Trust vs. Doubt #1

The first class of this course was held on Monday, February 26, 2007. I wrestled with this power tool, not because there was anything blatantly wrong with it just that I felt it should have been called Perfection vs. Problem based on the reading material. Interestingly enough, the class discussion began with ‘the meaning of words’. Specifically love and hate, are they opposites? Or is indifference really the opposite of love.

We then moved into talking about trust and doubt more specifically. Trust is becoming a word that holds a lot of weight not only in personal relationships but in the professional world as well. We no longer take what people tell us as truth (i.e. doctor) but rather we question people more. We don’t trust as easily but want to find our own answers. Trust isn’t something that just happens. It is something we have to work on. Trusting ourselves is part of this as well. Trusting ourselves instead of doubting ourselves is very empowering. It will help us to achieve our goals and more forward. Doubt can be just as powerful as trust. Doubt can paralyze us and keep us from doing what it is we think we want to do, be or accomplish. We can learn to trust ourselves by looking back at when we have trusted ourselves and were right about what we thought. It is also helpful to remember that you know yourself and to have faith in that. Doubting ourselves could possibly lead to failure in what we are trying to achieve. If we are feeling doubt about something we should explore why we are feeling that doubt…maybe it is timing, maybe we needs clarity, something is off or we just need assurance. Why are we feeling doubt? Is it a warning? Is it a fear that is constraining us?

We can use both trust and doubt to our benefit both in life and in coaching. Being intune with why and what we trust or doubt and us those doubts to explore further why, we can grow towards better understanding of ourselves, our clients and particular situations.