What is the ONE THING you can give to a powerful superhero to keep them down? Theresa Byrne says the answer is doubt.
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What could keep them out of their power and stop them from achieving their greatest possible achievements? What’s the one “kryptonite” you can give to this all-powerful superhero?
Doubt. Doubt in their own abilities.
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The concept of doubt makes us question everything. It makes us question ourselves, our abilities and our intrinsic belief in who we are. Doubt freezes us, almost like throwing cold water onto a hot fire.
Doubt freezes us, almost like throwing cold water onto a hot fire.
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Imagine that you are getting ready to take on something challenging, like a big project or a marathon and it makes you nervous. Maybe it’s a dream you’ve always had or something you’ve always wanted to do. Something that stretches you beyond your comfort zone. What happens in those moments of nervousness? The little voice of doubt shows up.
The Doubt Conversation for a superhero might sound something like this:
“Can I really fly? Or did I make that up? What if I look ridiculous in these tights? How do even know that I have any superpowers? What if I’m not a good person! What do other people think of me? Why aren’t I like them? No one else is saying they can fly? What makes me think I’m so special?”
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Doubt can start a whole spiral of negative thoughts. Once you listen to doubtful thoughts, your brain starts giving you all kinds of facts and experiences to SUPPORT your doubts!
“Remember when we messed up that one time? Well don’t forget to think about that. And that other time too. This time is JUST LIKE those times.”
And BAM. Fear shows up and those doubts just talked us into being paralyzed.
There’s a particular system in the brain that finds ways to support our thinking; it looks for evidence. The Reticular Activating System looks for all the things of a similar type. It likes to group things together, it makes it easier to make fast judgments.
The problem is when the “fast judgements” are filled with doubts. Your brain will look for proof that your doubts are real, and founded. Your brain will try to talk you into playing it safe, and avoiding being your own version of that superhero.
Your brain will try to talk you into playing it safe, and avoiding being your own version of that superhero.
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We all have doubts. Unfortunately, there are pitfalls or places we seem to fall into over and over. I believed they are tied to the limiting beliefs we have roaming in the background that create holes we can fall into. The same hole, time after time.
There are particular places our doubts like to show up. You may find you have the hole of:“Stay small, don’t speak up, don’t draw attention to yourself”. Or it could be “You don’t really know what you’re doing. You’re a fraud. They’ll find out soon enough.” Or “Only people that are really great at that can do it. You’re fooling yourself if you think you can even try it.” Or even worse, “You’re not good at this, you should probably just give up.”
Eric Elkins, blogger at “The Dating Dad” and author of The Best of the Dating Dad, retells a great allegory. “You’re walking down the street and all of a sudden you’re in a big hole. You don’t remember how you got there; you just know you want out. So you climb out of the hole, and the next time you’re walking down the street you end up in the same hole. This time you know how to get out of this hole, so you climb out again. The next time, you SEE the hole but you STILL fall into it. Remembering how to climb out, you do that. The next time you start walking down the street, you get off that damn path and switch streets.”
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My suggestion? Know your doubts. Learn about them. Check to see if you have particular black holes of doubt you fall into.
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A version of this originally appearing the book InPower: 3 Principles to Unleash Your Superpowers and is republished on Medium.
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