“Doubt is the motor for failure.” ~ Professor T available on Amazon Prime

I’ve heard many cutesy quotes about doubt and about failure. But for some reason, this particular quote struck a chord and it keeps rolling in my mind. I decided to look at the ways I doubt and evaluate if these doubts are causing me to be unsuccessful. How are these doubts a motor to failure?

But I don’t want my blogs (or me) to focus only on the negative and the struggle. So, after I look at the struggles, I’m going to look at the successes. And – dammit – I’m going to have more successes than doubts.

Doubt and Failure

• I doubt I’ll ever be satisfied with my body.
  • Motor:  I haven’t opened the Body Kindness book that more than one therapist has suggested.
• I doubt I’ll ever be a great, bestselling writer.
  • Motor: I haven’t bothered to research, with any seriousness, publishers or self-published marketing techniques. If I don’t try, I might fail.  Yikes! That’s wrong. I need to think:  If I don’t try, I will definitely fail.
• I doubt I’ll ever stop compulsive behavior (spending or taking on too much responsibility).
  • Motor: I often tell myself – “Go ahead and do it. You know you’re going to. So quit trying to talk yourself out of it.” – That is a LOUD motor.
• I doubt people like me for me.
  • Motor: I have a tendency to buy things for people. Kind of a ‘buying their love’ attitude.

Courage and Success

There are many antonyms for doubt. But I think the opposite of doubt is courage. The courage to risk failure and find success. I may have areas where doubt drives failure but I have more where courage drives success.

• I am courageous when I write and share these blogs.
• I am courageous when I work on my novel and listen to my writing coach (tammyletherer.com) and work hard to get better.
• I am courageous when I go the gym and let a trainer push me farther than I could ever push myself.
• I am courageous when I let @EmilyAborn (emilyaborn.com) manage my social media and allow her to post pictures and problems that make me vulnerable.
• I am courageous when I keep teaching classes and force myself out of my bubble.
• I am courageous when I host a party every quarter so that I maintain the new friendships I’ve developed.
• I am courageous when I don’t pretend to have faith or pretend to have it all together or pretend to be anyone other than who I am.
• I am courageous when I clean my house but don’t make that more important than my family and friends.  (My mother was more concerned about having a clean house than anything or anyone else and I don’t want to repeat that pattern.)
• I am courageous when I maintain my boundaries and self-respect even if that means I have to walk away from friends.

I did it! I found more courage than doubt. But that doesn’t change the truth:  I need to fight doubt with every fiber of my being.

Fighting Doubt

Actually, I believe this blog will help me fight because I’ve discovered and admitted these problem areas. Often, we don’t change because we don’t take the time to investigate. I won’t try to work everything because that might set me up to fail and failure will just add fuel to doubt. But I will:  Open that damn Body Kindness book.

Once I’ve done that for a few days (long enough to prove to myself I can handle and benefit from the information and activities), THEN I’ll tiptoe into publishing and book marketing. It’s an overwhelming topic with no clear answers or direction. There are a lot of frauds and bad information and people simply asking for money. It’s hard to navigate … Do you recognize those last few sentences as more doubt fueling more failure?  This one may be a harder nut to crack. I will find a way.

Doubt is the motor for failure.  AND

Courage is the motor for success.

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