Let’s say you’ve just finished writing something you plan to publish. For instance, a post.

It’s not just some rough draft or notes you’ve written, but…..


The actual post.

You read it through and think, Okay…..this looks good and makes sense.


Then you tweak a sentence…..

and you fix a typo.

…..Until eventually something inside you makes you want to halt everything.

Because once you publish it, people will actually be able to see it.


And once people can see it, you can’t pretend it’s still “in progress.”

So you don’t publish.

You save it.


You close the document.

Or if you’re anything like me, you leave it open but move on to something else.


You tell yourself you’ll come back to it later — after you edit it some more.

You figure you’ll do it sometime next week, or when you’re feeling more certain about it.

The truth is, you may never feel that jolt of certainty.

When what you’re trying to achieve stops feeling simple

This could actually apply to anything you’re trying to accomplish, but let’s continue that example of publishing a post.

In the early days, when you first started posting, publishing probably didn’t feel like such a huge thing.

Sharing your ideas probably felt low-risk, not a big deal, or maybe like some sort of experiment.

You were just testing the waters and “putting things out there.”

But eventually, the testing phase finished and your words didn’t feel casual anymore.


Your ideas were solidifying and your writing was starting to sound like a “position” and solid stance.


Now your work is getting much more serious, and your audience is growing.

Uh oh. What if someone quotes you, and you have to back up your words with a bigger piece?

That’s when your thoughts of putting your writing out there for everyone to see turns into “Hmmm…..Let me think about this some more first.”

What’s actually happening in that moment

There are common assumptions people have about themselves in this kind of situation.

Assumptions such as:

• “I am not confident enough.”
• “I feel like I’m overthinking this.”
• “How come other people seem to move ahead without worrying as much as me?”

But these are generic assumptions, and what’s happening is actually more specific than that.

It stops being about the thing you’re producing.

What it’s really about is what it says about you because you’re the person who has to stand behind it.

And that changes your thinking and how your decisions land in your body.

Why the hesitation shows up now but not before

Earlier decisions feel reversible.

You can intentionally change direction.

You can adjust your messaging.


You can say, That was an experiment, or That was just something I was exploring when I was younger and less experienced.

But as time passes and you’re taken more seriously, what you put out into the world carries more weight than before.

• People associate you with it
• They assume you believe it
• They may expect consistency next time

Your work is no longer vague or insignificant, and now it reflects on you.

That’s where you become aware of consequence.

Consequences of putting something into the world could be the way others see you, what you’ll be known for, or what you’ll have to stand behind later.

Your movements now feel riskier because you’re creating more permanent footprints.

With that much at stake, your confidence starts to wobble.

A public moment people misread

When Susan Boyle walked onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage, the story everyone tells is about confidence.

That she finally believed in herself.


That she stepped into who she really was.

But if you actually watch the clip, Susan does not show signs of confidence.

She looks uncomfortable.


Her answers are awkward.


She doesn’t project certainty at all.

What carried that moment wasn’t confidence.

It was structure – a simple set of instructions given to her.

“Start here. Sing the song. Exit once the song ends.”

This kind of structure provided the framework and reduced pressure for her because she didn’t have to make any extra decisions.

What actually made that moment possible

Susan wasn’t asked to explain her future.


She wasn’t asked to defend her identity.


She wasn’t asked to manage what came next.

She was asked to sing.

This was a single contained task.


It was clean and simple.

Just sing.

The confidence people noticed didn’t show up before she produced, but after.

Borrowed belief

Borrowed belief is structural support.

You build credibility, confidence, and reputation for yourself when you use the reputation, structure, procedures, or guidance of others.

With borrowed belief:

• You can still follow the process but not be certain.
• You can decide one thing without needing to decide everything.
• You can complete the first step without feeling ready.
• You can reduce the number of decisions you carry at once.

And these are what allows you to keep progressing.

How this shows up in everyday work

When confidence wavers, it shows up in predictable but subtle ways:

• work that’s almost ready but stays unfinished
• plans that keep getting revisited
• dilemmas that keep presenting themselves, even though nothing new has changed

You’re still engaged in the work.

But nothing fully materializes.

And because nothing materializes, it stays on your mind and you feel less confident.

Why structure helps before confidence does

In moments like Susan’s, structure is relief.

It takes the pressure off.

With structure, the onus isn’t on you to determine:


• what must be decided
• what “done” looks like
• when thinking and worrying can stop

This contains the mental load to allow you to do what needs doing.

Confidence follows.

The sequence most people reverse

Most people wait until they feel confident enough before committing.

But confidence doesn’t appear in advance.

Confidence is a byproduct.

Once there is a contained decision, you observe, do, adjust, and confidence and belief follow.

The shift that actually helps

If you’re stuck right now, a mistake would be to think, “I need more confidence.”

A better way to reframe is, “I’ve been asking confidence to do a job that structure should be doing.”

Borrowed belief belongs here.

Borrow a framework.


Borrow a standard.


Borrow certainty long enough to complete the next step.

Feeling ready is not a prerequisite.

Finishing something is.

Confidence comes back after completion

Confidence doesn’t rebuild through thinking alone.

It rebuilds through:


• repetition
• follow-through
• completing decisions again

Structure creates those conditions.

Self-belief and confidence come later.

If this hit close to home

You may have recognized yourself in this article.

Inside Module 1: Entrepreneurial Fitness, we focus on building the kind of structure that reduces mental load — clear decision frameworks, defined endpoints, and practical ways to keep momentum steady even when certainty fluctuates.

If you’re ready to move from hesitation to grounded progress, I invite you to explore our training program and see how Entrepreneurial Fitness can support you in building that steady foundation.

No pressure.

Just a clearer way forward.