How Does An Olympian Reframe Self-Doubt?

Reframe, banish, eradicate- however your thesaurus wants to skin it, here's a strategy that works. Trust me. I'm an Olympian, which means I know everything.

some would've doubted wearing these trainers to present an award

Self-doubt only becomes toxic when you don’t know why you’re doing something.

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Self-doubt.

Oof, horrible isn’t it?

No it’s not!

Really? Why not? Can you explain your POV in less than 500 words?

Doubt it, hahaha! Ha.

Anyway, Olympians are asked to speak a lot about self-doubt and its various offshoots. You know: resilience, perseverance, can’t think of any more right now I give up.

Self-doubt is frequently misunderstood. In low moments where perception is skewed, we see it negatively. The truth though? Once reframed, it’s one of our most important tools for growth.

Used well, self-doubt will breathe life into your self-awareness.

Used poorly, self-doubt will breed hesitancy, feel horrible and lead to that dreamkiller- inaction.

Self-doubt should give you pause. Take stock of your actions, your goals, your values, your output.

Is what I’m doing worthwhile? That’s ok to ask!

Is my output of sufficient quality? If you think my work is crap you might sense a curious irony, because I think it’s brilliant.

Expressing ourselves. Standing out. That’s when stuff gets scary.

At some stage we will all have to express ourselves. In any industry. It’s easy here to point to writers sharing their art, or poets, or painters, or musicians, or comedians. All obvious breeding grounds for toxic self-doubt.

But what about the corporate worker who hates public speaking but has to deliver a presentation to his board? What about the athlete training to compete for her country for the first time?

Many confronted with these discomfort-zone situations make their tasks infinitely harder by spiralling into negative or toxic self-doubt.

‘I’m shit, no-one will like this, why am I bothering, this is for someone with more qualifications, more experience, stronger hairline.’

Here’s a spoiler: every successful person ever (minus the psychopaths) has fears and cracked on anyway. It’s why the psychological study of self-efficacy (self-confidence) became a thing. Psychologists analysed people better at bouncing back from setbacks to develop strategies to help those less resilient.

But I have a word count, which I really carve into by continuing to tell you about it. So here’s what I’m getting at (because a deep and nuanced commentary on self-efficacy and imposter syndrome this is not).

There are few or no original thoughts. Socrates and Aristotle had it sown up in B.C.

All I’m doing here is sharing my opinion on transforming toxic self-doubt based on a strategy that works for me, right now.

I’m sharing my stuff in an empty room. Many won’t read this. I’m pursuing a creative life outside sport that I don’t know or understand- yet. (The power of ‘yet’, thanks Meghan!) The only evidence of passable writing ability gathers dust in my Google Drive. I want to write for film and TV. I adore writing scripts, creating stories and making people laugh. To that end, I’m also trying stand-up comedy, to improve those writing and performing skills.

These are all endeavours you might agree are worthy of waking up good ol’ negative self-doubt, and his cousin imposter syndrome. They’re also endeavours generally capable of spiralling you into a depression lest your words be unread or your jokes be cancellable.

Yet I don’t feel any of that!

Scratch that. I feel all of that, every day. Usually in the morning. I feel it- the nausea, the anxiety fluttering in the pit of my stomach.

Then I remind myself of my little strategy, and the fear goes away- instantly.

What alchemy is this?! What am I doing that so effectively transmutes toxic self-doubt into something positive?

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You already know the answer… purpose! What is your north star? Your deeply held goal?

Self-doubt only becomes toxic when you don’t know why you’re doing something.

When I dug more deeply into why I want to do what I want to do, beyond my own enjoyment (because internal satisfaction is not enough)- I settled on my goal after sport being to move people.

No I don't want to be an estate agent and no I don't want to sound grandiose or wanky.

I want to use my experiences for positive impact. To make people laugh. To get them out of mental ruts. To make them happy.

And if that’s what I want to do by setting up a home for my thoughts, or writing scripts, or public speaking, or doing stand-up, then that’s a good thing. If I’m trying to do good, it doesn’t matter if some people hate it. You can’t please everyone - even if it’s great, people who want to hate will find a way to. It reminds me of the ‘man in the arena’ quote. The people who tend to destructively criticise are the timid souls not marred by sweat and dust, who’ve never had the courage to step into the arena.

I’ve always been afraid to step into the arena. Ever since I was young, but I went anyway. The goal was worth the pain, every time. Except at 12 when I started kickboxing and got the shit kicked out of me.

My ‘why’ of wanting to be able to beat up my much bigger brother apparently wasn't meaningful enough.

Dig deeply into your purpose, you will endure setbacks and reframe self-doubt.

Now when I post on a new platform knowing few people will read it, or when I shout things I think are funny to a mute audience, it doesn’t affect me too negatively. I don’t take it personally because in my little corner of the world I’m simply trying to do a bit of good.

I’m also excited to build something from nothing. To grow. To earn people’s eyes and laughs.

Failure is ok! Not trying isn’t. I’d much rather be a consistent failure cos I tried, than a sofa-arseprint-cultivator pointing and laughing.

So yeah:

1. Use self-doubt like I do. Nurture that precious gremlin so its presence is small enough to help you appraise, improve and evolve. Don’t feed it such that it becomes a monster that eats you.

2.  Create a concise purpose statement. Why do you want to do what you want to do? (Dig deep!)

3. Use it to banish inaction caused by toxic self-doubt. Reframe your doubts as positive tools for courage and growth.

   
   

This was meant to be 500 words but turned into 1000. I failed again! But only cos I wanted to do a bit of good by making you smile with a few extra words. I’ll live with that.

Lexicon

Toxic Self-Doubt: Negative doubts stifling ambition, breeding inaction.

Positive Self-Doubt: Underpinned with a cogent sense of purpose, your tool for pause, appraisal, analysis and growth.