No matter what type of creative you are (or are striving to become), self-doubt is one of the most challenging blocks to overcome if you truly want to find success. If you allow it, self-doubt can stop you from pursuing your passions and dreams, and I don’t want that to happen to you.

Creativity stems from the desire to express yourself. But so often, new entrepreneurs are too scared to do this for so many various reasons. I want to help you let go of the need to people-please and instead focus on putting yourself and your creative endeavors first. This might be scary, but I promise, it’s so worth it.

To help you along, here are few tips to help you overcome creative self-doubt and start living up to your fullest potential. 

Don’t Adopt Other People’s Self-Doubt & Fears

I encourage you to avoid spending your energy thinking about what people think or say about you and your work. What they say could be a reflection of their own insecurities and self-doubt and have absolutely nothing to do with you. Don’t adopt other people’s personal self-doubt and fears as your own.

Other people’s negative judgments say more about them than they do about you and your work. Self-expression is not easy. Whether that self-expression is through art, writing, dancing, speaking, or entrepreneurship—anyone who has had to put themselves out there in any capacity will be more likely to support you than tear you down. 

Just remember that for all the people who are judging you, there are also people who are RESONATING with you—and those are the people that matter. Those are the people that need your creative presence out there in the world.  

Surround Yourself With The Right People

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Make sure these five people encourage you, cheer you on, and also call you out when you aren’t meeting your potential. 

Let go of the people who don’t serve you or make you doubt yourself and your creative abilities. External doubt mixed with internal doubt is even harder to overcome—set boundaries for those people who are questioning your journey. 

Follow People That Have Tread Your Path

You aren’t the only one who has been on this journey. Maybe you don’t personally know anyone who has taken this path you’re on, but there are others out there who have been where you are. These are your creative role models. Follow them. 

Choose people that you resonate with and lift you up with their message. You can resonate with them because of their personality, because they are in the same industry as you or because they took the same mastermind or group coaching course. 

The common denominator is that they’ve been on a similar journey to you. They’ve become business owners, speakers, photographers, designers, etc., and they know the journey can be a long and slow ride.

Work On Your Mindset

Your mind and your thoughts around self-love and self-worth can be one of the biggest creative hurdles to jump—especially if you want to overcome self-doubt. Often, self-doubt stems from a lack of confidence. When we compare our work to others in the industry, our hard-won confidence in ourselves diminishes. 

To keep this from happening, you need to practice increasing your self-confidence so that when thoughts like, “I’m not good enough” come up, you can handle it and reverse your mindset — you can do this by approaching how you treat yourself differently. 

Your inner voice might be conducting negative self-talk around your creativity without realising it. A rule of thumb is to talk to yourself as you would your best friend. Build yourself back up, encourage yourself, and rediscover self-love while appreciating where you’re at in your beautiful journey. 

The ultimate way to overcome your creative self-doubt is to remove the mental barriers that you create for yourself. It’s time to stop worrying about what others think of you and start concentrating on how YOU feel about yourself and what you’re creating. The short-term discomfort of putting your creative self out there is worth the long-term gains of living out your fullest potential. You’ve got this.