October 3, 2024 • 11 mins
Do you often find yourself grappling with self-doubt? Discover empowering strategies to shift from external validation to internal fulfillment in our latest episode, featuring Dr. Sheena Howard, the founder of Power Your Research.
Follow Dr. Sheena Howards' socials:
@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Therein lies the problem.
Since we've been conditionedfor external validation through
the educational system, wehaven't most likely properly
trained ourselves in internalvalidation, and I believe you
get more internal validationwhen you set your own metrics
for success.
I don't want my work to bestuck behind an academic paywall
(00:36):
.
I want to leave a legacy, Iwant to reach my potential and I
want to change lives.
This podcast, power yourResearch, is my attempt to help
the smartest people in the worlddo that very thing.
My hope is that you use thelessons I share to make more
money than what your higher edjob can ever pay you.
I've done it, my clients havedone it, and so can you.
(00:58):
My hope is that you'll applywhat you learn here and one day
join the Power your Researchprogram where you can work with
me one-on-one.
Today's topic is eliminatingself-doubt.
I've had a number ofconversations recently with
(01:20):
entrepreneurs and creators, andthose who are building a brand
talked to me about self-doubt,limiting self-beliefs and those
types of things.
I had a conversation withsomeone who is still working as
an artist, but she's older,she's kind of in the retirement
phase of her life and she toldme that after all these years in
(01:41):
doing the work.
She still has lots of limitingself-beliefs and self-doubt and
it actually made me feel alittle sad for her.
Now I've also talked to someyounger creators and
entrepreneurs that are dealingwith negative self-talk,
limiting self-beliefs.
One of the first things we doin the Power your Research
(02:03):
program, my academic brandingcompany is we go over mindset
and we cover things like thisbecause you candoubt may even
pop up from time to time for therest of your life, but I think
(02:29):
that there are levels to theself-doubt.
I do think there are things youcan do to make the self-doubt
go away quicker and to silencethose limiting self-beliefs
quicker, and I do think thoseare things that you can work on
quicker.
And I do think those are thingsthat you can work on.
I do think you can trainyourself to have negative
(02:50):
thoughts less and train yourselffor those negative thoughts to
linger less.
So if you may have beenruminating on not feeling
confident and going to give aspeaking engagement, maybe you
ruminate on that for the entireweeks leading up to the speaking
engagement.
I believe that there are tricksand tips and lifestyle changes
that you can use to minimizethat.
(03:11):
So maybe you only think aboutit every now and then, as you're
leading up, to doing thespeaking engagement.
So here are three tips todealing with self-doubt.
Now, the overarching umbrellaof all of these tips is, I
believe you can outwork yourself-doubt.
You can outwork your self-doubtand this starts with the first
tip, which is creating your ownmetric of success.
(03:35):
One of the problems that I see,particularly with academics, is
we are so used to externalvalidation Getting the degree,
finishing your defense for yourdissertation and getting a grade
on a test and then a grade forthe class.
That is all external validation.
That does not always mean youfeel internal validation, and
therein lies the problem.
(03:55):
Since we've been conditionedfor external validation through
the educational system, wehaven't most likely properly
trained ourselves in internalvalidation.
And I believe you get moreinternal validation when you set
your own metrics for success.
For those of you that are on atenure track and you're trying
(04:16):
to get tenure, that is somethingexternal.
You're going to do the work toget tenure, tenure, and
someone's going to give that toyou.
But what are the internalmetrics that you can set for
yourself in which you canvalidate your own self outside
of what society is telling yousuccess looks like, outside of
what your peers are doing, inwhich you're comparing yourself
(04:37):
and thinking that's what youwant as well.
Take a step back and thinkabout what the metrics of
success are for you thatactually matter for you, and
then go out and achieve thosethings so that you can validate
yourself.
Nobody can change the amountand frequency in which you are
feeling self-doubt, except foryou, and that's how you know.
(04:59):
It starts with somethinginternal, internal validation.
I'm sure, as an academic,people are always singing your
praises, and so you have to turninward, give yourself space to
figure out what internal metricsthat actually matter to you,
and that way you can worktowards achieving those goals
your own personal goals.
