30 Ways To Remove Doubt From Your Mind | A Complete Guide To Overcome Doubts

I remember a few years back when I was always having doubts about my dreams. I mean, who would even read my articles or watch my videos on YouTube? However, one day, I finally gathered all the courage I could muster and did it. I was able to know the root cause of self-doubt and was able to handle it correctly. Thus, to help more people, I decided to write this blog post where I provided ways to remove doubt from our minds.

To remove doubts from your mind, the most important thing to do is to stop comparing, whether it be comparing yourself to others, from your past, or your plans. Comparison is the root cause of doubts as you compare your current abilities from the task and others once you start doubting.

In this blog post, I have provided 30 ways to eliminate doubt from our minds. I know how hard it is to work on our goals and dreams while having doubts, so I completely understand the need for these tips. I hope you get value from this post and hear about your success in the future.

1. Be Better and Practice New Skills

One of the causes of self-doubt is the constant thought that you’re not good enough.

It might be true, and it might also not be true. The truth is we aren’t sure whether you lack the skills or not.

But only one thing is sure. We can always learn and improve.

When I was making my first video, I had a lot of doubts. And my doubts are just normal since it’s my first time making a video, and I have no idea how to speak in the camera and editing videos.

As time passed, I slowly gathered the skill to handle my doubts finally.

Do I feel doubts when making videos? Absolutely! But it’s not the same as before because I learned new skills and got better through experience.

2. Be Aware and Try To Know Yourself

Sometimes, our cause of self-doubt is underestimating ourselves.

There are just times that we have everything we need to start. It might not be perfect, but you might have everything to start and learn by experience.

When I was made aware of trying to start as small as possible, my life changed.

I tried speaking in public, and my first class was to teach in front of a hundred and fifty students.

It was scary at first, but I noticed how I could pivot and learn things along the way.

So, try to be aware.

Are your skills enough to start working for your goals? Are you not good enough to finish the project you took? Are you just being lazy?

All of these can be answered by trying to know yourself.

To know yourself better, I suggest doing some self-reflection. Self-reflection is one of the things I did to be grateful and understand myself more fully. I’ve made a blog article discussing the topic. You can find it here: A Complete Guide on Reflecting on your day.

If you’re a visual type, I have a video here discussing how I do reflections.

3. People at the Lowest Point of Their Lives Always Go Up

Some people have doubts because they failed before or they are at the lowest point in their lives.

But here is the thing.

When you’re at the lowest point in your life, there is a very high chance that there’s no way but up.

So, if you’re at your lowest point, why not try?

The fewer you have, the less you’re going to lose. So why not use that opportunity to prove yourself.

There is always a way to change our lives.

4. Watch or Listen to Inspirational Audio or Video

If you need a temporary boost in confidence, I suggest watching or listening to inspirational films, videos, or podcasts.

Most of these are made to boost our mood, and they are popular because they work.

They give a temporary boost to our confidence, making us doubt ourselves less.

However, I should note that these are only temporary boosts of confidence. The only way to fully boost your confidence is to build skills.

That’s why you’ll see people with 15 years of experience bragging about their skills. This is because their source of confidence is in their abilities.

And that’s hard to replace.

But for a temporary boost, the things you can find on YouTube and Podcasts work well.

5. Be Your Own Motivator

One of the common traits of successful people is that they know how to motivate themselves.

All of us have doubts. We question our skills to the job, projects, or whatever we compare to.

But the people who succeed are the ones who can motivate themselves.

You can do this by watching some motivational videos, trying some affirmations, improving your skills, and many more.

To be your motivator means that you don’t need to rely on anybody to boost your confidence.

The fact that you’re reading the blog post means that you have what it takes to take the matter into your hands.

Remember that these tips I am giving can help, but you should learn how to self-motivate in the end.

6. Understand That This Is Your Life

One of my realizations that helped me deal with self-doubt is my understanding that this is my life.

I am fully responsible for my being, and that makes me an adult.

This means that it is our responsibility to do what is good for us.

If trying a new career that you love is best for you, then understand that no one will do that for you.

