Self-doubt

Shadé ZahraiBehavioral researcher, confidence expert and author of Big Trust, with a PhD in organizational behavior from Monash University

• Zahrai recommends lowering standards and aiming for good enough, citing Elizabeth Gilbert's approach to writing.

  “sometimes we need to lower our standards sometimes. We need to lower our standards. Don't aim for perfection. Just aim for good enough for now”

  The Mel Robbins Podcast: How to Eliminate Self-Doubt Forever & Build Unshakeable Confidence (May 11, 2026) · Listen from 1:14:16

• Zahrai contends self-doubt is misunderstood as one thing, leading people to seek a single solution that fails.

  “we misunderstand self-doubt as being one blob of worry, insecurity, fear, and anxiety. And that means then if we think it's one thing, we think there's one solution”

  The Mel Robbins Podcast: How to Eliminate Self-Doubt Forever & Build Unshakeable Confidence (May 11, 2026) · Listen from 18:15

• Zahrai says senior and high-achieving people can have even more self-doubt because they feel they have more to lose.

  “sometimes those who have achieved a lot, They have even more self-doubt because they feel like there's even more opportunity for them to fall”

  The Mel Robbins Podcast: How to Eliminate Self-Doubt Forever & Build Unshakeable Confidence (May 11, 2026) · Listen from 7:42

• Zahrai argues that successful people do not eliminate self-doubt but strengthen themselves to move through it.

  “those who are able to truly succeed, it's not that they eliminate the doubt, it's that they've found a way to strengthen who they are to move through it”

  The Mel Robbins Podcast: How to Eliminate Self-Doubt Forever & Build Unshakeable Confidence (May 11, 2026) · Listen from 5:25