You might have heard Self-doubt characterised as a self-sabotaging inner-critic we should stop listening to.

But reducing self-doubt to something that should be dismissed or ignored, means we end up solving the wrong problem.

Since completing my Master’s dissertation on the experience of self-doubt, and my work with hundreds of coaching clients, I’ve found that self-doubt is actually a sophisticated and complex response to psychological risk.

Self-doubt is our ‘inner-protector’ – it's the part of our psyche that tries to keep us psychologically safe. Ultimately, it finds a squillion different ways to say: 'don't do that, you might hurt yourself.

It isn’t until we explore precisely what self-doubt is trying to protect you from, and why this feels risky, that you can open up to the compassionate work of healing the root causes of your self-doubt and begin to cultivate robust self-belief.