In partnership with
Hey {{first_name|creator}},
We all carry some level of self-doubt. What differentiates the executors to those who sit iddle, are the one’s who take action despite that.
👋 Welcome to Creators In Business, a newsletter where creators learn to think like CEOs, and businesses learn to move like creators.
I know I’ve consumed too much content when my decisions become coated in self-doubt.
Action looks more like inaction, momentum slows, and frustration grows.
When you flood your brain with content, in my case, educational, there’s a feeling that every other way is correct except your own.
You're questioning whether your perspective is valid/unique/credible enough; others are shipping theirs and building their IP, audience, momentum…SUCCESS.
The gap isn't about a lack of ideas. It's about the delay between having the idea and acting on it.
That delay is where opportunity dies.
This is how you don’t let that opportunity die.
In today’s issue:
Why your best ideas never see daylight (and the framework to fix it)
The self-doubt gap and how to shrink it from 3 months to 3 days.
5 tactics to ship faster, including the "Version 1" mindset that removes pressure
Let’s go!
Jess Smalley 🔑
Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.
Discover how HubSpot's guide to AI can elevate both your productivity and creativity to get more things done.
Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation with the power of AI.
How most people try to fix it:
When you realise self-doubt is paralysing your progress, you’re desperate to break free of it, so you react, take a page out of Nike’s book and decide to “Just Do It”.
Or go external by demanding validation from your peers, a mentor or even your audience.
Or the deadline gets pushed back because you need to learn more about what others are doing instead of developing and trusting your own thinking.
Why these solutions fall short:
Until you realise that you haven’t made any progress with where you want to go.
Until you realise your idea has been taken by someone else.
This is the real cost of self-doubt.
The real problem: You're treating self-doubt as a stop sign instead of simply treating it as information.
You think you need to eliminate it before acting. But successful people feel it and act anyway; their gap is just shorter.
Shrink the Gap, Don't Eliminate the Doubt
Stop trying to become a person who doesn't feel self-doubt.
Instead, become someone who acts faster despite it.
Think of self-doubt as a gas that expands to fill whatever container you give it.
Right now, you're giving it days, weeks, maybe months.
The goal is to compress the container.
Natalie Piucco, APAC Google’s Chief Technologist, is someone I’ve come to realise has mastered the art of shrinking the self-doubt gap.
She’s the ultimate go-getter and has become the go-to person for businesses solving problems at the time of AI.
“Being ready is a decision, not a feeling.”
Natalie’s expansive mindset is infectious and makes you realise self-doubt is just an overcautious buddy, not a box you need to stay trapped in.
Curate your feed with people who shrink the self-doubt gap.
A) Separate "thinking" from "validating"
Your self-doubt disguises itself as "being thorough" or "thinking it through."
But there's a difference:
Thinking: Developing the idea, connecting dots, forming your perspective
Validating: Questioning whether it's good enough to share
The trap: You do both simultaneously, so every creative thought is immediately met with "But is this original/credible/useful?"
The fix: Time-box them separately.
Creation window: 30-60 min of pure thinking/writing with zero judgment
Validation window: 10 min max to decide: ship it, refine it, or kill it
This is how I help businesses and creators compress this gap because trying to figure it out alone IS the rocking chair effect.
B) Set "ship by" deadlines, not "perfect by" deadlines
Right now, your timeline is: "I'll publish this when it's ready."
But "ready" is subjective and doubt-adjacent.
It'll never feel ready. (Read that again.)
It'll never feel ready. (One more time.)
It'll never feel ready.
Instead: "I'll publish this by Monday at 5 AM, regardless of how ready it feels."
The deadline forces you to make a decision with imperfect information.
C) Adopt "Version 1" thinking
You're treating every piece of thinking as if it needs to be your definitive, final word on the topic. That's paralysing.
Reframe: This is Version 1 of your thinking. You can refine it publicly.
You can evolve it. You can even contradict yourself later when you learn more.
Permission: Your IP develops through iteration, not perfection. Each thing you publish is a stepping stone, not a monument.
D) Track the cost of delay
Self-doubt feels safe because it protects you from being wrong publicly.
But it has a greater cost:
Opportunity cost: Someone else ships the idea while you're deliberating
Momentum cost: Your audience/network doesn't know what you're thinking
Compounding cost: Your IP isn't developing because you're not putting reps in
Confidence cost: Every time you don't act, you reinforce the pattern
E) Get used to publishing incomplete thinking
This is the hardest one: Share ideas before they're fully formed.
"I'm thinking about X, here's where I'm at..."
"I don't have this figured out yet, but here's what I'm noticing..."
"This might be wrong, but what if..."
5. Now put this into real action:
This week: identify one idea you've been sitting on. Set a 48-hour deadline to publish it in some form.
DAY 2: Create it. Use the separate windows thing I mentioned, 60 min to create, 10 min to validate, then hit send.
Don't let it live in your drafts folder.
The power of shortening the doubt-gap
When you take action despite your doubts, something interesting happens.
You begin to realise that self-doubt is a type of intelligence that you carry, because you know what good looks like. It becomes fuel that pushes you above average.
The only way to get rid of self-doubt is to take action. The irony.
See you next week,
Jess Smalley 🔑
Jess Smalley, creator of Creators In Business
Thanks for reading! Say hi 👋 on LinkedIn
Looking to start a newsletter? Get a 14-day trial + 20% OFF for 3 months with Beehiiv
Get The 2026 Goal-to-Content Planner here
Want a personalised strategy session? Book a 1:1 with me here
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe here
Interested in advertising? Get in touch