The one who is responsible for your own life is none other than yourself.

By understanding this, you can finally realize that removing your doubts is 100% your responsibility. Taking matters into your hands is one of the best starts to finally being free from doubts.

7. Replace Your Negative Thinking

Negative thoughts are the thoughts that try to remove us from confidence.

Things such as: “I can’t do it.” or “I will never learn.” or “I shouldn’t dream that much.”

The thing is that these thoughts are also the ones who pull us away from the life we want.

If we want to remove our doubts, then it is ideal to start replacing this negative thinking.

These negative thinking are the same ones that make us doubt ourselves.

So how can we stop negativity? Learn how to replace it with positivity.

Things such as finding friends who have a positive outlook in life or watching positivity videos are good to start.

8. Find Someone That Supports You and Talk to Them

Some of us have people around that care for us.

These people who are concerned about your well-being are the ones that you should treasure.

Sometimes, we cannot be self-motivated. It might be because something worst happened, or we just lost our cool.

Having people who support you is one of the best ways to comfort you in those times.

Remember that sometimes, we can’t handle things by ourselves.

It is essential to understand that we are not alone.

I make self-improvement videos on YouTube, and I gladly invite you to check my Channel to learn more about personal development. You can find my Channel by clicking here.

9. Understand That We Can All Pivot to Success

It is essential to understand that our doubts are always thinking about perfectionism.

The truth is, we can just pivot our way to success.

We don’t have to know everything to start. Sometimes, we just have to learn the basic things and improve along the way.

That happened when I was making my Channel and when I was making my website.

I had no idea how to do, and in all honesty, my first website failed.

Because of the failure, I began to doubt myself when I thought of starting again, but I also know that I can adjust.

It would help if you understood that we could all pivot to success. In many things in life, we can start just doing something and think of ways to get better.

If you want proof, here is my first YouTube video. You can compare it to the latest ones, which you can see by visiting my channel.

10. Find the Triggers of Your Doubts

All our doubts have some sort of trigger.

It might be seeing something that reminds you of your past failures or a specific person that brings back a trauma.

We need to understand ourselves if we want to learn how to control our doubts.

We should find ways to handle these triggers. It might be by staying away from these triggers or forgetting about them.

Remember that running away is not always wrong. There are just times where it is just better to run.

These triggers target our emotions which are hard to deal with. So in these cases, it is alright to run away from them.

However, facing doubts directly is better.

11. Find the Root Cause of Your Doubts

Triggers and Root causes are almost the same, but the root cause of doubts is deeper.

A perfect example of a root cause of doubt is comparing.

Doubts are our way of comparing ourselves to the projects we will take, to people around us, or even to our past selves.

Finding the root cause is an excellent way to thoroughly remove doubts since you can finally understand what causes them.

Finding the root cause of your doubts is one of the things you can do while doing some reflections. Try to understand yourself fully.

You might be surprised at the thoughts and feelings you find within you.

12. Try Journaling and Recording Your Life

Journaling is an excellent way to practice reflection. It helps you gather, write, and analyze your thoughts on a sheet of paper or any writing medium.

I already talked about the benefit of journaling by understanding yourself.

This time, I’ll be talking about how it builds confidence by looking at it in the future.

The benefit of journaling is that you have a record of what you’ve been doing for the past few months or years.

For example, if I check my journal, I can see what I was doing last year, and looking back, I remember how I was nervous about making this website.

Because I keep records, I can see how much I’ve improved and how I made my life better week by week.

Journaling boosts my confidence, and when I have new challenges to face, I can just check my journal and see how far I’ve become.

13. Try Some Positive Affirmations

Some people swear by the effect of positive affirmations.

Affirmations are what you say in front of a mirror to stay positive, such as telling you that you can do everything if you did your best or that you’re confident.

What I see here is that the benefit of positive affirmations is that it helps replace negative thoughts.

As I have already said, negative thoughts are one of the causes of doubt.

Almost all doubts come from negative thinking.

By replacing these negative thoughts with positive ones, you can reduce these doubts by a significant amount.

