Wanting to make changes in your life can feel like a battle. We make a goal, set our sight on something, get our dreams, hopes and expectations creep in and thoughts like:
Can I really do it?
I don’t deserve this success/happiness
This won’t work for me
I’m not someone who…
This is useless
I’m bound to fail
I’m doing this wrong
I can’t do this
I don’t have the time/energy/money...
But doubt arising when we set our sights on something is NORMAL, and it’s not a sign that we’re doing something wrong or are on the wrong track. It doesn’t mean that we won’t ultimately succeed, or that it won’t work.
Doubt WILL happen, but we can always choose how to respond to it.
So whether you’re pursuing a big health and fitness goal - losing weight, running a marathon, getting that PB - or you’ve got something else in mind like a promotion, learning a new skill, or taking that small step towards your vision of your future, I like to keep these things in mind about doubt:
1. Doubt is a thought
Doubts are just thoughts. Not the truth. And thoughts come, and thoughts go. We don’t need to jump into the doubt; we can just watch it pass.
Our thoughts aren’t the truth. We don’t have to accept them, identify with them, or do anything with them at all, other than witness them.
Some of our thoughts are helpful and some are unhelpful. Recognising this can help keep a healthy perspective on doubt, knowing that we WILL experience it at some point, but we don’t have to let it affect our journey, choices or outcome too much.
Meditation can be a powerful tool for this, as it helps to shape the relationship we have with our thoughts (and if you’d like to know more about it, you can scoop up my free meditation bundle here, including e-book, and 20+ meditation & breathing audios!).
2. Doubt can come from our ego
So recognise it for what it is, and don't listen to it.
Here, I am referring to our ego as our built-up sense of identity; our thoughts, beliefs, perspective and values that we’ve created and absorbed from the world around us. We build these up like little walls around ourselves, defining what we are and what we are not. There’s safety in that.
So when we start to do something that throws some of what we believe to be true about ourselves out of the window, doubt can creep in as a way to protect ourselves. As a way to stay where we’re feeling safe. Doubt says - STAY WHERE YOU ARE. We know where we are here. Even if ‘here’ is pretty terrible!
Your mind can only measure what it will lose; it cannot see what it will gain.
Recognize and question doubts like these: is that protective mechanism helping you, or is it time to test it?
3. Connect to WHY
Why are you pursuing what you are pursuing?
What does it mean to you?
What would life be like if you did or did not have that thing?
It is easier to combat doubt when we have a clear intention and motivation behind what we are doing.
With most of my one-to-one clients, we start here. We get clear on who they want to be, and what that might FEEL like. Connecting to that, daily, is one step forward into that best future self.
When doubt arises in the difficult, short-term present, if we have a longer term vision for ourselves fuelling us, present problems can feel a lot smaller in perspective, or fuel us to figure out how to overcome them.
It helps us to trust the process, because we can see where we’re headed.
So many of us make resolutions in the new year, when we have birthdays etc, but often those goals are gone when doubt and insecurity wraps around us. They feel further and further away until we can’t really even be sure what they are anymore.
Connecting to that clarity DAILY can be a game-changer.
4. Plan the next 1-3 steps
We can get discouraged when we don’t know where to start, or when the big goal feels totally overwhelming. You don’t need to lose 40lbs, build the business empire, or find the right relationship TODAY. But you can plan the next small step that you can do right now that moves you forwards towards that.
Our outcomes can be just the extension of our habits. Our life can be shaped by the small routines we do daily. Our future can be molded by what we choose to do today, and the next day and the next day.
So it’s time.
It’s time to get out of your own way. Out of your comfort zone, and BELIEVE in what is possible for you.
So many of my clients want to feel energised again, comfortable and confident in their own bodies, and find freedom around food. And whether your goals or these, or whether they are something else (or both!), I urge you - START.
Start by BELIEVING they are possible.
Doubt is part of the journey.
Start your 2022 with me here with the Healthy Habits Challenge - completely FREE, starting on January 10th. Easy, do-able habits, live coaching, a supportive group and a live workout - all in one week! Get the momentum going for the new year and sign up here.
Because I believe the magic is within you - and together we can find it.
Join my mailing list for weekly blog updates, plus other news, offers and need-to-know titbits. Maybe a discount or two. Just saying. Plus, you can get a free copy of my Getting Started Guide. Join the fam!