something for when self-doubt visits you on your career path


Believe. It’s one of my favorite words. Ever.

The word itself used as a mantra brings me into the present and I use it to help me remember the big picture of life for those not so inspiring days.

(Hey – they happen to all of us. And to ignore that or deny that is to deny and ignore being human. And when I’m brought to a grumpy, sad, uninspiring place on my career path I’ve learned to make the time to process what I’m processing because experiences need to be metabolized not denied.)

But to believe in yourself, you cannot think less of yourself pretending that what you are doing is the practice of true humility. Believing requires you to drop the facade of who you are trying to be, who you think you should be, don’t want to be or do – and to instead just be. Honouring the being having a human experience.

But only you can make it safe for you to know what you believe under the facade of what you think you believe in order to create with your life, a life worth your time and while.

I hope it offers comfort to share with you that I too have wandered lost in the feeling of hopelessness. Wondering and wandering about the territory of my career. If what I did really mattered or if my career was heading anywhere. Wondering if what I was doing made a difference to anyone’s life or if it was just something that I did to separate myself from life. Because we’re taught to compartmentalize and that’s part of the facade that I speak of.

I feel from time to time like that boat frozen on the horizon in view. Everything about it is turned on and in motion, but to look at it, with an unkind and distant perspective it looks as though it’s going nowhere and doing nothing.

And in these moments I turn to a curriculum, a practice, a directive of exploring my true being.

It’s important + life inspiring to teach yourself what to do that actually works for you when you know there’s an inevitable detour or a seemingly insurmountable impediment on your path.

And the belief that anchors me to the ground as though I have four feet instead of two. Living on the ground + being on the ground connected to the mysterious wisdom of life. Is believing that I am on my path. Always am, always have been, always will be.

The only problem is ever really that there are a myriad of ways to fall in and out of confidence with my ability to navigate from time to time. Too focused on how things appear (or hearing that they appear as I fear, but there’s nothing to be done about it because others will believe what they will believe). Or whether the outcome is right (or right now and therefore wrong). Or thinking that that the goal is to know what I’m doing even though my core believes that the feeling of confidence can only come from clarity and not competence when the curriculum of this lifetime is new to everyone here.

The next time you’re feeling a little off or having an off day or just experiencing the usual pummel of human self-doubt, know what you believe in about yourself – under the facade of what you believe to the real beliefs rooted in love + reverence for what you do being utterly you.

Here are some believing stepping stones that you can use to feel centered and hopeful while you offer yourself respect and compassion for the real reason behind your existence and who you really are. You can ALSO regard each as a writing exercise to help you unearth your career fairy tale as I’ve noted (you’ll see) because I really do care about your career and what you do (and I believe that I always will … it’s kind of my thing … that I didn’t want to believe for a long time in case you ever wondered):

:: Believe in your taste – in things, in people, in food, in processes.

(Describe what draws you into what is your taste in things, people and/or food. Write it down.)

:: Believe in your inspiration.

(Name what inspires you and what it is about what inspires you that inspires you. Write now.)

:: Believe in someone you admire (knowing that they represent a part of you).

(Who do you admire and why? Name their traits or story and write now. As specifically as you can.)

:: Believe in kindness.

(When have you witnessed or received kindness? Why do you think it meant so much to you? Write now.)

:: Believe in your drive.

(What are you driven to do? Who benefits from your drive? Write now.)

:: Believe in the purpose of your life.

(What do you feel like you’re here to really offer? Write now.)

:: Believe in good coming about even in the face of something perceived as bad.

(Write down what good came out of something you once thought was bad.)

:: Believe in your integrity.

(What bothers you to compromise on and/or what do you refuse to compromise on inexplicably that feels wise not to compromise on? Write it down.)

:: Believe in your legacy.

(What do you want it to say on your tombstone? What do you want read out at your funeral or celebration of life? Write now. Who do you imagine reading this prose on your behalf – real or imagined, dead or alive?)

:: Believe in your unique gift.

(What has someone thanked you for where you felt truly seen + grateful to be the one to be thanked? Write now.)

:: Believe in you.

(Write about how it would feel to always have believe in yourself no matter what was happening around you and outside of you that you didn’t have control over. What would life be like if you did that – under the beliefs that you don’t believe in yourself? Who would you be and what would you do?)

What beautiful thing about you do you already believe in? Tell me write now. :) Here.

P.S. This post is dedicated to my grandmother and Robin Williams who both decided to die on the same day.

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