The harm doubt can do
Explore how adhering to doubt silently sabotages potential and success, and inspiring stories of women who defied it.
We all hear that voice which lingers in our head. The one that says, “You’re not ready. You’re not good enough. What if you fail? Will this really work out?” Doubt doesn’t shout, it lingers quietly, just convincing enough to make us pause with the dreams we're working towards. And in that pause, dreams slip away.
The reality is that, doubt has done more damage to human potential than failure ever has. Failure at least teaches. Doubt only paralyzes ability. And history is filled with women who faced it head-on, and refused to bow.
Take Maya Angelou, for instance. Despite the fact that she wrote some of the most powerful literature of the 20th century, she once admitted, that she doubted herself and refused to publish certain books which she had finished with. Among these books were some of her very famous books but, that nagging self-doubt, the one we now call imposter syndrome nearly took one of the world’s greatest voices away forever.
On the other hand is Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director. Hollywood doubted that a woman could command the world of action films, but Kathryn made a go, and changed history. Had she believed the industry’s hesitation,"The Hurt Locker", a 2008 American war film would have never existed. Her story is proof that external doubt, when internalized, can cost the world revolutionary art. Kathryn is a record holder! ♥
History also remembers Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer. This beautiful woman of the 1800s, when women were dismissed as incapable of scientific thoughts, she wrote algorithms which is now the blueprint for modern computing. Imagine if she had doubted her own brilliance in the face of a society that constantly doubted her. Technology, as we know it, might look very different today.
The truth is, doubt never announces itself as the villain. It feels reasonable and safe, but its cost is enormous: a book unwritten, a business unbuilt, an idea left unexplored. Confidence may not always yield success, but doubt almost always delivers regret in the long run.
So the next time you find yourself doubting your ideas, remember that the women who shaped history weren’t free from doubt, they simply refused to let it decide their future.
"Do not allow external doubt to
define your internal decisions."
