September 2025 Blog Prompt: How do you stay motivated and overcome self-doubt?
Contributor of the prompt: *Erin McCarthy

How I Stay Motivated (Even When Doubt Comes Knocking

The other morning, I sat at my desk staring at a blank screen with my coffee cooling beside me. You’d
think after 40+ years in the nonprofit world, writing twelve mystery novels, and running a travel business,
I’d have mastered the art of confidence. Spoiler alert: I haven’t. Doubt still likes to swing by uninvited,
plop down in my chair, and whisper, “Are you really cut out for this?”

The truth is, I’ve learned not to fight doubt but to dance with it. When it shows up, I grab my journal (my
secret weapon) and scribble down every nagging thought. Most of the time, by the bottom of the page, I
realize doubt is nothing more than fear in a cheap costume. And let’s be honest—fear doesn’t look
nearly as scary when it’s stripped of its mask.

I also keep a “victory file”—a folder full of reminders of past wins, kind notes from clients, even a picture
of me grinning ear to ear on a glacier in Alaska. On days when motivation is buried under laundry, emails,
and self-criticism, I pull that folder out like a superhero cape. “See,” I remind myself, “you’ve climbed
big mountains before. You can handle this hill too.”

And then there’s the trick of momentum. When my brain screams, “You can’t write a book chapter!” I
whisper back, “Fine, I’ll just write a sentence.” One sentence becomes a paragraph, which somehow
turns into three pages. The same magic works in my travel business—one email, one post, one
conversation at a time.

So, how do I stay motivated? By remembering that doubt is just part of the story, not the ending. It’s the
villain that makes the heroine stronger. And in this chapter of my life, I choose to keep writing, keep
traveling, and keep saying yes to possibility—even if I have to bribe myself with an extra mug of coffee
along the way.

Because in the end, motivation isn’t about never doubting. It’s about showing up anyway, pen in hand,
suitcase by the door, ready for the next adventure.