In my 200 years of running a media company, consulting with CEO’s and working with artists, nothing I’ve ever seen can take down a legend or stall the progress of a promising fledgling faster than doubt. Doubt is deeper than worry, more viral than certainty, rivals confidence and can indefinitely delay a worthwhile project with one simple, sophomoric word, “Really?”
Doubt’s prey of choice is artists & entrepreneurs because they’re the ones who play on the risky, skinny branches of life. Doubt causes CEO’s of multi-billion dollar corps to have sweaty, sleepless nights, and forces remarkable unconventional, groundbreaking artists to toss in the towel—or at least become so scattered, unfocused and uncertain that absolutely nothing worthwhile gets produced. And while the arch-rival of doubt may well be “confidence,” there’s only one thing that obliterates doubt quicker and more completely than anything else; “Commitment.” Once commitment enters the ring, the odds of doubt even making it through the first round are slim.
Commitment is finally arriving at that lucid, cocky, confident, place where you no longer allow the pettiness of others, the immaturity of ego or the damaging effects of self-doubt to stop you from achieving your impossible dream. Oh, the demon of doubt will always be lurking in the shadows like a terrorist waiting for his moment to surface and strike. However to the degree that you are ruthlessly, ridiculously, and “crazy-committed” to doing the work that needs to be done; whether it’s completing the album, finishing the script, writing the book, leading your team or launching the site, to that degree the demon retreats into hiding like the rat he is!
Doubt what I’m saying? Listen closely to the words of the great writer and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson as he whispers his wisdom to us from the grave: “Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.”