The Albatross Around My Neck x GK.

[GK's soundtrack: Dashboard Confessional - Reason to Believe]

On a good day, I tell myself,

"Of course you'll succeed!"

On a bad day, well let's just say, my internal monologue is far more convoluted. Despite this, I do my best to silently and strenuously fight against the self-doubt albatross around my neck.

We all have self-doubt and undoubtedly, some of us do better than others when dealing with it. Unfortunately for me, I'm not one of those people - I am constantly afraid that, despite all my best efforts, my actions may never lead to a desirable outcome. Regardless, I still try to push through the fear and the insecurity rather than let them paralyze me. After all, I'd rather live my life falling down than never moving at all.

I just wish it was easier to explain why I felt any self-doubt at all.

Almost Impossible To Explain

Trying to explain self-doubt to someone can be...daunting to say the least. In some cases, like my own, self-doubt can come from feeling insecure about our ability to create the kind of future we want. That means, explaining this to someone who can't possibly envision your future the way you do is complex at best and damn near impossible at worst.

Self-doubt can be a tricky bastard, if you're not careful with how it's expressed, it can come out disguised as complaining.

It really does feel unfair sometimes, to have to measure your discourse when all you want is the chance to just say what you feel. The irony being that controlling what you say and how you say it affords you the opportunity to say as much as you like.

Personally, I've come to learn it's much easier to be heard when you try to listen as well. Always being cognizant that the person/people listening have their own self-doubt as well, makes them that much more open to you expressing yourself. After all, empathy works best as a two-way street.

Pushing Through

It's tough to push through self-doubt and some days are definitely easier than others. I've found though, that focusing my attention on something very immediate, certainly helps. Find yourself a small, easily completed task you can dive into, finish it and use the momentum to move to another, ad infinitum.

I actually borrowed this from a technique called the two-minute rule used to overcome procrastination. Oddly enough, procrastination for me was a direct result of my self-doubt; being afraid to fail because I felt incapable, led to action paralysis. So it's no surprise, this technique worked and continues to work for me. I'm not saying it will work for everyone, but it's a simple and effective method that's at least worth a try.

More often than not, when we're confronted with potentially crippling self-doubt, it is typically the result of our minds wandering into a future of things that could go wrong. We see the Herculean things that need to be done and feel a significantly diminished ability to do so. Finding ways to reduce our labors to smaller, more manageable tasks tends to remove their overwhelming magnitude.

Keep pushing forward. Keep focusing on the things you can accomplish in the here and now. Keep working towards your goals by breaking down your mountains all the way down to molehills. You're more capable than you know and just know, determination is a not an innate ability but a skill, one that takes constant practice to perfect.

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About our author: GK is a man of many talents and great taste. An artist, entrepreneur and described as an old soul by many as he is wise, suave, sophisticated and enjoys a glass of fine scotch. He is the beloved muse of tea&reverie.