(05:20):
Hey, everyone, real quick.
I don't run any ads on thispodcast, so I have to rely on
word of mouth.
If this podcast has helped youin any way, please share it with
a friend and follow me, drSheena Howard, on LinkedIn,
where I give more free contenton building your brand as an
academic.
If you tell me you came to myLinkedIn from the podcast, I'll
(05:42):
make sure I accept your requestfrom the podcast.
I'll make sure I accept yourrequest.
The second tip is to get a clearpath that aligns with your
mission, vision and purposeAgain.
This is why we start out withmindset in the Power Year
Research Program, because westart talking about the
individual's mission purpose.
(06:03):
Why do they want to increasetheir visibility, authority and
income, and what is motivatingthem to want to do that outside
of money?
And so once you can set a clearpath for where it is that
you're going outside of academeand the external validation, you
will have less self-doubt, evenwhen things are not going
(06:25):
perfectly the way you expectedthem.
Right now, a lot of us arefeeling the squeeze with the
recession.
Maybe you're losing clients.
Maybe you never even got thenumber of clients that you
wanted.
Whatever it is, if you knowyou're on the right path, you
don't just abandon ship and trysomething completely different
just because there is a bump inthe road.
(06:46):
You have so much confidence andclarity on the path that you
have set out for yourself thatyou just simply see it as a
bumpy road.
But you know, if you stay thecourse, you are on the right
path.
And the reason why I can saythis and why I know it to be
true is because I had a tenantthat didn't pay rent this month.
(07:07):
I lost a couple of clientsbecause they lost a couple of
clients so they couldn't stay onwith me.
I've had people default ontheir monthly payment for my
program and it all happened atonce.
But I knew that I was on theright path.
So there was no need for me tofreak out or panic.
I just knew I had to continueto do what I do and focus on
(07:30):
just doing it better.
I didn't need to abandon pathor think that all of a sudden
now I got to go create anothercoaching program because I'm
going through a bumpy road.
And so it's the confidence andclarity which didn't even give
the self-doubt any room tobreathe, because I'm clear on my
mission, vision and purpose.
And then the third way to dealwith self-doubt.
(07:51):
This is something I actuallyteach my creatives.
I don't talk to my academicsabout this as much, those that
are building brands with me, butcreating your own user's manual
is significant.
And by user's manual Iliterally mean when you buy a
new computer.
It has a user's manual,everything you need to know to
(08:14):
get the most out of thatcomputer and keep it safe and
keep it working.
It even has an FAQ section.
It even has a troubleshootingsection if things are not
working properly.
Well, I teach my creatives andthis is relevant for my
academics building a brand thatyou need your own personal
(08:35):
user's manual.
You need that level ofself-awareness.
What are the things that you cando to eliminate self-doubt when
it creeps in?
What are the things you can doto motivate yourself that you
know work?
And those need to be writtendown in a PDF called your
personal user's manual, withyour name on it, so that way,
(08:57):
when the self-doubt creeps in,you just go to your user's
manual, to the troubleshootingsection, and you just go down
the list of things that you knowwork to quell your self-doubt.
It might be going to take awalk, it may be spending time
with your kids, it may be goingto visit your grandparents.
(09:17):
Whatever it is, you need toknow what that thing is for you.
So what we're talking about inthe user's manual, in this third
tip, is really self-awareness,and self-awareness comes by
paying attention to yourself anddocumenting your finding and
actually doing experiments withyourself so you can see what
works and what doesn't work, soyou can operate at your highest
(09:39):
and healthiest level.
Now I could do a whole video ondoing self-experiments.
That is not what this is for.
By all means.
If you would like to hear moreabout that, let me know in my
dms.
But I hope these three tips helpin dealing with self-doubt,
because self-doubt can certainlysabotage you.
It can sabotage the heights youcan reach on your journey, it
(10:03):
can make you give up too early,it can make you change course
when you are supposed to changecourse, because it all leads
back to confidence theconfidence in yourself, the
confidence in what you're doing,the confidence in the vision
that you have set for yourself.
So, if you're new here, my nameis Dr Sheena Howard.
