The biggest killer of dreams is your mind.
It is amazing how easily one’s mind can shift moods when taking a reflective look at your own life.
One day you can be in the most positive and ambitious mood visualising the most unimaginable scenarios becoming reality, making plans towards it and truly believing in yourself and progress.
The next second an element of doubt creeps in and your mind shifts towards spotting the negative trends which were also present in your life.
Doubt can halt you in your tracks. Doubt can make you feel so small and irrelevant. Doubt can kill your future if you let it.
Doubt seeds in your mind when you cannot see your next exact move. You might be in a situation where you need to choose a direction from different opportunities or step out of your comfort zone.
Many people talk about curating a mindset of positive affirmations and developing a way of living that attracts the life we are after. They say you should only write from a positive mindset, only see what you want to see, and refrain from negatively talking about yourself and your ideas.
The truth is we all have doubts and hurdles we must overcome but we need to develop some reminders showing our progress and the journey we have made so far to establish in our mind that our doubts are unjustified.
Once you prove your doubts wrong you open the doors to unlimited possibilities.
Here are four things I learnt to implement when I have moments of doubt which help me keep moving forward.
Quick wins:
Whenever doubt creeps into my mind I find a quick win that keeps some sort of momentum going.
The quick wins allow me to remind myself of the direction I am travelling in and remind me that you don't need to take giant leaps to make progress, progress can also be made with small calculated steps.
The quick wins are your low-hanging fruit and enable you to build up some confidence. If you can pick all the low-hanging fruit the progress you make will remove any doubt in your mind.
Doubt is only seeded when you struggle to see a way forward, so use the quick wins as path builders connecting you from one space to another.
Confidence is built off progress and using quick wins to build confidence is the easiest way to remove any doubts about yourself or your progress.
Creating space:
Sometimes doubt can appear because we are so engrossed in what we are doing that we can't see the whole picture.
Creating space enables you to step away from what you are doing to be able to take a third-person approach.
Creating space will allow you to think clearly about what you are doing, and why you are doing it and then give your the ability to justify your position and progress.
Doubt can creep in when our focus is too narrow and we forget the bigger picture. When you feel like this finding another thing to focus on, or removing yourself from that space will give you the time needed to process and understand your next move.
A lot of artists have simultaneous paintings on the go to allow them to have an outlet when inspiration or direction goes from one piece they are working on. This strategy means that when they move from painting to painting they reset their mind to focus solely on what they see in front of them.
This can work effectively too in anything we pursue. Stepping away and allowing our minds to process will allow true reflections to come to the surface and hopefully give you a more of a true account of everything.
Exercise/Ice bath:
I start my weekday mornings with either exercise or ice baths and doing them brings just as much mental clarity as they do a physical challenge.
When you are exercising or ice bathing you are constantly in the present as your body and mind react to the shock of what it is going through.
The presence doesn't allow me to dwell and therefore when I am doing either of these activities I am almost meditating and processing thoughts and feelings as they come and go.
Whenever I feel down or doubtful doing some exercise will always be a way to boost my mood as the levels of chemicals in my brain change through the process. Exercise has been proven to boost mental health.
The benefits of ice bathing are simple. Sit in the cold water and see if what's bothering you bothers you whilst you're in that water or if it all disappears due to the shock.
Ice bathing has been a game changer for me because of its known benefits of dopamine and resilience. If ice bathing is the toughest thing I need to do in the day then any doubt about what else I have going on is tapered.
Writing:
I never knew until recently how much writing helps me process and understand how I feel about something.
The process of thinking about what you want to say and trying to make it understandable means you need to focus on the meaning and truth behind your words.
When doing this you eradicate a lot of the bullshit narratives that live in our heads and therefore I’ve found substantial benefits in writing down my problems, current status or fears as a way to resolve them.
Writing is a skill that enables you to process your feelings and therefore can be effective at showing you the truth. If you are suffering from doubt then writing down everything you are going through might help you process and realise your true position.
I am Will Flindall, host of the Valley of Outlaws Podcast where I speak to those who have decided to take control of their life and follow a passion or instinct.
If you feel like you could be getting more from your life, then maybe one of the conversations I’ve had with the Outlaws might help you kickstart a change.
Peace x
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