DOUBT
What makes us doubt? Have you ever thought about it?
Once we recognize doubt, let’s look at how it affects us.
We have all heard someone say, “I don’t thing I can do this…” “Yes, you can,” is our natural encouraging impulse. What stands between I can’t and Yes you can?
As parents we have overcome doubts through mostly our own experience. Those larger and more dangerous issues, we tend to learn from other’s mistakes, hopefully, by having them pointed out to us by others or through others.
We establish a reference point from which we gauge out reluctances. That is, after attempting to accomplish what we thought impossible, and yet survived, this builds a reference to our fears versus attempts.
Does someone saying, “Yes, you can,” really help? Of course it does, especially if you trust the person saying it. Parents, friends, coaches, and teachers that are trusted do encourage us to overcome our doubt and fears.
Ah! Fears… Just how much does fear come into the picture of creating doubt? Unfortunately, a lot.
How is that fear manifested? It is subtle.
Think of anytime that you were ever encouraged through the media? Advertising is invasive in nearly every avenue of communication.
Advertisers are cleaver in building their products with a hidden message: You are unattractive, overweight, dumb, unlikeable, and on and on…
It is put in the form of, “Unless you use this product, you are somehow lacking.”
The fear of being left out, excluded, or not wanted is huge. Playing off those fears drives sales.
If you look at any product that has advertising associated with it, that is the message you can glean out of it. Nike has made a fortune on the status of having their products. The higher the price, the more the status.
Naturally, the younger you are, the more vulnerable you are to those fears of being rejected.
This is not something that is new. It has been working ever since advertisers found the mother lode-Our hidden FEAR.
I bring this up for this reason. Advertising is doing more than just trying to see products. It is inadvertently introducing a pernicious cultural consequence.
The opposite of doubt is confidence. It is rather difficult to be confident when messages aimed at you cause you to doubt yourself.
In my book, “The Journey, what I wish I knew before hitting 21,” I discuss the importance of finding your “unique self.” As I have stated often: “Your uniqueness is a note played in the orchestra of humanity. If you do not find your unique note, that orchestra is weakened by its absence.”
There is a responsibility in this, you must work to develop “that note” – your unique qualities. There is no one like you. As Oscar Wilde stated, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”
We have so much information available to us today, in books, podcasts, videos, and on the Internet. By being relegated by advertisers as lacking souls we miss the opposite side of the scale giving information that reinforces our unique capabilities and potential.
Why are we listening to those that can only make money off us by pointing out our weaknesses? Why?
It is silly, but we need to realize how we are affected by these messages.
Test it for yourself, read encouraging material for a week. Do not listen to the news, watch advertisements, or get caught up in media that hovers over negatives.
The best way to get out of the vicious circle of negativism is by displacing it with the things that build you up.
One cannot succeed by accident. It must be an intentional action. Action moving toward a positive outcome.
By the end of the week, see if you feel better about yourself?
A subsequent benefit in doing this is; you will become closer to being immune to advertising.
Yes, and you will save a lot of money.
Attila B. Horvath, author