While talking to yourself out loud seems a little crazy, we all have a subtle internal dialogue and it plays a major role in our ability to achieve. When left on autopilot, this continuous chatter can become a tirade of doubt and insecurity.
This is a practice I like to call hypotheticism — when we let a fear based assumption become our perceived reality. Chances are, if you hypotheticize, you do it habitually. It’s problematic, because it keeps you in your head and out of the game, and blocks your ability to seize opportunities that have, without a doubt, been coming your way. The only destination you will arrive at when you let a false narrative rule your life is self defeat.
If you are avoiding action based on idea that you are predestined to fail, then you are stifling yourself long before you have the chance to grow. It’s a paralyzing cycle. Allowing it to impact your discernment keeps you from experiencing your full potential.
Entrepreneurs often fall into this trap as a result of comparison. There is a deep obsession with what we think we are without. We assign meaning to the unattained credentials, lack of connections, or insufficient funds, and allow it to dictate what we are or are not capable of.
The truth is, everyone develops insecurities over time — hypotheticism inflames them to the point where it becomes difficult to conceptualize our success, much less create it.
Fortunately, breaking out of these thought patterns is totally doable. Your ability to achieve a desired outcome requires you to move past the hypothetical and into action. Reject the menacing thoughts that don’t help you move the marker forward. False narratives exist, but give yourself the space to disprove them instead of adhering to them. Simply put, efficacy is about decision and execution.
Step back and think, “Is this true? Or have I accepted this idea so frequently that it has become my truth?” Connect with the underlying fear, by acknowledging it you create space to heal and ultimately grow from it.
It might surprise you to know that, as uncomfortable as it may feel, brushing up against self doubt is actually a positive sign. It indicates a growth edge, and embracing it will be the key to your breakthrough. By shying away from this chance to create and expand, we stunt our development and fall prey to our own destructive thought patterns. By leaning into the discomfort of our growth edge, with an eagerness to face the next challenge, we push past hypotheticism toward success.
The answers never come from escaping the challenge, they come from engaging with it.