Self-Doubt and Creativity

Dealing with Self-Rejection

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” - Sylvia Plath

Imagine yourself seated in a junior class of 40 students waiting for a 45-minute geography class and your teacher, Mr. Cosmos, a tall dark man of about 45 years old, walked into the class just on time. After about 15 minutes of discussion, he posed an exciting question to the class. 

“What is an Obsidian?”

After asking the question, the teacher walked through the rows of the class that had become cold quiet. But you know the question. Your mother had told you about the Obsidian while going through Ben Carson’s book. And before you could raise your hand to answer, the teacher marched to your seat and looked over you like a hungry hawk and snarled in a forceful tone. 

“You, Christopher, if everyone knows what an Obsidian is, you cannot. You're full of idle pranks and you never have time to read your book, I am not sure you'd ever do well, or make it to the science class your mom wants you to be in” Mr. Cosmos continued without a break until sweat broke on your forehead and started crying. 

If you were Christopher in that junior secondary class, how would you feel? 

Imagine that you are the Mr. Cosmos who beats you to the ground. Who is insensitive and never allows you to give a fair trial at a project or ambition. It is sad but that is what we do to ourselves when we doubt. There's no worse form of injustice to oneself than self-doubt. Self-doubt is a destructive premise and an attack on an idea that we rob of its expression.

You should never allow self-imposed judgments to hold you back on any assignment. It is true that you have failed before. Sometimes it is not easy when you've seen yourself at your worst, at your broken, at your miserable, at your vulnerable, at your weak, at your dull, at your hungry, at your naked, at your messy state. It is not easy to give yourself the benefit of doubt. Sometimes hope is a luxury when one has lived in darkness for such a protracted time. The suggestion of hope becomes a fallacy and a wild joke when all you've seen is disappointment and rejection. But again, I want to remind you that you have to give yourself that one chance. 

Your capacity, genius, and potential is crying hard because what you believe about yourself is not a true reflection of who you are. 

A chance is all you need to prove yourself. Possibilities are born when chances are given. And the most important chance is the chance you give yourself to freely express genius without judgement, regardless of how many failures you've had, not the one you wait for others to give you. 

Sometimes doubt is logical because truly, you've dropped the ball in the past. Imagine the frustration of Mr. Cosmos seeing his young student fail at tasks repeatedly. When we fail too often, we stop trusting ourselves to do better. We accept the possibility of our failure as a nature we have to perpetually deal with.

Creativity is strengthened when our will is strong. When we do not say no to ourselves or cancel ourselves. 

You are pregnant and it is only you who could stop your delivery. Several products are lining up for birth in the order of your ingenuity. If you doubt yourself, you kill the chance of their delivery and the impact you could make with your creativity. 

Here are six ways to overcome Self-Doubt

1. Recognize your self-doubt 

2. Identify the root of your self-doubt

3. Challenge your self-doubt 

4. Take action and defy your doubts

5. Surround yourself with positive and supportive people

6. Practice self-care

I'd love to read from you in the comments or via email: iyiolaabiola@gmail.com . 

Have a great week and breakthrough from within.

Abiola Iyiola 

Creative Director, 

AI Leadership Consult