Next to guilt, one of the most self-defeating and troublesome personal emotions to carry into your home business is self-doubt. While it is perfectly naturally to wonder at times if you are doing what you should be doing and/or making the right choices, self-doubt can actually sabotage your ability to be focused, take chances, and build a successful home business.
Concern, interest, self-reflection—all of these are valuable traits that can help us evaluate our work efforts and focus in on doing the best job possible in our home businesses. However, if we are constantly doubting ourselves, second-guessing our decisions, and kicking ourselves for choices we make in our businesses, we can become stuck or immobilized or really flounder. Not to mention that we will not be experiencing much job or feel open to creative problem-solving if we let self-doubt creep in.
We have to be honest though–combating self-doubt can be tough! We need to re-train ourselves and give ourselves encouragement and positive self-talk to counter the negative impulses. This may mean coming up with affirmations to help guide us through times when we are more prone to self-doubt, or just working to silence those voices that pop up and cause us to question what we’re doing and how we’re going about doing it.
Finding yourself some positive and inspirational mentors can also help give you a boost. Mentors can give you some positive language and help you to feel encouraged and help you squelch the self-doubt while you are learning how to do it for yourself. Try reminding yourself that there really isn’t anything “good” that can come from beating yourself up over choices and decisions and things you do in your home business. Doing your best and having appreciation for yourself are far more productive than the self-doubt!
See Also: Sharing Your Dreams Out Loud and The Importance of Business Mentors