You are about to try something new which is outside of your comfort zone. But a little voice inside your mind starts chattering away, doubting all of your abilities and accomplishments. It is known as the imposter syndrome. You fear being exposed as a fraud… What if I can’t do this? What if I am not good enough? What if I fail? The imposter syndrome is a mind-trap that saps your confidence and stop you from achieving your full potential.
Re-gain your confidence
Confidence can be described as a belief in one’s self and one’s ability to succeed. It is having faith in yourself and your ability to perform a role or task. When you believe in your capabilities, you will be more motivated to take action to achieve your goals.
Having confidence is an integral component of how you cope with situations and challenges in life. Having too little confidence can prevent you from taking risks and seizing new opportunities. Fear of failure can hold you back and needs to be faced head on.
Overcoming fear
Fear is only a projected image of what you anticipate what might happen. Therefore, you associate a lot of pain with it as you believe that the consequences will be too painful or embarrassing should you fail. This negative state of mind prevents action and will hold you back.
To overcome fear, challenge your thoughts, look for evidence and establish the facts. Become aware of your thoughts and the unrealistic predictions you are creating in your mind. Test the reality of your fear to give yourself a clearer perspective of the situation.
You will only ever regret the chances that you didn’t take in life, so never wonder ‘what if’, just do it! The only worst thing that could ever happen is that you remain stuck and never try. If you don’t take risks, you will never know what you are capable of achieving.
As Richard Branson said “If someone offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes, then learn how to do it later”.
Develop a positive mindset
Positive thinking and positive self-talk will improve your self-confidence. The actual words you tell yourself have power. It is easy to slip into negative self-critical thoughts. Therefore, become aware of the language you are using and how you are speaking to yourself.
Focus on your strengths, and what you can do, rather than what you can’t. Make a list of all your achievements to remind yourself of everything that you have accomplished. Reflect on how you succeeded and the happiness you experienced as a result.
Always look forward, never back. You can’t change the past but have control over what you want to happen in your future. For any past mistakes or failures, you will have learned valuable lessons that you can apply in your life going forward.
So feel the fear and do it anyway. Believe in yourself and your capabilities. Keep the end goal in mind. You can achieve anything when you put your mind to it.