Doubt is good. It is a part of our natural instinct – it is a built in check and balance that keep us out of harm ways.
Self-doubt is wicked and atrocious. It is an enormous barrier to the human potentials.
In the 1960’s psychologists began to conduct scientific researches on the theory of learned helplessness.
The clinical definition of learned helplessness theory – animals and people can be conditioned to surrender to an unpleasant situation if enough time is given to repeat the exposures. The helplessness condition persists even when the obvious solution for change is presented.
The often touted scientific statement “We are the product of genes and environment” is an outdated proclamation.
The revised version for the first quarter of the 21st century as it should be – we are the product of genes, environment and
The revised version for the first quarter of the 21st century as it should be – we are the product of genes, environment and personal freewill.
Globally as a population, we live so much longer than our ancestors in just few centuries ago.
Moreover, we have so much resources and freedom, relatively to the local environment – to be able to make better choices than our ancestors.
Yet, the majority of the population is still operating in the “learned helplessness” mode – as though they are living in the 17th century.
Let’s do an example of obesity – as overweight is becoming an epidemic here in the country and slowly spread around the world in a positive correlation with the rise of the higher standard of living.
Genes – dismissing genes played the role in obesity is a blunder at the same level of the deniers of the global climate change.
The biological system in each and every one of us processed, and stored foods at different tunes from one person to the next – in relative to the population.
In prehistoric times, it was an advantage to have the biological system that can take a large quantity of foods and converted them to fat for days without or little edible opportunities.
In modern times, it is a winning bet that you will not be hungry for more than an hour before the next meal is working its way down your digestive system – in most parts of the world.
Environment – most of us do not have much of choices in the first 10 to 15 years of our lives.
The parents provided foods, shelter and security in accordance to their partnership capability – some are exceptional, few are rotten and many are in between.
This is a natural order lottery system that we will have to accept without condition. Better yet, gracefully accept without any reservation – life is precious!
If your parents fed you with junk foods, sugar loaded drinks for the first 10 to 15 years – you are being conditioned to a possibility of the lifelong obesity along with all the associated health related issues.
Nope, they did not do it out of hatred – they just simply did not know any better!
Freewill – most of us began to exert our personality at puberty. It is time for the world to know “who l am!” through the rite of passage.
From this moment and going forward, the responsibility of having the proper diets intake is slowly shifting to the one and the only – YOU!
It is time to take on the accountability of your life beyond the genetics, over and above of how you were raised – you are at the helm of your freewill.
Anything less, you have been conditioned give up on yourself, learned helplessness – in disregard of the reality that there are better choices fully under your control.
As I said in the beginning of the article, doubt is a good thing. It ensured the checks and balances are property vetted before an action is taken.
It is normal to have doubt manifested in career, relationship or business venture. It just meant more times and efforts are required to minimize or eliminate the undesired factors – in turn, maximize the probability of success.
Once the self-doubt mindset is entrenched, slowly and surely you are eliminating the most critical factor that ultimately determines the final outcome – it is you, the “self”.
Without having you fully committed behind the career, the relationship or a business venture – ironically, there should be no doubt they will not materialize into your reality.
Let’s make this clear –
You and I and every single person on this earth have a finite and very precious resource – time.
It is an advantageous to find something that is in line with our unique potential and invest our precious time for the best of result.
Let’s say you are 4 feet 9 inches and dream of playing in the NBA. You should have doubt if this endeavor is possible because with the current structure and rules of engagement of the game – there is no chance a player of your height will cut the team.
What if 100 years from now the rules of the game changed and allowed players to have biomechanical devices to even out the height – if you have more than 100 years of life span at your disposal, you will be an NBA player at the deflection period of the game.
Since you don’t have 100 years to spare, you should be able to let go of the NBA endeavor without any loss of the confidence in your short stature.
Doubts are everywhere in life!
If your confidence is diminishing at every turn, effectively, you are giving permission to the external world to indoctrinate your mindset into the learned helplessness condition.
All children started out life without any self-doubt. Otherwise, none of us would have learned to walk because of the many failures in falling.
Failures and doubts are intrinsic to the definition of everyday livings. Beyond the pains and sufferings is the picturesque life with its highest fidelity in colors and resolution – your precious existence came right after the pain and suffering of the laboring of your birth.
A wise soul spoke to me 14 years ago –
Unchain yourself of self-doubt – the career, the love of your life or a business entrepreneurship is waiting for you one doubt beyond!
Let’s play the game of life!
