It took me years to learn that doubt was never the enemy.
For a long time I treated every wave of it as a verdict. If I felt unsure walking into a decision, I took that as proof I wasn't ready. So I waited. I gathered more data. Booked another call. Asked one more person for their opinion. Anything to make the feeling go away before I moved.
Looking back, the information was usually already there.
What I was actually waiting for was permission.
Years ago, I tolerated a notoriously toxic, scope-creeping client for eighteen months because I was terrified of losing their monthly retainer.
That delay cost us two of our best account managers who quit from burnout, and ate up hundreds of unbillable hours we could have spent landing better accounts.
When we finally parted ways, team morale skyrocketed instantly and our overall profitability actually went up.
I’ve stopped seeing self-doubt as the enemy. Now I see it as evidence.
Evidence that I’m doing something important. Something unfamiliar.
Something that’s asking more of me than yesterday. Every challenge feels uncomfortable before it feels normal.
So instead of running from the doubt... Use it. Because once you prove to yourself that you can do it, belief replaces fear.
So ask yourself this: what is this telling me?
Doubt is a signal. It tells you that you care, and that the thing in front of you matters.
Look at where it actually uncovers. Before the pitch that could change the business. Before the hire that reshapes the team. Before you publish something under your own name and wait to see who reads it. Doubt turns up when the stakes are real.
That's doubt doing its job.
Doubt only does damage when you let it take control.
Two founders can feel the same doubt about the same decision. One feels it and makes the call anyway. The other lets the doubt make the call for them.
I've been both. The version of me who let doubt drive never looked afraid.
He was wary.
He looked like a founder doing his due diligence.
But most of the time he was stalling, and calling it diligence so it felt like progress.
The place I see founders let doubt make the call more than anywhere else is sales.
Plenty of founders don't feel legitimate selling their own product. So they retreat into the work that feels safe. They bury themselves in delivery, the website, the next LinkedIn post. Anything that feels productive and carries no risk of hearing the word no.
Most of us start out nervous on sales calls. Every objection feels like a verdict. Keep going though, and it gets better. I promise.
The tough questions start to feel like a puzzle worth solving, and give you the best insights. Sales is the one job you can't hand off early, because selling is how you find out whether you're building the right thing.
Three moves I use to help take control of my self-doubt:
Name it
When the feeling shows up, call it what it is. This is doubt. Saying it out loud creates a small gap between you and the feeling. The decision happens within that gap.
Question it
Doubt is rarely about the decision itself. It's about what happens if something goes wrong. So ask yourself: what am I really afraid of here?
Decide it
Set a deadline for the call and hold yourself to it, however settled you feel when it arrives. Doubt gets a seat at the table, but you’re in control.
Because in reality, certainty was never coming - and waiting for it is expensive.
Pick the decision you keep finding reasons to revisit. You know the one…
Write down, in a short sentence, what the doubt is afraid of. Then set a date this week and make the call before you feel ready.
When you've done it, hit reply and tell me what you decided on. I'd love to hear it.
Most founders think the goal is to get rid of doubt. I've never seen anyone manage it, and I stopped trying a long time ago.
The job is to keep doubt in the passenger seat. Let it speak. You steer.
Your doubt is proof you're standing somewhere that matters.
Here's to hearing it and moving anyway,
To your unstoppable success!
Writer, The Success Method
P.S. This is the idea at the heart of my upcoming book, The Power of Self Doubt, launching next year in collaboration with Pan Macmillan. Join the waiting list and I'll send you the early access, insights and exclusive pre-reads here.
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