Have you been in that place where you feel that all eyes are on you? And everyone in the room can just see you fail?
- Every word that you say is a confirmation of how inept you are at what you do.
- Compliments, even if they do happen, ring false in your ears as if charitable gifts of pity.
- Constructive criticism feels like walking barefoot on shards of broken glass.
And, in your mind, there is no convincing you that you are good at anything. The last time you checked, you have a solid history of mistakes, missed deadlines, and embarrassing fails.
This is self-doubt at its worse and it can be a crippling experience.
And when self-doubt shows up at work, it can seem even harder. This is your place of business; where you are supposed to get it right; how you earn your living. Feeling like a failure at work can literally affect your career and can destroy any chance for joy in what you do.
You CAN Conquer Self-Doubt at Work with Positive Affirmations
One way to change your pattern of self-doubt is through the regular use of positive affirmations. When the basis of your self-doubt is your own negative self-talk, positive affirmations give you a different and better language to speak. If used consistently, you can slowly start to reprogram the habit of negative thoughts and words you repeatedly feed yourself. You can then replace them with truthful empowerment.
This is not an instantaneous process, but it can be initiated immediately.
By maintaining a goal to improve your self-treatment, you can conquer your self-doubt and infuse confidence into your work life. Positive affirmations can be a significant tool to make this happen. To start on this journey, let’s look closer at your origin of self-doubt. And how to best use positive affirmations to shift your self-doubt at work.
What Exactly is Self-Doubt?
The definition of self-doubt can be described well by its opposite. Self-doubt is having a lack of confidence. It is the opposite of displaying self-love or self-esteem in a stressful moment or overall.
When you experience self-doubt, what you are not experiencing is strength, wholeness, or assuredness. If self-doubt is a chronic condition, you are often on the opposite side of happiness, calm, or personal fulfillment.
With all of this lack, the positive attributes of life can feel far out of reach.
Those who perform the best and enjoy their job the most, feel confident and happy with what they do. Self-doubt and loving your job just do not complement each other. And a common behavior when suffering self-doubt is to be very uncomplimentary to yourself.
Negative self-talk can be a significant contributor to your self-doubt and self-doubt can lead to a pattern of negative self-talk. A truly vicious cycle.
Why Are You Talking Negative About Yourself, Anyway?
Self-doubt through regular negative self-talk can seem to have cropped up from nowhere. You may even say that this is how you have always been. In reality, we often learn habits like this through our life experiences. The more that behavior is reinforced by our environment, the more likely for it to become part of our norm.
- Do you spend time with other people who complain about themselves openly and frequently?
- Are you regularly in the company of others who say negative things about other people?
- Have your parents and loved ones made it acceptable to talk negatively about themselves?
- Were you taught that complimenting yourself is proud and arrogant? (And somehow interpreted negative self-talk as humble or more realistic?)
- Do you feel that constant mistakes and errors deserve criticism? Is it wrong to “get a break” or to have someone “look the other way” when someone fails?
These are just a few examples of how negative self-talk can be introduced or reinforced within you. Whether negative self-talk, talk of others, or negative perception of others, you can build a pattern of believing negative opinions should exist. And then, with repeat exposure, it can become your habit of understanding and a major contributor to your self-doubt.
It is important to try looking at your life through a different lens.
Every wrong does not need to be called out. Each failure does not define the entirety of a person. And all mistakes do not require strict accountability. It is okay for anyone to err and then learn. Accept the inevitability of failure as part of your human condition. Attempt to see the good in flaws for the growth and improvement that comes from the experience.
Looking differently at yourself and others as they move through the trials of life makes a difference. See that there are other ways to address what goes wrong including speaking better about yourself when it’s you,
Why Is Addressing Self-Doubt and Negative Self-Talk Important?
Self-doubt can keep you standing still when life compels you to move forward. It can strip the joy from what you do every day and make what could be your dream job feel like a job from hell. Too often a bad job can be confused with a pattern of internal negativity.
If you do not see any good in what you do then it is likely you will feel that your job is also a contributing factor to your lack of success. Nothing is right when all you see and talk about is what’s gone wrong.
But if you transition your negative self-talk into positive reinforcement of your strengths and opportunities, you elevate your emotional set point and your sense of self.
Through self-awareness and empowerment, you now can…..
- See past mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow,
- Interpret missed deadlines as flags for problems to solve, and opportunities for processes to be improved,
- Reevaluate embarrassing moments as normal, everyday occurrences that can happen to even the top performers
As human beings, we are all imperfect by nature. And when you embrace your personal imperfection you can move away from self-criticism. Instead, you place your attention on positive self-awareness and empowerment. Your imperfections are what make you unique. And your uniqueness is what makes you special.
And why does this matter when it comes to your work?
When you are able to show your strengths well, demonstrate an understanding of your weaknesses, and also project confidence, you are truly well-rounded.
- You confidently know what jobs to take and feel empowered to pass on the ones that are not a good fit
- You understand which work requires more study and learning and what you can take on now because you have confidence in your skills
- You can take on challenges with openness and transparency and feel comfortable when you need to ask for support in areas that aren’t your strength
You can connect with others better, build stronger work relationships, and perform at your best when you embrace the totality of what you are.
How Do Positive Affirmations Help Conquer Self-Doubt?
