We all know fear is the biggest killer of goals, dreams, and plans. External factors cause fear. The second biggest killer of goals, dreams, and plans is doubt. Internal factors cause doubt. Fear- is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat.
Doubt – is a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. Uncertainty or lack of conviction is a personal battle. Doubt isn’t just about starting a business, quitting a job, or starting a new romantic relationship. Doubt can cost us when we dismiss the “new” or the difficult to understand. This doubt will cause us to miss the boat of life-changing opportunities. Investment opportunities that sound too “new” to put your money on the line. Investments that have outrageous risks also can come with gaudy rewards. Doubt can be the difference between 1000X and 10X for your investment portfolio. Both outcomes are amazing, but only one will give you the option of working or not.
What are some of the internal factors that cause doubt in our lives? The past is one. Growing up with less than what we know is out there can make us feel that some things are not for us. It is a terrible and false conclusion we come to growing up in a world of uncertainty. Overcome this by acknowledging your upbringing was tough but doesn’t define your future. Another internal factor that causes doubt is a lack of self-esteem. It is difficult to tackle the challenges the world gives you if you don’t believe in yourself. Building self-esteem starts with giving yourself reasons to believe you are better than you thought. Small wins add up. Get out there and achieve small things. As you accumulate those wins, your doubt will shrink, enabling you to attempt and achieve bigger and better things.
A final and underrated cause of doubt is second-guessing. Second-guessing can be considered procrastination but also can lead to sporadic behavior. Say you second guess yourself about a move you want to make and it costs you dearly. In an attempt to prevent this from reoccurring, you blindly jump into the following situation that doesn’t work out. Of course. This scenario causes your doubt to beget even more doubt causing all three internal factors to rear their ugly heads at once. Second-guessing can be overcome by having a consistent method of decision-making. This approach will prevent both under and overthinking. Looking out for these three factors is the best defense against them.
Let’s touch on doubt costing us with investment opportunities. In the day and age we are in, everything deserves due diligence and a chance. Yes, there are schemes and scammers all over the place, but that is why we investigate. Emerging EV(Electric Vehicle) stocks, Marijuana stocks, cryptocurrency, and NFT’s (Non-Fungible Tokens- Unique cryptographic tokens; cannot be forged) are making “thousandnaires” into multi-millionaires. It can all sound like too much for an average 401k, open-a-savings-account-in-at-a-bank type of individual but refusing to jump in or waiting too long can be the difference between working in a building you despise and owning a couple of buildings where people work.
In closing, doubt is expensive. Doubt is something we can stop. We have full control of doubt. We are responsible for removing the thoughts that spawned from our upbringing. We can build our self-esteem understanding that it will enable us to accomplish anything we set out to accomplish. We can also improve our level of discipline to ensure we are moving forward logically instead on an attempt to make up for what we may have missed in the past. Yes, it sucks seeing what could have been, but we must understand that more opportunities can and will present themselves. The best we can do is be ready when the opportunities show up.
Food for thought…You do the dishes.
