How To Escape The Self-Doubt Cycle While Writing
+ tips and tricks on how to keep self-doubt in check
You’re not a good enough writer.
You’ll never achieve your writing goals.
You can’t write a whole book.
Compared with other writers, you’re a failure.
You should just give up on your writing dreams.
Have you ever heard these phrases in your head while working on a creative project? Maybe you accidentally lost your perfect handwritten first chapter and have to rewrite it again. Or maybe you’re stuck on that ONE line in your book that doesn’t sound good no matter how many ways you rewrite it.
Whatever the reason, if you hear these thoughts regularly, you’re being bombarded by this thing called self-doubt. But what is self-doubt? How does it work? And how on earth do you get out of it?
What Is Self-Doubt, And Where Does It Come From?
Self-doubt is, according to Merriam-Webster, “a feeling of doubt or uncertainty about one’s abilities.” Like procrastination, self-doubt can get in the way of working on our creative projects and often leaves us feeling stuck, frustrated, and ready to give up.
Self-doubt is caused by one particular emotion: fear, or more specifically: your core fear. A core fear is basically what you fear the most. And I don’t mean a fear of spiders or a fear of heights – I mean the worst possible thing you can think of happening to you.
For me, that’s the fear of not being remembered. Fading out of existence with no one caring enough to remember me. I’m terrified of that.
Besides the fear of insignificance, there are a few other types of fear most of us will avoid at all costs, like the fear of failure or rejection. The fear of failure drives our everyday lives; we want to avoid being noticed for our mistakes, so sometimes we don’t even try. We don’t want to get rejected, so we decide not to ask for feedback on our book.
The problem with holding on to fear is that we might never try new things or take new risks. And when it comes to our writing, this can be a problem.
Why Is It So Hard To Write With Self-Doubt?
As I mentioned above, the fear of failure can be crippling and make us want to give up, especially when it comes to writing.
Let’s say you started writing a new book last year. Once you got past the first chapter, the fear of failure decreased, since you jumped in with two feet and started working on it. It disappears – for a while. But when you’re at the halfway point of your book, it shows up again. And it’s stronger.
As you continue with your book, the possibilities grow bigger. Let’s say you finish your book, send it off to a few beta readers, edit it some more, show it to a professional editor, edit it a bit more, then start querying it to agents. Once you have an agent, then they help you find a publisher. Then, after a few more rounds of edits, it gets published — and then every single person in the world could buy a copy if they wanted to.
That’s a lot of steps, but more importantly, a lot of chances for failure. If you send your book off to…let’s say five beta readers, then there’s five chances for them to say bad things about your book. If you show it to a professional editor, that ups the number to six. When you start querying agents, that raises the number again. Not to mention all the eyes at the publishing company that will look over it, and once it’s published, ARC readers and reviewers (not to mention readers that pick up your book) will share their thoughts too. That’s so many people that even thinking about it is overwhelming.
For writers who are just starting out, it can be overwhelming even sharing your story with one person. When I was thirteen years old, I was on the fence about a writing class my mom had come across one day. I wasn’t sure if I would even be good at writing, not to mention writing assignments and sharing them with absolute strangers.
Spoiler alert: I not only joined the class — I became a part of the community. I've been with the same group of people for almost four years now, and I’m working towards being a professional author! Sometimes taking risks and pushing away your fear of failure is a great thing.
Thankfully, there are some tools you can use to escape from the cycle of self-doubt.
How To Keep Your Self-Doubt In Check:
Here are some ideas to avoid your self-doubt and work on your creative projects. I’m probably going to go back and use these too! 😉
#1: Use affirmations!
Affirmations are positive self phrases that can inspire you and make your day better. I usually pick mine at the beginning of the day so it has the most impact. Some of my favorites are:
“Today I choose to think positive.”
“I can do anything.”
“Today I embrace my best self.”
“Today I choose to think positively.”
“My challenges help me grow.”
#2: Use the Three-Minute Rule.
The Three-Minute Rule is a super easy way to trick your brain into jumping into your work when you really don’t want to do it and your brain is convincing you not to. Set a timer for three minutes and work on the project. Then reset the timer once it’s gone off. Continue doing the project in three-minute increments until it’s done.
#3: Take breaks.
Don’t forget to take breaks after you work on projects. Let your brain rest for 5-15 min at a time. Eat a snack, play a game, drink lots of water, and, when you’re ready, get back to the project you were working on.
Self-doubt, like procrastination, can only get to you if you let it, so I hope these tips have helped you with your self-doubt. Let me know how you deal with self-doubt in the comment section below!
Here are some resources about self-doubt I found helpful:
The Trap of Self-Doubt (And How To Overcome It) by Gregg Vanourek (blog post)
Overcoming Self-Doubt: Why You’re Stuck And How To Get Unstuck by Fearless Living
Why We Doubt Ourselves by Lawrence Yeo
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Would you like more writing resources? Check out My Writing Compilation Post!
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