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Hi Team,

Very sorry about missing the last two weekly email's, it has been hard to fully concentrate and write something meaningful whilst being away in Italy. Too much delicious food and too many amazing sites to see!

None of us can be positive and upbeat all the time. It is perfectly natural to have feelings of self-doubt especially when you are away from your regular daily routine or you are faced with making big decisions. But if the self-doubt persists and becomes self-sabotage it can be a real negative force and very self-limiting. This is when it is important to be able to recognise these negative thoughts for what they are and to be able to move past them. 

"The ability to overcome resistance, self-sabotage and self-doubt is way more important than talent."  Steven Pressfield

Many books I have read discuss the importance of being able to identify and process the personal barriers that you put in the way of being able to achieve your goals. Most of these barriers are simply negative beliefs or self-doubts that may or may not actually be true or relevant, but are almost always extremely self-limiting. These persistent thoughts of doubt or negativity can easily become what is called "imposters syndrome" which is the feeling that you don't deserve whatever success or recognition you have achieved or the feeling that you will be seen as a fraud. I have personally experienced mild "I.S." on and off for years, as this feeling that "I am not a tradesman and therefore I am not a real builder". My business coach calls this "thinking like an amateur" and he has taught me that "to be successful in life you must think of yourself as a professional and not as an amateur" and this is what self-belief is all about, how you view yourself.

"Sometimes you have to believe in the belief others have in you until your belief kicks in."  John Dijulius

What you tell yourself and how you respond to negative self-talk will over time greatly determine where you end up going in your career and in your relationships. So, it is especially important to develop a "mindfulness strategy" to recognise, process and move past your self-doubt and limiting beliefs. Two sayings that I often use during periods of self-doubt that have always served me well are;

• "Fortune only favors the brave"  Ron McCallum.
• "It only takes 20 seconds of courage"  Maryanne Quealy

I strongly believe that both of these statements are true and powerful and they have greatly helped me to make some important decisions. Some other strategies I have learnt to help overcome periods of self-doubt are,

1. Identify and write down the three main barriers that are in the way or you are achieving your goals. Try to be as specific and honest as possible.
2. Create a list of tasks or actions you can work on that will move you closer to you achieving your goals. 
3. Focus on your strengths and what you are good at. This will help to move you in a positive direction.
4. Have courage and be bold. The worst that can happen is probably not as bad as you think.

Ultimately to get past your self-doubt you need to think and work outside your comfort zone. Nothing significant usually happens when you stay in your comfort zone and the level of success you achieve in your work and generally in life largely depends on how often you are prepared to go beyond your comfort zone, that's when the magic really happens!

PS: The next DDB Team Meeting + Lunch will be held this Friday 20th Sept  at 12.00 noon in the office.

Thanks for reading,
David