14. Understand What Self-Doubt Really Is

Doubt is our way of knowing if something can be a challenge.

It is our way of measurement if something will take more than what we currently have to finish.

Self-doubt helped our ancestors survive for years.

For example, our ancestors feel doubt when they will hunt an animal stronger and larger than them alone.

Thus, you need to understand that doubt is a part of our being. We can’t thoroughly remove it.

Instead, we can learn how to control it.

I hope that by understanding this, you can gain some confidence.

Just because you fail in controlling your doubts, it doesn’t make you a failure.

Controlling our doubts is challenging, considering that it has been with us for thousands of years.

To have more information about self-doubt, I have a blog post indicating its causes. By understanding the cause of these doubts, you can have your way of dealing with them. Here is the link to the post: The 10 Causes of Self-doubt and its main Root

15. Don’t Be Dependent on Other’s Validations

In learning how to control or remove our doubts, remember that it is our life.

The opinion of others doesn’t matter since it is our self-doubt.

The problem is that if we rely on other’s validation for our self-esteem, we don’t have any control over it.

Furthermore, it might come up as toxic in the mind of the other if we entirely rely on them.

Having others that cheer for you is good, but the primary source of your confidence should come from you and not from anybody else.

Relying on yourself will make you a strong and independent individual.

16. Stop the Self-Talk

Have you experienced too much self-talk, and suddenly you start to question your abilities and confidence?

I have experienced that, and the truth is, while self-talk is an excellent way to reflect, too much of everything is bad.

If your self-talk is starting to affect your mood negatively, then it is time to stop.

Sometimes, self-talk is also responsible for underestimating ourselves, such as telling us the thought that we aren’t good enough.

So try to control your self-talk. Instead, try to calm your mind and relax.

17. Try To Avoid Being a Perfectionist

Perfectionism is the leading cause of doubt.

Doubt only ends once you have proven yourself.

For example, your doubt that you can’t finish a project only ends once you’ve completed your task.

The majority of doubts come from perfectionism. It wants us to only start once everything is perfect.

The thing is, we can’t be perfect unless we try and pivot. We can’t be perfect if we don’t learn by doing and by experience.

So try to avoid perfectionism no matter how hard it might be.

18. Forgive Yourself From Your Past Mistakes

One of the causes of self-doubt is not forgiving yourself for your past mistakes.

For example, my past failures prevented me from doing things since I could not forgive myself for failing.

The truth is, we all make mistakes, and as long as we learn from them, our mistakes are not useless.

Once you learn to forgive yourself, you can finally start fresh. Once you forgive yourself, you can lessen your doubts.

Your past mistakes don’t define who you are unless you make it so.

19. Stop Comparing Yourself

As I’ve said, the act of comparing yourself to others is the leading cause of self-doubt.

The way you think about your abilities and comparing them to other people, your tasks, or even your past self causes doubts.

So, try to stop comparing yourself to others. Learn how to calm your mind.

Try to tell your brain to stop once it tries to compare. If you began comparing, try not to be affected by it.

Preventing yourself from comparing is challenging, but once we practice, we can slowly lessen its impact on our thoughts.

20. Seek Motivation To Remove Your Doubts

One fast way to remove our doubts is to seek motivation.

The motivation might come from other people, ourselves, videos, audios, or anything that can boost our confidence.

Seeking motivation is one of the fastest ways to remove doubts, and the things taught in this post, such as affirmations, will help you gain more confidence to reduce doubts.

21. Seek a Mentor or Counsel

There are times where we can’t handle ourselves. If that’s the case, it is essential to understand that there are people out there that can help.

It can be professionals or even mentors who care for you.

If you have these people who you look up to, then try seeking help from them.

22. Celebrate All Your Victories, Even the Smaller Ones

One quick way to boost your confidence is to celebrate your victories.

For example, if you achieved something big, then try to celebrate.

It doesn’t need to be expensive. A simple waffle or popcorn will do.

Try to treat yourself to your favorite food or drink from time to time when you did something remarkable.

Celebrating your victories boosts your confidence by positive reinforcement.

Sooner or later, you’re going to do your best for another celebration.

23. Be Compassionate to Yourself

Sometimes, we need to have some self-care.

The more we neglect ourselves, the more self-hatred or self-doubt we are going to have.

For example, by not taking care of our bodies, we would become weak. Then our productivity will also plummet since our energy levels are low.

Understand that we can only do our best if we take care of ourselves, so be compassionate and understand that you need care.

24. Find Your Values

One of the ways to remove doubts is to find your values.

Do you value creativity? Do you value productivity?

What are the things that you value the most?

The more you understand your values, the more you’re going to do your best to follow them regardless of your doubts.

Even if you have doubts, if you value something, you will do whatever it takes to accomplish things.

And for most of us, the goal of removing our doubts is to finally do the things we want.

25. Surround Yourself With Optimistic People

I always talked about replacing negative thoughts with positivity to remove doubts.

Then a straightforward way to do so is to surround yourself with optimistic or people who think positively.

It can be pretty hard to be optimistic if pessimists surround you.

As Jim Rohn said: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

But this is not a sign to replace your friends. Just try to find more optimistic people to hang out with.

26. Understand That Setbacks Are Normal

We are all humans, and we make mistakes. Understand that mistakes or setbacks are a normal part of life.

It is related to forgiving yourself. If you forgive yourself, you can start a new life.

Doubts often comes because of our past mistakes. The more we think about our past failures, the more we feel stuck.

But we all make mistakes and what matters is that you stand back up again on your feet.

Understand that setbacks are normal and start trying again.

Try and try until you succeed.

27. Find Some Patterns and Try To Understand Them

Finding some patterns about doubts is entirely related to finding triggers.

Sometimes, our doubts have some sort of a pattern. We might start doubting ourselves when we think of something or if we see or hear something.

These patterns are expected because we are creatures of habit.

Self-doubt usually comes from the same pattern: same behavior, same situation, same people, same task, and many more.

By understanding these patterns, you can be ready for the doubts to come.

For example, I am still in doubt whenever I create videos, but I already know that, so once my doubts come, I am ready to face them.

Understanding where and how your doubts come could instantly make you better at handling them.

28. Know That if You Don’t Try, You’ll Never Know

You need to understand that self-doubt will always be there. No matter what you do, doubts will always be with us.

It has been with us for thousands of years, and no amount of education can remove it from our being.

But we can learn how to respond and manage them properly.

We can know how to reduce their impact significantly.

One of them is for you to understand that you won’t know unless you try.

When I started to blog, I didn’t know if people really wanted to read my posts and thoughts.

But the truth is, I was surprised that my website is now growing rapidly.

People read my blog posts and I wouldn’t know that if I didn’t try.

My point is this.

Sometimes, you just have to do it even if there are doubts. Even if you feel the nervousness inside, trying you to stop doing it.

Our doubts will always be there, but we will never prove ourselves unless we try.

29. Stop the Excuses

Many of us have excuses in our brains, such as we don’t know how to start or lack the skills to work for our goals.

The truth is, most of that is just an excuse, and it is our perfectionism working all again.

These excuses can cause us to succumb to our doubts and let us live the life we don’t want.

So try stopping those excuses. If you need more confidence to do so, then try watching motivational videos. Try listening to motivational podcasts or music.

Don’t let those excuses prevent you from reaching your goals.

Instead, think of your doubts as to your to-do list or the things that you need to improve to reach your goals.

For example, if you want to make a YouTube channel, your doubts about your camera speaking skills mean that you need to improve your camera speaking skills.

30. Imagine Your Dreams

Lastly, imagine your life once you fulfilled your dreams. Is it wonderful that you’re living the life you’ve dreamed for years?

You won’t achieve those if you don’t do anything.

If you really want to achieve those dreams, then you should work for them.

Nothing great is built overnight.

Success takes years of working, improving, and trials.

If your doubts prevent you from doing any work, then think of your dreams. How much do you want it?

If you really do, then face your fears and start doing.