Conquering Self Doubt – Doubts in any form are sometimes useful, but sometimes not. The not-so-helpful doubt is kind of like a structural defect in a construction project. It leads to failure. It’s like rust in your car. Maybe someday it will cause your seat to drop out from underneath you. Look Out!
What is the difference between doubt and double checking, fact checking, and reconfirmation? The difference is in the part of the mind that is running the show. Double checking, fact checking, and reconfirmation are all intellectual processes. Such processes—thinking processes using the slow part of the mind—are work. Doubt, on the other hand is an emotional response and is centred in the emotional side of the mind. It is part and parcel of our prehistoric survival mechanisms. It is fast-thinking, instantaneous feedback. When doubt appears, in the 21st century—where we are all strangers in a strange land—it requires investigation with the thinking mind.
Doubt, for the true warrior, is part of an early warning system. It tells him to investigate. The true warrior realizes that he cannot just believe his doubt, as he knows that doubt is an emotional response and most often intertwined with fear, self-valuation, or self-preservation. So the true warrior takes his cue from doubt and does not commit to belief prior to investigation. He knows that that path leads only to contempt, which he knows is an emotional barrier against all argument—really just an ego-preserving technique based in fear.
This is a massive problem. Emotional responses will overwhelm rationality and rational thinking. This is how you explain mobs and mob behaviour. Many will engage in behaviours within a mob that they would not even consider if they still possessed the power to think with their rational minds. Similarly, each of us will overpower our rational-thinking minds and quickly dismiss rational thoughts when we are consumed by an emotional passion—think belief, think anger, think rage, think desire, think greed, think addiction, think sex (actually then there is no thinking, just doing).
The true warrior understands his passionate nature, and knows that if he gives free reign to it, he will be in its thrall until it runs its course. So the true warrior is very cautious about engaging in any emotional responses when, as an alternative, he can respond with practised and rational thinking. The true warrior develops new habits in which his triggers are distanced or disconnected, and it becomes very difficult to press his buttons or hook him into an emotional response. Does this mean that the true warrior is passionless? No, it means that he understands his passion, and he uses it as a tool in his arsenal—to be unleashed at the appropriate time for the right purpose. The true warrior embraces and enhances his passion so that, when it is purposefully unleashed, it is absolutely overwhelming!
The true warrior must believe in himself, and know that he can be true to his calling. The true warrior has no room for self-doubt. The true warrior knows that he can choose to believe anything he wants to, and knows that he can cast aside any unproductive beliefs at any time. It just takes technique and practice. You are warriors and you believe in what you do. You believe in what you represent. You believe you are here to help those in the world who want to use our tools to make a difference in their lives, and that we are the leaders of that tribe. So it is written.