I'm the founder of Power yourResearch, an academic branding
(10:25):
company where I help academicsand educators increase their
visibility, authority and incomewithout the expense of a
publicist.
You.
Therein lies the problem.
Since we've been conditionedfor external validation through
the educational system, wehaven't most likely properly
trained ourselves in internalvalidation, and I believe you
get more internal validationwhen you set your own metrics
for success.
I don't want my work to bestuck behind an academic paywall
(00:36):
.
I want to leave a legacy, Iwant to reach my potential and I
want to change lives.
This podcast, power yourResearch, is my attempt to help
the smartest people in the worlddo that very thing.
My hope is that you use thelessons I share to make more
money than what your higher edjob can ever pay you.
I've done it, my clients havedone it, and so can you.
(00:58):
My hope is that you'll applywhat you learn here and one day
join the Power your Researchprogram where you can work with
me one-on-one.
Today's topic is eliminatingself-doubt.
I've had a number ofconversations recently with
(01:20):
entrepreneurs and creators, andthose who are building a brand
talked to me about self-doubt,limiting self-beliefs and those
types of things.
I had a conversation withsomeone who is still working as
an artist, but she's older,she's kind of in the retirement
phase of her life and she toldme that after all these years in
(01:41):
doing the work.
She still has lots of limitingself-beliefs and self-doubt and
it actually made me feel alittle sad for her.
Now I've also talked to someyounger creators and
entrepreneurs that are dealingwith negative self-talk,
limiting self-beliefs.
One of the first things we doin the Power your Research
(02:03):
program, my academic brandingcompany is we go over mindset
and we cover things like thisbecause you candoubt may even
pop up from time to time for therest of your life, but I think
(02:29):
that there are levels to theself-doubt.
I do think there are things youcan do to make the self-doubt
go away quicker and to silencethose limiting self-beliefs
quicker, and I do think thoseare things that you can work on
quicker.
And I do think those are thingsthat you can work on.
I do think you can trainyourself to have negative
(02:50):
thoughts less and train yourselffor those negative thoughts to
linger less.
So if you may have beenruminating on not feeling
confident and going to give aspeaking engagement, maybe you
ruminate on that for the entireweeks leading up to the speaking
engagement.
I believe that there are tricksand tips and lifestyle changes
that you can use to minimizethat.
(03:11):
So maybe you only think aboutit every now and then, as you're
leading up, to doing thespeaking engagement.
So here are three tips todealing with self-doubt.
Now, the overarching umbrellaof all of these tips is, I
believe you can outwork yourself-doubt.
You can outwork your self-doubtand this starts with the first
tip, which is creating your ownmetric of success.
(03:35):
One of the problems that I see,particularly with academics, is
we are so used to externalvalidation Getting the degree,
finishing your defense for yourdissertation and getting a grade
on a test and then a grade forthe class.
That is all external validation.
That does not always mean youfeel internal validation, and
therein lies the problem.
(03:55):
Since we've been conditionedfor external validation through
the educational system, wehaven't most likely properly
trained ourselves in internalvalidation.
And I believe you get moreinternal validation when you set
your own metrics for success.
For those of you that are on atenure track and you're trying
(04:16):
to get tenure, that is somethingexternal.
You're going to do the work toget tenure, tenure, and
someone's going to give that toyou.
But what are the internalmetrics that you can set for
yourself in which you canvalidate your own self outside
of what society is telling yousuccess looks like, outside of
what your peers are doing, inwhich you're comparing yourself
(04:37):
and thinking that's what youwant as well.
Take a step back and thinkabout what the metrics of
success are for you thatactually matter for you, and
then go out and achieve thosethings so that you can validate
yourself.
Nobody can change the amountand frequency in which you are
feeling self-doubt, except foryou, and that's how you know.
(04:59):
It starts with somethinginternal, internal validation.
I'm sure, as an academic,people are always singing your
praises, and so you have to turninward, give yourself space to
figure out what internal metricsthat actually matter to you,
and that way you can worktowards achieving those goals
your own personal goals.
(05:20):
Hey, everyone, real quick.
I don't run any ads on thispodcast, so I have to rely on
word of mouth.
