Quote Of The Day By Barbra Streisand: 'Doubt Can Motivate You, So ...'

"A born loser finally makes it big." That's how Life magazine captioned a profile on Barbra Streisand in 1964. The article went on to insult her appearance, her relationship status, and even her "supersensitive brain which could exquisitely comprehend precisely how much of a loser she actually was." The magazine seemed awfully committed to the word loser.

Streisand, as it turned out, is committed to winning. Born in Brooklyn in 1942, she became a Broadway star in "Funny Girl" while still in her early 20s. A few years later, she reprised the role for the film adaptation and won the Academy Award for best actress. From there, she kept winning accolades — including Emmys, Grammys, Peabody Awards, and even the Presidential Medal of Freedom — as she moved between acting, producing, directing, singing, writing, philanthropy, and more.

But perhaps even more impressive than the long list of awards is Streisand's staying power. In every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s, she's landed a Top 40 album on the Billboard 200, including "Guilty," an album every true disco fan should own. Pick a decade, any decade, and there's a Streisand song worth discussing. The options range from "The Way We Were," a heartbreaking love song that dominated the charts in 1974, to "I Finally Found Someone," her 1996 duet with Bryan Adams that spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and further proved polar opposites can make great music together. Basically, Streisand keeps singing and we keep singing her praises. And that's why the woman once introduced to America as a "born loser" has won a place as today's quote of the day.

"Doubt can motivate you, so don't be afraid of it. Confidence and doubt are at two ends of the scale, and you need both. They balance each other out."

In 2013, Glamour named Barbra Streisand a Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Winner and asked her to share some of the lessons she's learned along the way. Much of her advice sounds familiar — follow your passion, trust your instincts, be authentic, take risks. But then she spoke the above words about embracing doubt.

Though it might be jarring at first, her reframing of doubt is actually a rather practical idea that can be helpful in our everyday lives — even for those of us who haven't won a single Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, or Tony award.

Streisand's words tap into a basic but powerful psychological idea: Sometimes we fall into polarized thinking, seeing the world in all-or-nothing, mutually exclusive extremes. But life is so much messier and more interesting than that. A little doubt can encourage us to ask questions and prepare more carefully. It might push us to rehearse before a work presentation or revise a creative project to make it even better. On the other hand, confidence gives us the nerve to stop preparing and actually do it. As Streisand told Glamour, "you need both." It's not either/or thinking: it's both/and.

This life philosophy is borne of Streisand's own experiences. In the early '80s, she had misgivings about whether she could handle directing "Yentl," the award-winning film about a Jewish girl who disguises herself as a boy so she can attend a religious school. "I was frightened to do it myself," she told the Los Angeles Times. "But I had a vision of it." She didn't wait for the uncertainty to disappear; instead, she maintained her self-awareness and moved forward with her vision.

Worthwhile things in life come with uncertainty. But whether it's applying for a job, dating, or starting something new, Streisand's quote reminds us that having second thoughts doesn't mean we should stop. Doubt also shouldn't obscure our confidence, even if that confidence is a simple reminder to ourselves, an inner voice that says, "I don't know how this will all turn out, but I trust myself enough to try." Worst-case scenario, you crash and burn and wind up looking like a loser. Then again, Life magazine once called Streisand a loser, too. That label didn't exactly stick.

• "I love people who have ideas."

• "Stay true to yourself — people respond to authenticity, and they can smell a phony."

• "... I realized that in the stories I loved the most, the characters don't end up together ... which is interesting, since we all think we want a happy ending. And yet it's the tragedy, the loss, the missed opportunity that really resonates and stays in our minds and hearts forever."

• "Believe in the power of your own voice!! Be yourself. Everyone is unique!"

• "To achieve change, we must speak up. Every voice is important."

• "Take risks. Don't stand on the sidelines. Get involved. It's your life. It's your country. It's your world."

• "If some people don't buy my records because they don't like my politics, so be it."

• "Music is a lovely distraction — I think it helps us all."