Self-Doubt As A Tool For Progress

“Progress is born of doubt and inquiry.”—Robert G. Ingersoll

There are certain thoughts or experiences that, for many of us, often evoke an immediate negative emotion or “danger” signal. We may feel this emotion wash over us and assess it as “bad” and something we need to quickly move past and push down to get on with our lives or “keep it moving” to accomplish our next task. But, what if we slowed down for a bit and tuned into this emotion and let it tell us something about what we need to do next?

Let’s take self-doubt, something everyone has felt at some point in their lives, as an example. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who would classify self-doubt as a “good” experience on the surface. We think of self-doubt as something that gets in the way of us accomplishing our goals and dreams; that can keep us stagnant or cause us to give up on a plan or idea before we should. We also tend to associate self-doubt with a lack of confidence in one’s abilities, knowledge, qualifications and resources. When we view it from this perspective, it makes sense that we would want to attempt to disregard the doubt and keep trying.

I’ve been thinking about the benefits of viewing self-doubt as a tool for our progress. Perhaps the doubt you are experiencing can compel you to do something differently as you work towards a goal. Maybe it is in fact telling you that you need to take a rest or break, to regroup or rethink your approach, or that you need to seek support from a mentor or professional with more knowledge or experience to take your next step. Maybe you do in fact need to learn more or gain more expertise before you can competently and confidently complete what comes next. Listening to this self-doubt may help you formulate a better plan for yourself and, rather than leaving you feeling stuck, will help you move forward.