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Using quotes to build self-confidence is a very effective strategy. The great people of history have our respect. I have picked a few to develop your self-confidence and remove the nagging self-doubt which is crippling you.

Put these quotes where you can see them. On your dashboard, desk, phone, any place you visit. This will help you remember them when you are overwhelmed.

Here are four quotes from famous people that deal with self-doubt.

William Shakespeare

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” - William Shakespeare

Self-doubt is crippling because it stops us in our tracks. It tricks us into believing not to try at all. He talks about fear. Like it or not, fear is the root of self-doubt, and we’ll never know what good we’re missing out on because of it. Treat those feelings of doubts like the traitors Mr. Shakespeare recognized them as. Fight them, ignore them, do whatever you have to do to keep them from forcing you into “fearing to attempt” to do what you’ve set out to do.  

Dale Carnegie

"It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about." – Dale Carnegie

So often we focus on what we have, who we are, or who we think we should be, that we forget about being happy. Instead, we let the self-doubt creep in and question everything we do, everything we are, and everything we have accomplished. Don't let self-doubt destroy your happiness. Instead, make it a habit to think about all the good you've done and everything you've accomplished so far. And the key creating this or any practice is to make yourself do it every single day until it becomes a habit. Stick the quote by Mr. Carnegie on your bathroom mirror and use it as a reminder to practice thinking about all your positive accomplishments.  

Robert Frost

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

Here’s an interesting quote by Robert Frost that has an essential lesson about doubt in general and self-doubt in particular in it. It’s not evident at first glance, but in our context, this quote is all about making choices – even the unpopular ones and sticking to them. Self-doubt is often fueled by a lack of confidence in ourselves. And the end result is not taking action on anything. Instead, we become paralyzed into not doing anything, lest we make the wrong choice, or not choose the right road. Frost teaches us that it’s ok to use the road less traveled. The only wrong choice when you come to a fork in the road is not to make any choice at all. Standing there at the fork in the road without choosing your path is what gets you stuck. Make a choice and see it through and who knows where your path will lead you.  

J.K. Rowling 

“Failure is a stripping away of the inessential. “ – J.K. Rowling

It’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? We are so afraid of failure, when it may just be something we should embrace instead. Because when we fail, we learn. Think back to your childhood days. You made lots and lots of mistakes every single day. You had to make every single one of those of errors to get to where you are today. Yet, as adults, we suddenly expect to get it all right on the first try. Take that pressure off yourself and embrace failure. Look at it as a way to get down to what’s truly important and essential. This little shift in perception takes away the bad feeling and self-doubt associated with fear. And suddenly fear no longer paralyzes us into not doing anything, but instead motivates us to take massive action, fail fast and get to the solution that actually works.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay