4. The Most Important Doubt Buster
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement, 2005
Not having anything to lose is a very potent doubt buster.
A simple yet powerful exercise is to imagine that you have lived your life and are now at the end of your life. Do you have any regrets that you did not go for that dream because of self-doubt?
Another powerful exercise when you experience self-doubt is to ask if today was the last day of my life, would I still be in self-doubt or would I follow Richard Branson’s mantra of “screw it, lets do it?”
Steve Jobs said in his famous Stanford commencement:
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right. It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
This is a very powerful question to ask and puts the doubt and fear you are experiencing in the proper perspective.
Action Tips:
Ask: What do have to lose in 5 years, in 15, in 30 years?
Will I regret giving in to self-doubt when I am at the end of my time?
Living like today is the last day is also a potent doubt buster.
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