
Do I need to seek funding?
Can my partner support us financially for a while?
Never make assumptions about your finances. Get the real data and have the conversations to be 100% sure.
The inner critic and our self doubt want us to avoid the specifics, but when you have these answers it’s like turning on the light in a dark room.
The unknown feels scary, but it’s not so bad when we turn on the light.
Finally, create constraints to test new ideas and begin to unlock your full potential.
As we move through life, it's common to feel overwhelmed by our goals and get caught up in self-doubt and overthinking.
It can be easy to doubt ourselves and wonder if we're really cut out for the things we hope to achieve.
One powerful tactic for breaking down these aspirations into more manageable pieces is to approach them like small experiments.
Instead of Jasper fixating on the end goal of getting promoted, for example, he can instead focus on a small, first experiment to test the waters: Writing his own job description for the new role.
What would he want his new responsibilities to be? What aspects of his current work does he value and want to maintain?
By breaking the bigger picture into smaller parts, Jasper can feel more confident and in control of his desire to be promoted.
How to break through self-doubt and overthinking with 2-week sprints
When self-doubt and overthinking are ruling your life, it can feel difficult to take action and unleash your full potential.
Enter the design sprint.
A design sprint is a dedicated 2-week period for testing your own hypotheses around what you want and what’s possible for you. If you work in technology or design, you’re probably already familiar with it for product development. Guess what: it works for life design too.
This powerful tool allows us to define our problem, create experiments, test our hypotheses, reflect on our learnings, and plan for the next sprint.
So, if we had only two weeks to gather more information, what would we do?
Let’s go back to Stacy, who dreams of being an entrepreneur.
Her 2-week sprint could be as simple as talking to someone who’s taken the route of entrepreneurship and gathering more information.
Or it could be to begin collecting inspiration for her business’s branding by creating a mood board of her favorite colors, logos, or websites.
The point is to give yourself 2 weeks to complete a small experiment, reflect on what you’ve learned, and then create another new experiment for the next 2 weeks.
When we spend time trying out new ideas using these sprints, we slowly chip away at our self-doubt and our overthinking.
You’re now on the path to overcoming self-doubt and overthinking
It’s possible to break free from the anxiety, fear and self-doubt that so many of us feel on a daily basis.
With the help of the exercises above, you can start living with clarity, and begin to use your own self doubts and overthinking to help you find your path forward.
This process takes time, so be patient with yourself during this transformative journey. And if it makes sense to do so, share your reflections with a family member or with supportive people within your circle.
To assist in your practice, download my free intuition meditation today to get started accessing your inner wisdom and unlocking your full potential here:
Get this free 10-minute guided visualization to help you:
Learn how to tap into your intuition; know what your intuition feels like and how to use it to guide your decisions.
Know how to tell the difference between anxiety and intuition – crucial for overcoming fear in the midst of change.
Cultivate self-compassion by understanding and befriending your inner critic.
Reconnect with your intuition anytime you feel stuck in fear or confusion
If you stay committed to using these tools regularly, you will find confidence in yourself again and the power of creativity within.
If you loved this post, check out:
Intuition or anxiety? How to trust your intuition when you have anxiety