Enough with the Self-doubt

Gaurav Chande / December 30, 2013 (109 Words, 1 Minutes)

Browsing through tweets in your Twitter timeline, you click around some intriguing things people shared. Those things include some wonderful creations – a product, a presentation, a blog article or some other cool thing somebody shipped. You’re amazed. But, you also feel small now. Your confidence in your ability is lower than it was before you started reading those tweets. Sometimes you consciously feel this self-doubt, while other times it’s bubbling up in your subconscious.

Rewind back a few years. What was the reason you liked this service, Twitter? You liked it because it enabled you to learn things from some amazing people, many of whom you did not even personally know. But now you’re here, letting your attitude pollute instead, thinking you’re not as good as those people.

The difference between you and them is not that you’re not as good. The difference is that they’ve mastered avoiding this thought that you frequently have. They’re literally obsessed with solving the problem that matters to them. They know that the most important thing is to do great work today, and hence be able to sleep well at night. They understand that anyone who does great work deals with a lot of C.R.A.P (Criticism Rejection Assholes Pressure) before finally shipping something meaningful. They know that a shipped creation is only a highlight.

Twitter timeline and Facebook news feed are highlight reels. They’re not peepholes to behind-the-scenes. The things that you come across there are (curated) end products of arduous journeys. You have no idea what things happened in practise, during the rehearsal and even backstage, when you’re sitting there looking at somebody’s final performance, thinking less of yourself.

Be wary of detrimental capabilities of social media. Enough with the self-doubt.