From Doubt to Data: How to Reframe Your Inner Narrative

Some years ago, I was preparing to deliver a keynote to a packed venue. I had spoken many times before, yet on that morning, my hands were clammy, my chest tight, and a persistent inner voice whispered: “What if you’re not good enough? What if they see through you?”
I had a choice. I could fight the nerves, trying to banish them with forced affirmations. Or I could pause, acknowledge the unease, and recognise it as part of the experience.
What I realised in that moment, and continue to remind myself, is that the stories we tell ourselves about confidence, nerves, and self-doubt matter more than the feelings themselves.
Too often, we carry inherited narratives: that nerves are bad, self-doubt is a weakness, and the ideal leader is perpetually confident. But reality is far messier and more complex than these simplified scripts.

Flip the Perspective

Take imposter syndrome. First coined in the 1970s by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, it describes the experience of high-achieving individuals who persistently doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as a ‘fraud’.
Despite objective evidence of competence, individuals suffering from imposter syndrome often attribute their success to luck or external factors.
Today, imposter syndrome is widely discussed in workplaces. Surveys suggest up to 70% of professionals experience it at some point.
The narrative surrounding it is usually negative: imposter syndrome leads to overwork, perfectionism, reluctance to share ideas, and burnout.
And yet, the story is not entirely one-sided.
Research shows that imposter feelings can also motivate individuals to prepare thoroughly, work diligently, and remain humble.
As Assistant Professor Basima Tewfik argues in this HBR article, self-doubt can prompt people to listen more attentively, collaborate more effectively, and continuously improve. In fact, Tewfik’s research found that employees who experienced imposter thoughts were often rated as more interpersonally effective by colleagues.
The lesson is that instead of treating imposter syndrome as something to ‘fix’, it can help to shift your perspective. It signals care, commitment, and a desire to excel.
The challenge lies in ensuring those feelings are channelled into productive growth rather than paralysing self-sabotage.
Imposter feelings are just one example of how our internal narratives can shape, and sometimes distort, our behaviour. The same is true of emotions more broadly.

Emotions as Data, Not Distractions

Emotions, even the uncomfortable ones, are not distractions to eliminate. They are data points, offering insight into your internal state and the world around you.
A racing heart, clammy hands, or a tightening gut are not signs of weakness, but cues that influence how you interpret and respond to events.
These somatic markers are processed in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala, and they shape choices in ways we are often only partly aware of.
For example, experiments using the Iowa Gambling Task show that participants unconsciously use these bodily cues to guide decision-making long before they can articulate the rationale.
Consequently, your emotions serve adaptive functions, helping you detect, interpret, and respond to challenges and opportunities in your environment.
At work, this means that nerves before a big presentation are not just a sign of weakness; they are a physiological signal that the event matters. Doubt before making a high-stakes decision is not failure. It is data urging us to slow down, recheck our assumptions, and weigh our alternatives.
Leaders who dismiss emotions risk overlooking critical information, which can lead to blind spots and missed opportunities for insight.

Why This Matters

The way you interpret your internal narratives has direct implications for your performance, resilience, and team culture.

Performance: Suppressing emotions drains cognitive resources. Leaders who expend energy trying to eliminate nerves or self-doubt may impair their capacity to focus and perform. Reframing those experiences as normal and useful lightens the cognitive load.
Resilience: Psychological flexibility, the ability to accept and work with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, is strongly linked to well-being and adaptability. Leaders who embrace, rather than battle, their inner narratives are better positioned to sustain high performance in volatile environments.
Culture: When leaders model openness about emotions and doubts, they create psychologically safe environments. Teams learn that uncertainty and vulnerability are not threats but opportunities for collective learning.

What You Can Do

If emotions and narratives are data, the challenge is not to avoid or ignore them but to learn to interpret and use them wisely.

1. Reframe the Story

Instead of: “I feel nervous, so I must be unprepared.”

Try: “I feel nervous because this matters to me. My body is mobilising energy for the task.”

Cognitive reappraisal, shifting how we interpret a situation, is a well-established emotion regulation strategy linked to better performance and well-being.

You can consciously choose more empowering narratives.

2. Normalise Doubt

Open conversations about imposter feelings can be powerful in leadership forums. When you share your experiences, you normalise the issue, reduce shame and stigma for others.

Organisations can strengthen this by weaving the topic into mentoring, coaching, and leadership development programs. When doubt is reframed as a signal of growth rather than a flaw, it becomes a source of motivation rather than paralysis.

Normalisation can also happen privately. Remind yourself, “This is a common experience, not a personal weakness”.

Naming it “This is imposter syndrome” helps diminish its hold and creates space to respond more constructively.

3. Tune into Somatic Cues

Whether it is before a presentation, negotiation, meeting or high-stakes decision, when your heart races, pause and notice it. Give the feeling a name and ask yourself, “What is this telling me? Is it alertness, anticipation, or caution?”

Mindfulness practices help you observe these somatic cues without becoming consumed by them. This awareness creates space for better emotional regulation and more balanced decision-making.

Practical techniques can also make this easier. Before stepping into a high-pressure moment, try grounding yourself: place both feet firmly on the floor, take a steady breath, and name five things you can see around you. Then begin.

4. Create Reflective Space

In fast-paced environments, narratives run unchecked.

Building a reflective space, through journaling, coaching conversations, or team debriefs, helps you surface and examine the stories that influence your actions (and those of your team).

Questions to ask:

What story am I telling myself about this situation?
Is it helping or hindering?
What alternative story might be more useful?

5. Reward Growth, Not Just Certainty

Many organisations inadvertently reward displays of confidence, even when unjustified, over careful reflection.
Leaders can counter this by recognising humility, curiosity, and the courage to admit doubt.
Psychologist Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset underscores the power of valuing effort, learning, and adaptability. By rewarding these qualities, you can shift the cultural narrative from “always be confident” to “always be learning”.

Practical Habits to Build

When it comes to change, the most effective shifts often start small. Tiny habits build momentum and create lasting impact.
Here are some to practise and embed:

Before big moments: Reframe nerves as fuel. Tell yourself, “My nerves are telling me this is important to me. And that’s good because I want to take pride in the work I do. My nerves are just my body gearing up to help me perform.”
When doubt arises: Pause and ask, “What useful message might this hold?” Doubt may be a prompt to prepare more thoroughly or seek another perspective.
In decision-making: Notice your gut reactions, then test them. Are they grounded in valid experience, or shaped by bias?
With your team: Share times when you felt uncertain but grew from the experience. This builds connection, normalises vulnerability, and fosters psychological safety.

Leadership is not about eliminating nerves, doubt, or emotion. It is about reframing them and seeing them as signals rather than obstacles.

When you flip the perspective, imposter thoughts can sharpen your performance, emotions can enrich your decision-making, and self-doubt can fuel your growth. The real challenge is not to silence the narratives running through your head but to rewrite them into stories that serve you, your team, and your organisation better.

As Fredrik Backman reminds us in his brilliantly crafted novel Anxious People, “We don’t have a plan, we just do our best to get through the day, because there’ll be another one coming along tomorrow.”

Backman’s words are a reminder that leadership is not about having a perfect plan, but about showing up with clarity and courage, day after day.

You may not always have certainty or perfect confidence, but when you work with your emotions and doubts rather than against them, you can bring your best to each day and be ready for the next one.

Republished with courtesy from michellegibbings.com.