What to Do When You Doubt Yourself as a Leader – Lolly Daskal

 

Everyone struggles at times with self-doubt, but that struggle can be especially difficult for people in leadership. Leaders are expected to always be self-assured, assertive and poised. But what happens when you begin to doubt your own abilities? What can you do when you’re worried you don’t have what it takes?

As long as you address it instead of ignoring it, self-doubt is something you can understand and manage. Here are six things to try when you need to get your groove back:

Know you’re not alone. As a leadership coach, I assure you that leaders experiencing self-doubt about their abilities is more common than you would expect. Practically every leader—even the most capable and successful—goes through a stage of self-doubt at some point.

Remember that breakdowns can lead to breakthroughs. Sometimes you need to get to a low point to make the adjustments or pivots you need to move to the next level of your development. Breakdowns often mean you’re on the edge of a terrific period of growth and discovery.

Ride the wave. When you’re experiencing self-doubt, it’s easy to feel frustrated and anxious about yourself. But the best thing to do when you feel doubtful is to ride the wave. Think about the context of what you’re feeling: When are you most doubtful? In whose company? In what situations? Treat it as a part of yourself to understand.

Treat your struggle as the beginning of a success story. You may not enjoy the challenges, but the things they’re teaching you are likely to contain the seeds of eventual success.

Don’t try to go through it alone. Most leaders who doubt themselves want to keep their struggles to themselves. Instead, surround yourself with people who believe in you, people you trust to guide you. Let them be there for you, and in turn you can likely do the same for them someday.

if you can’t change the situation, you have to change yourself. If a specific situation is causing you to doubt yourself, turn it around by becoming more diligent in the things you know how to do. Practice focus and discipline in your work and try to do at least one thing every day to fuel your sense of accomplishment and achievement. Over time, it will boos your self-confidence.

Get outside help. If self-doubt is starting to have a negative effect on your leadership, maybe it’s time to get outside help. A coach can be the perfect person to help you break out of a spiral of self-doubt and get back on track to achieving the things you want to do.

As leaders, we’re all human and we all suffer from self-doubt from time to time. It’s what you do in those situations that matters most.

Lead from within: Don’t be surprised or concerned about times of doubt. It’s only a problem if you do nothing to understand or address it.