We can all think of times when we have shrunk back and didn’t work toward those goals. Why not? Is it laziness? Lack of discipline? A lack of talent?

No, it’s usually just self-doubt. Even if the logical side of our brains tells us we can achieve it, self-doubt creeps in and we hold back. The novelist Sylvia Plath once said, “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Self-doubt seems like a relatively mild concept, but let’s call a spade a spade. Self-doubt is just fear in disguise. We don’t doubt ourselves because of any rational thought process. We’re just plain old scared of failing.

So, take courage. If you’re working on a big goal and you have a good plan for achieving it, don’t get sidetracked by negative emotions.

That fear you’re feeling is just a ghost, a mirage, a phantom. There’s nothing it can do to hurt you, and if you ignore it, it will eventually go away and haunt somebody else.

Question: Are you holding back from accomplishing a goal that’s important to you? What would it feel like to start moving toward it even though you’re afraid?

The post Self-Doubt is Just Fear in Disguise appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

The main theme of this podcast is writing every day. After all, it’s the very title of the show! But sometimes people ask, “Do you mean actually write every day?”

And yes, I mean write something every day. But what am I suggesting that you write? Here is my definition: write something that advances your goals as a writer. That can include material for your blog, book, podcast, or some other type of content that helps you reach your goals. But it can also be just writing in your journal.

Now, whether you include weekends, or whether you actually do it every day is completely up to you. But I liken this to someone who is trying to live a healthy lifestyle. If you want to be healthy, you eat healthy every day, not just when you feel like it.

So, the real question is, “How healthy do you want to be as a writer?” If you want to be in tip-top shape, I encourage you to write every day, preferably the first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh, before you have started checking email and getting into the details of the day.

But the main thing is not when you write, but if you write. Long or short, morning or evening, computer or notebook, it doesn’t matter. Just write something—anything. Your actions are far more important than the best intentions followed with no action. Action beats intention, every single time.

So I must ask… have you written today?

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