• Self-doubt psychology
• What is self-doubt & inferiority complex?
• Reasons for suffering from inferiority complex and self-doubt.
• How we can overcome self-doubt?
• How do get rid of the inferiority complex?

Self-doubt means the person is not confident about his/ her abilities, and actions. If you doubt yourself no one in the world will believe you. The toxic effects of self-doubt will gradually shatter anyone’s self-confidence, lowering self-esteem. Such intense feelings, inadequacies, weaknesses, and insecurities can lead to an inferiority complex. Both inferiority complex and self-doubt are unresourceful states of mind, If you can’t get out of here and reach the resourceful state, success will not come. Self-doubt is a heavy burden on us, and it is really difficult to move forward on the path of success without getting rid of this burden. 

Everybody doubts himself at some points or another. The question ‘can I do it?’ or ‘am I on the right track?’ etc arises at that moment. Extremely successful people also suffer from such self-doubt, but at this point, they say such things in such a way to themselves that take them to the next level. 

Usually, in most cases, we neglect our abilities, our qualifications, our special qualities, and our passion. Most people like to lean towards the stream. Ignoring own identity, without trying to find oneself, one wants to go the traditional way in the hope of getting security and sure results. As a result, they may not be able to perceive when they are lost in the current. When they open their eyes, they can no longer believe in themselves. Suffering from an inferiority complex begins with self-doubt. 

Many times self-doubt arises from following up and imitation and from there inferiority begins. Following up or imitating the right person can give very good results but if our method i.e. the way we imitate or follow someone is not right then our result will not be suitable. Without proper results our self-doubt will be born and we will suffer from inferiority complex. Negative thoughts, nagetive questions will arises to your mind when you are working hard, giving efforts in a certain direction but you are not getting results and naturally those thoughts are very relevant. If you do not patiently try to find the answers correctly, you will doubt yourself and suffer from an inferiority complex. 

There are many more important reasons for suffering from inferiority complex and self-doubt, such as past experience, being afraid of failure or loss, giving more importance to other people’s words, seeking advice from the wrong person, and comparing oneself with others. 

• Past experience: Anytime, for any reason, once someone has failed, he/she keeps recalling it in his mind. As a result, whenever they want to move forward, they have doubts in their mind, ‘So I will not fail again?’ This kind of experience is not only a personal experience but also a sight to behold. Later these become their drawback. Without taking the real lessons from the past experience they make their weakness by repeatedly thinking those negatively. Which raises questions about their qualifications, qualities and abilities, builds self-doubt and suffers from deep inferiority complex.

• Fear of failing or losing: This is a serious disorder, the onset of which may be a past experience. Also, before we do anything, we seriously focus on what will happen if we fail or lose. We rarely focus on what we will achieve if I succeed or win. This is bound to flow our energy where the focus is. The more you think about failing or losing, the more you suffer from an inferiority complex and the more you doubt yourself. Continuously thinking that you are not good enough or you are not capable of doing something that can harm your mental and social life. 

• Giving importance to the words of others: Everyone, relatives, friends, well-wishers, and society want to see the results, that is you produce in the external world. But this is not always happening, in all cases, external results are not immediately produced at the end of the work. Naturally, there is no doubt that others will raise a storm of critical discussion in front or back of you, and some may also ridicule you. If you give importance to all those things, you will have doubts about yourself and you will suffer from an inferiority complex. 

• Taking advice from the wrong person: Everyone is not proficient in all subjects or possesses proper knowledge. Moreover, most people are more accustomed to giving negative advice. If you take advice from all these persons, you will lose confidence in your own ability and you will become discouraged. Lose confidence in yourself, weaken you mentally, and make you more uninspired instead of motivation. 

• Comparing yourself with others: Whenever you compare yourself to others you will suffer from either an inferiority complex or the superiority complex, there is complexity in both of them. Whenever you compare yourself to someone who is more successful than you, you will feel inferior, and when you compare yourself to someone who is less successful, you will feel superior. A line is to whether it is small or large can be compared only when another line is drawn beside it. Especially when personal understanding is not developed then our mind starts to form our self-image based on what others think and what others are looking at. Then our self-doubt develops and we feel inferior. 

Photo by George Milton from Pexels

Let’s discuss how we can overcome this self-doubt and get out of the inferiority complex.

Make yourself your own standard: Become your own judge, standard, and mirror. Never try to judge yourself in the eyes of others because the more pairs of eyes look at you, the more you will find your appearance, your strengths, and your weaknesses. You will be caught with so many faults. Different people will give different opinions. All these opinions will raise questions about your qualifications, your abilities and your self-doubt will start, and you will start suffering from an inferiority complex. 

Better yet, observe for yourself how much you have grown each day, each month, in a year, how far you have moved towards your goal, and how much success you have achieved. You will surely find out the direction you need to improve, and what knowledge you need to acquire and keep moving forward accordingly. You will see that you will regain a lot of confidence, your doubts will disappear and at the same time you will be able to come out of inferiority. 

Conquer fear: Suppose you are planning to move to a new place, if you are thinking if the car breaks down on the road or you are thinking of any kind of danger, your strong mind will automatically avoid these pains, but there will be fear in your mind. The ghost of fear will be your main obstacle to go there, whether you go or not, you will fall into this dilemma. This fear is very much but only your imagination, to overcome this fear you need mind set, mental strength, strong decision making, and talking to yourself in a positive way. If you think of something good instead of a bad thought, think constructively, then you will regain your mental strength and the ghost of fear will disappear from your head. In the place of self-doubt, faith will grow and you will be able to come out of inferiority. 

Only seek advice from the right person: In order to reach your goal, choose the person who is skilled in the subject to take all the knowledges and advices you need. Connect with people who will inspire you, encourage you, and rarely say negative things. Contacting all these people will change the programming of your mind. All of these people can help you to overcome your self-doubt and overcome your inferiority complex. The wrong person will demotivate you more, and will make you mentally weaker.

Stop comparing yourself to others: One thing is to remember that every human being in this world is born with his or her own characteristics. No one is comparable to anyone and you are not an exception. Maybe more than one person’s path is one, and the goal is the same, so not all of them will be able to reach the same place, at the same time, in the same way, some will reach first and some will reach behind. 

A lot of good batsmen have come into the world of cricket, and bowlers have come, have you found any exact matching between one and the other? There may be some similarities, but they are the best in their place with their unique qualities. You have also the same type of uniqueness. Take care of that uniqueness, find those qualities, and make it sharper. You will see that strength of mind will come and at the same time you will be able to come out of the unresourceful state like inferiority complex and self-doubt.