If this podcast has helped youin any way, please share it with
a friend and follow me, drSheena Howard, on LinkedIn,
where I give more free contenton building your brand as an
academic.
If you tell me you came to myLinkedIn from the podcast, I'll
(05:42):
make sure I accept your requestfrom the podcast.
I'll make sure I accept yourrequest.
The second tip is to get a clearpath that aligns with your
mission, vision and purposeAgain.
This is why we start out withmindset in the Power Year
Research Program, because westart talking about the
individual's mission purpose.
(06:03):
Why do they want to increasetheir visibility, authority and
income, and what is motivatingthem to want to do that outside
of money?
And so once you can set a clearpath for where it is that
you're going outside of academeand the external validation, you
will have less self-doubt, evenwhen things are not going
(06:25):
perfectly the way you expectedthem.
Right now, a lot of us arefeeling the squeeze with the
recession.
Maybe you're losing clients.
Maybe you never even got thenumber of clients that you
wanted.
Whatever it is, if you knowyou're on the right path, you
don't just abandon ship and trysomething completely different
just because there is a bump inthe road.
(06:46):
You have so much confidence andclarity on the path that you
have set out for yourself thatyou just simply see it as a
bumpy road.
But you know, if you stay thecourse, you are on the right
path.
And the reason why I can saythis and why I know it to be
true is because I had a tenantthat didn't pay rent this month.
(07:07):
I lost a couple of clientsbecause they lost a couple of
clients so they couldn't stay onwith me.
I've had people default ontheir monthly payment for my
program and it all happened atonce.
But I knew that I was on theright path.
So there was no need for me tofreak out or panic.
I just knew I had to continueto do what I do and focus on
(07:30):
just doing it better.
I didn't need to abandon pathor think that all of a sudden
now I got to go create anothercoaching program because I'm
going through a bumpy road.
And so it's the confidence andclarity which didn't even give
the self-doubt any room tobreathe, because I'm clear on my
mission, vision and purpose.
And then the third way to dealwith self-doubt.
(07:51):
This is something I actuallyteach my creatives.
I don't talk to my academicsabout this as much, those that
are building brands with me, butcreating your own user's manual
is significant.
And by user's manual Iliterally mean when you buy a
new computer.
It has a user's manual,everything you need to know to
(08:14):
get the most out of thatcomputer and keep it safe and
keep it working.
It even has an FAQ section.
It even has a troubleshootingsection if things are not
working properly.
Well, I teach my creatives andthis is relevant for my
academics building a brand thatyou need your own personal
(08:35):
user's manual.
You need that level ofself-awareness.
What are the things that you cando to eliminate self-doubt when
it creeps in?
What are the things you can doto motivate yourself that you
know work?
And those need to be writtendown in a PDF called your
personal user's manual, withyour name on it, so that way,
(08:57):
when the self-doubt creeps in,you just go to your user's
manual, to the troubleshootingsection, and you just go down
the list of things that you knowwork to quell your self-doubt.
It might be going to take awalk, it may be spending time
with your kids, it may be goingto visit your grandparents.
(09:17):
Whatever it is, you need toknow what that thing is for you.
So what we're talking about inthe user's manual, in this third
tip, is really self-awareness,and self-awareness comes by
paying attention to yourself anddocumenting your finding and
actually doing experiments withyourself so you can see what
works and what doesn't work, soyou can operate at your highest
(09:39):
and healthiest level.
Now I could do a whole video ondoing self-experiments.
That is not what this is for.
By all means.
If you would like to hear moreabout that, let me know in my
dms.
But I hope these three tips helpin dealing with self-doubt,
because self-doubt can certainlysabotage you.
It can sabotage the heights youcan reach on your journey, it
(10:03):
can make you give up too early,it can make you change course
when you are supposed to changecourse, because it all leads
back to confidence theconfidence in yourself, the
confidence in what you're doing,the confidence in the vision
that you have set for yourself.
So, if you're new here, my nameis Dr Sheena Howard.
I'm the founder of Power yourResearch, an academic branding
(10:25):
company where I help academicsand educators increase their
visibility, authority and incomewithout the expense of a
publicist.
You.
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