Have you ever felt like this before? It starts off with you having an idea to do something, but then followed by hesitation to continue because of self-doubt. Such as, taking an idea to start a business selling your own home-made cakes, followed by baking some home-made cakes, only to be interrupted in your journey to selling those cakes when self-doubt starts to creep in. You already have the delicious aroma of freshly baked cakes wafting through your home, so the truth is you are able to do it, but the ‘problem’ is that all of a sudden in that moment you have self-doubt and you start to wonder to yourself, “Are the cakes I made good enough that somebody might want to buy them?”, “Will anyone want to buy my home-made cakes?”. This is not procrastination – after all, you actually did bake those delicious cakes. When you begin doubting your own ability or creativity it can sometimes be debilitating, and utterly detrimental to success if you don’t know how to overcome it.

I recently had a moment like this myself. I knew I always wanted to offer my abilities to help others, and I decided to get on with putting my ideas into action and moving forward. And then a moment of self-doubt crept in. “Is what I’m offering something that anybody will want?” In truth it took a few days for me to think it over. During the few days that followed I had a few other questions arising from the self-doubt, such as, “Should I change what I’m trying to offer?”, “Is what I’m trying to offer, really what I want to offer?”

Then I remembered something really profound; I remembered to be true to myself! I need to first of all trust that the idea I had was and is a good idea. What I initially set out to do really resonated with something deeper inside of me. My idea is good enough. My ability to provide these services is good enough. On top of that, the work I’ve already put into making it become a reality is not a waste, in fact it is a great learning experience. That said, I know that with confidence in myself it is okay for me to adjust what I am offering, especially if the change I decide to make feels right with me, and particularly if it is a smart business move, but I won’t hold myself back now in anticipation for that future decision. What I have now is good enough for now. I can accept that changing some aspects of my original idea doesn’t mean that my idea was not good enough.

So, what can you do if you have self-doubt? Perhaps your reasons for self-doubt are far more complex. In that case you might have a few layers to work though, and that’s also okay. Your perspective of yourself and your ideas are the key. While other people in your life, or in your area of business, might express their ideas and make you feel a bit rattled, it doesn’t mean that your idea is necessarily wrong. It also doesn’t mean that you have to take on-board everything that those around you tell you to do. They might be speaking from a place of experience and in such a way as to help you, but it should not be as a way for them to control you. Take their advice and think it over. Use what you can from their advice, but don’t lose sight of yourself and your ideas. The truth is that you might need to adjust some of your plans to bring your idea to reality, but it doesn’t mean that you had a bad idea.

Be willing to learn from others. Be willing to learn from mistakes, whether its mistakes that others made or your own mistakes. Be willing to try something new, even if it’s only new to you! Most importantly though is to try be true to yourself.

My truth is this, “Yes, I do want to offer consultation services to help people!” I think, that... Wait, let me rephrase that, in fact, I believe that I do have the abilities needed to help people in various ways. I am good enough!