Hearing the voice of self-doubt can really hold you back from developing your full potential.
Self-doubt can actually be a secret (and serial) killer of your dreams. There is truly nothing more debilitating than hearing the condescending voice of your inner critic that is trashing your sense of self-worth.
If you let your self-doubt untreated it may lead you to depression, anxiety and the feeling that you are wasting your life.
I remember moments from my life where I didn’t do something I cared about because of such fearful thoughts in my head. This article is about inspirational quotes but I absolutely don’t want to suggest that quotes alone will help you address deeper issues that are hiding behind your self-doubt.
Quotes alone certainly won’t help you. Making permanent changes in the way you perceive yourself requires much deeper work on your subconscious mind.
If you feel really lost in your self-doubting thoughts and you feel stuck in your life, I want you to know that I understand this and I feel your pain. I promise you that there is a beautiful life waiting for you on the other side of fear and self-judgement. Message me and we can have a chat and see how I might be able to help you.
Self-doubt and rebuilding confidence is probably the subject that is the closest to my heart. I remember being so disconnected from my self-worth and confidence that I wanted to simply disappear into thin air.
As you can see I didn’t. Something in me was telling me that this is just a lesson to learn. I could hear my inner voice whispering to me that I need to look within and go on a journey inwards to address that pain that makes me lack confidence so much. I listened to that voice and I embarked on a long journey inwards.
This inner journey requires a lot of commitment and courage to really look inside and understand why you think and react the way you do. It is not an easy journey but it is a very rewarding one.
You might be wondering now what’s the issue with the quotes then. Reading inspirational quotes might be useful when you start feeling you are about to fall into the abyss of self-doubt. They might be that rope that you hang on to that will create a few moments of space in your mind when you notice a thought of self-doubt but you don’t follow it. You just notice it and say “No, thank you. Not today. Today I am going to choose feeling confident about myself.”
Being able to create space between you and your thoughts is extremely important. That space will allow you to make a choice of what thoughts you want to think about yourself. It will help you switch off the autopilot mode in your mind.
Being able to do that is a very useful ability to have. That’s the first step to regaining control over your mind.
Why is self-doubt dangerous
Letting such thoughts of self-doubt freely roam around your mind might make you perceive them as truths about yourself which is very dangerous. The moment you start treating these thoughts as facts about yourself, they will gradually become ingrained in your belief system. Then you can say you have a problem. It is much easier to change a thought than to change a belief. That’s why reading inspirational things is useful to keep yourself on the surface without taking a dive into all the negative thoughts you might have about yourself.
Below I’ve made a list of some of my favourite quotes to share with you. I hope they will help you turn off that auto-pilot of self-doubt and choose new thoughts about yourself.
Quotes about overcoming self-doubt
“Acting as if you were what you want to become
And know you can become is the way to remove self-doubt
And enter your real-magic kingdom.”
– Wayne Dyer
“If you don’t have some self-doubt and fears when you pursue a dream,
Then you haven’t dreamed big enough.”
– Joe Vitale
“The difference in winning and losing is most often…not quitting.”
– Walt Disney
“Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.”
– W. Clement Stone
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill
“Willpower is the key to success.
Successful people strive no matter what they feel
By applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear.”
– Dan Millman
“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
– Suzy Kassem
“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises,
Is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”
– Henry Ford
“Fear has a large shadow but he himself is small.”
– Ruth Gendler
“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.”
– Salvador Dali
“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”
Louisa May Alcott
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage.
If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
– Dale Carnegie
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.”
– Napoleon
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”
– Mark Twain
“Self-doubt does more to sabotage individual potential than all external limitations put together.”
– Brian Tracy
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu
“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
– Anais Nin
“Put all excuses aside and remember this: you are capable.”
– Zig Zigler
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
“Courage is fear that has said its prayer.”
– Maya Angelou
“If you knew who walked beside you at all times, on the path that you
have chosen, you could never experience fear or doubt again.”
– Wayne Dyer
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear. But the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid. But he who conquers fear.”
– Nelson Mandela
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings
“The inner speech, your thoughts, can cause you to be rich or poor, loved or unloved,
happy or unhappy, attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.”
– Ralph Charell
“Remember: we all get what we tolerate. So stop tolerating excuses within yourself,
limiting beliefs of the past, or half-assed or fearful states.”
– Anthony Robbins
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end
of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher
“The whole point of courage is to overcome fear. That’s the interesting thing when courage bleeds through fear.”
– Anthony Hopkins
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’,
then by all means paint,
and that voice will be silenced.”
– Vincent Van Gogh
“If you’re struggling with self-doubt, remind yourself of all the times
you overcame what you did not know.”
– Brendon Burchard
“In a society that profits from your self-doubt,
liking yourself is a rebellious act.”
– Caroline Caldwell
“It’s not who you are that holds you back,
it’s who you think you’re not.”
– Hanoch McCarty
“Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.”
– Epictetus
“There is no illusion greater than fear.”
– Lao Tzu
“Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
“Don’t regret the past or fear the future.
Both bring misery through self-doubt.”
– Deepak Chopra
“Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you,
well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best
preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“In the infinity of life where I am,
All is perfect, whole and complete,
I no longer choose to believe in
Old limitations and lack,
I now choose to begin to see myself
As the Universe sees me –
Perfect, whole and complete.”
– Louise L. Hay
I hope you found these words of inspiration useful. I would be very happy if you bookmark this page as a collection of quotes that make you see the light at the end of the tunnel of self-doubt.
There are some ways in which you can do more work on yourself to release self-doubt before it turns into limiting beliefs. I’m sharing some of them in this video.
If you tried different strategies and nothing helped, remember that you are not alone with your problem.
I remember how lonely it is when you try different ways to help yourself and you hit a wall every time. I hit that wall too. But I was determined to change my perception of myself and I was blessed enough to find various healers and therapists that helped me reconnect with myself.
So if you get stuck and feel like the loneliest person on this planet, message me and we can have a chat about how I might be able to help you reconnect with your true Self.