Positive affirmations can help conquer your self-doubt by supporting you to build an alternative to negative self-talk. When you introduce a regular pattern of words based on encouragement and self-worth, personally-directed negativity no longer has a place in your internal conversation.
Positive affirmations can help you stop normalizing thoughts or words of your failure, lack of ability, or fear of new things.
Instead, you highlight your patterns of success, your ability to move forward even after setbacks, and your capability to survive and thrive through change. Positive affirmations can be a powerful support in rewriting your pattern of negative self-talk. With them, you can interject confidence and self-worth into your daily communication.
Used regularly, positive affirmations help to change your internal narrative. They can also provide you with readied alternatives when you are not practiced at saying the best things to yourself.
How to Use Positive Affirmations
You define whether or not using positive affirmations truly works for you.
The means to measure success is your recognition of the shift away from negative self-talk. The goal is to replace this habit with positive affirmations but to do this you must make using positive affirmations your new habit.
To help develop the best practice for you, here are a few commonly used ideas:
Curate Your Perfect Positive Affirmations List
Search for positive affirmations through places like Google or Pinterest or through websites like Curvy Points. Purposely look for subjects that you believe cause you the most concern.
When considering options, think about the attribute that you want to improve. What is the true source of your self-doubt?
- Do you want to be more Confident?
- Are you hard on yourself in general and need to speak more Self Love?
- Do you obsess unnecessarily and need to release worry and create more Calm in your work day?
There are thousands of affirmations that exist on confidence, self-love, calm, and so many more subjects. Choose not only what you want to be but how you want to feel.
As you read them, examine at that moment how you feel. Sometimes you can be immediately empowered just by reading the affirmation aloud. Other times you may feel uncomfortable because you do not feel that it represents you. It is imperative that you feel a connection with the affirmations you select. If it rings false or like a lie, you will focus more on convincing yourself than empowering yourself.
However, consider if a new language is worth challenging yourself and allowing you to become comfortable speaking your truth. The hardest affirmations to say can be difficult simply because you are used to saying the opposite. Be brave enough to move through discomfort if the affirmation is really what you need to hear.
Examine Your Positive Affirmations List for Best Fit
While affirmations can be of different designs, subjects, and lengths, when new to using affirmations it may be worth considering keeping a common theme and choosing ones of shorter length. You want to not only find the right words to say but you want to remember to say them.
Shorter phrases on a singular theme can make remembering your positive affirmations that much easier. Memorize 2 or 3 at first and build your practice of use over time.
You may quickly find that what you thought was a major focus for you really wasn’t that big of a deal after all. It could also be that one subject of positive affirmation was valid for one week and the next week you need a different focus of attention.
Let the process be fluid but be diligent in attending to your list and use your positive affirmations daily. It is likely your negative self-talk had your focus alot. It’s time to give your positive affirmations as much or more time in your mind.
Create a Positive Affirmations Morning Ritual
Starting your day in the right mindset can be the perfect way to combat self-doubt before it starts. And positive affirmations can be instrumental to starting your day well.
Now that you have curated a list of positive affirmations, keep your list handy. Use them as soon as you wake up from your sleep or while you are getting dressed. While you may have memorized a few favorites, this is the time to review your whole list. Take time to say each word. Resonate with the meaning of each phrase. And even create a visualization of yourself embodying the words that you have said.
Confidence, self-love, success, and motivation feel different and create different facial expressions, even presentation, and stance in your body. Take on all the effects of these new positive affirmations on you.
Remember, you are re-writing all the expressions, thoughts, and bodily impact of negative self-talk. So you want to give yourself as many queues as possible of these positive changes.
Use Positive Affirmation Addendums
When first tackling your habits of negative self-talk, it may be hard to remember to say positive statements to yourself instead. The reality is that you likely have been saying negative things for a long time and to abruptly start a new pattern is not likely.
Recognizing your negative-self talk triggers can help to begin opening awareness of when and how often you present yourself with negative ideas and self-doubt.
In the midst of your negative comments, you can add-on a positive affirmation addendum to steer your thoughts in a new direction. For example, if you would normally say, “I am not good at this!” you may add-on, “But I am capable to learn new things”. Or if you ask yourself, “Why would they give this for Me to do of all people?”, you may follow up by saying, “I always do my absolute best and others see this”.
Instead of leaving yourself defeated, give yourself a breath of fresh air and room to feel better about your capabilities. Know that change takes time. But inserting positive affirmations into your life is worth the effort for the rewards of positivity, calm, self-worth, and self-confidence that they bring.
Train yourself to conquer self-doubt and become the success you want and know yourself to be.
Conclusion
Self-doubt is difficult to live with and even more difficult to address at work. Particularly when self-doubt builds in you due to negative self-talk, it can cloud your judgment about yourself and your ability to be successful at work.
Positive affirmations are good tools to re-engineer your thoughts and internal dialogue and create an improved self-image. They can change not only how you speak to yourself but how you feel about yourself and your overall future.
Choosing the right positive affirmations for you is necessary to not only improve what you say but to feel genuine in the process. Taking inventory of your emotions and what words resonate with you, can make your positive affirmation practice most meaningful and impactful. With the right tools in hand, you can build a practice of infusing positive affirmations into your work life and create a more positive and healthy work experience every day.
Create Even More Practices to Improve Your Life at Work and at Home
Read These Related Posts:
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The Perfect Self-Love Tips to Change Your Life
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