Excuses stem from self doubt and may occur when you least expect it. For example, you may be on the verge of a big launch that you’ve worked on, thought about and strategized for a very long time.

All of a sudden (maybe in the middle of the night), you break out in a cold sweat and thoughts of failure that you can’t squash. Fear can take over your mind, body and life before you know it – unless you can weed out the legitimate fears from those originating from unfounded doubts about your abilities.

Although the groundwork of journaling, affirmations and meditation is helpful to assuage these doubts, fear is bound to occur. Rather than giving in to doubts right away and slinking away in the night, be honest with yourself.

How much of the self doubt is real – and how much of what you’re feeling and thinking are right out lies? When your thoughts and fears are legitimate, you should automatically start thinking of ways to turn things around.

By getting your fears out into the open, you can carefully examine them for legitimacy. Your fears may stem from thinking you’re not an expert in what you’re trying to accomplish.

If there’s something you don’t know, it’s fairly easy – with all the powers of the Internet – to find answers. Many times, it’s the experience you get from trying (and even failing) that pushes you toward the status of expert.

And even the thought of being an actual expert in your field may cause you fear and concern. What if you fail or let people down? Think about the worst that can happen if your latest venture fails miserably.

You may lose money and your time and effort may fall by the wayside, but you may also have learned a huge lesson. Try to look for the positives in any failure. They can help ensure your next success.

It may help you quiet your own fears and doubts by realizing that everyone has them. Even the most successful among us have been humbled by negative thoughts that creep into their minds. How they handle the fears and how long it affects them separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes.

The best way to stop making excuses and get on with the business of being successful is to replace those self doubting thoughts the minute they enter your mind. Experiment with what method(s) work best for you.

Some of us tend to doubt ourselves right out of future success with “what if” predictions we make. It could be named the “what if” syndrome. It’s when you’re mired in self doubt so much that you begin to imagine and predict obstacles and outcomes that aren’t even there.

The “what if” syndrome is especially prevalent after you’ve hatched up a brilliant idea for an online project that’s going to make you lots of money and help your fellow entrepreneurs.

You’re sure everyone will love it and want it. Then, self doubt sets in and you begin to think of all of the reasons why it won’t succeed. You walk on the shadowy side of your ability to make things happen and talk yourself down or out of even trying.

You were so excited about the idea at first and it fired up your creativity to a point where you could hardly wait to begin. That lull – somewhere between the excitement of the idea and taking action to make it happen – is where self doubt takes root.

You may begin to think of past failures and how they made you feel or become highly sensitive to the fact that you’ve never endeavored something like this before. If you keep thinking about past failures or what “might” happen, you may come to a point in the project where a big wall is placed in your path.

Since your self doubt has already been growing in your thoughts, the wall may seem insurmountable and you simply give up. Just another failure to think about next time you have an idea.

Or – you can take another route – one that doesn’t ensure success, but that at least gives you a chance. Rather than giving in to self doubt, trust yourself and try it again. You’ve likely practiced this scenario many times before in your life.

Some attempts may have failed, but you’ve probably succeeded many more times. Bring a new attitude into the mix and think positively rather than giving in to the hauntings of past failures. Also, bring in positive people to surround you who encourage, rather than discourage you.

Don’t compare yourself to others whose successes may be greater or more profitable than yours. You may even learn from their stories of success. They’re bound to have had failures along the way – and overcame them rather than feeling defeated.

When you find yourself become mired in self doubt about your future success, mute the negative voices by focusing on the positive and living in the present moment rather than projecting yourself into a future of unknowns.

Self doubt can creep into your psyche without you even suspecting it’s there until the first niggling thought makes itself clear. You have to be aware of your thoughts and how you’re reacting at all times to weed them out before they grow and take over your creativity and destroy your goals.

Doubts can run wild in your mind, making you question your abilities about anything new or different. If you’re prepared, you can recognize the doubts for the lies they are and let your knowledge and common sense get you through.

When you check in to reality you’ll realize that the negative thoughts are occurring for various reasons. For example, you could be lost in comparing yourself with others in marketing.

It may make you feel inadequate and doubt your ability to succeed. Make a firm decision and stick to it. When self doubt about what you’re trying to accomplish creeps into your thoughts, make a decision to either carry through with your goal or trash it and go on with something else you’re more certain of.

If you do decide to go on to something else, don’t think of it as a failure. It was a learning experience that taught you a lesson and you aren’t wasting any more time on it. If you decide to go through with the plan, take action immediately.

Making a fast decision may seem impulsive, but most likely the decision is based on intuition and the knowledge that you’ve prepared enough for the journey ahead. You can always fine tune your plan as you progress.

At least you’re taking action toward your goals. Replace negative self doubt with positive thoughts. Choose any method that works for you. Meditation, journaling, affirmations, listening to music or reading a good book or simply chatting with positive-minded friends may give you the boost you need to move on.

All of us find ourselves dealing with self doubt at some point in our lives. If you let it get the best of you by feeding in to it and actually believing the lies you’re telling yourself, it can destroy even the best of intentions for success.

Learn to recognize and weed out the crippling, negative thoughts and get on with achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself. Begin the learning process by becoming aware of your thoughts – check in with them a few times a day. You’ll soon be able to discern the “keeper” thoughts from the “discard” pile.

Comparing yourself to other marketers can only be detrimental to your present and future successes. You may not be at the same experience level of those you’re comparing yourself to and another person’s success may not be the magical transformation you perceive it to be.

Self doubt can arise from the comparisons you make between you and fellow marketers. Some may seem to have the Midas touch to whatever project they choose to pursue – but you aren’t privy to what goes on before the huge successes.

Those entrepreneurs who are successful have likely spent an enormous amount of time, money and effort on their ventures. It may look easy, but chances are they had many self doubts about their own potential for success before it happened.

Comparison to others and the self doubt that follows goes on in every business – but it’s more prevalent in Internet marketing because you’re always putting yourself out there, presenting yourself and your ideas to others.

If the many failures that are sure to happen were figured into the mix, another person’s success may look entirely different to you. Huge and consistent successes of others can make you feel like such a loser – because someone is always making more money than you or seems to be successful with every launch of a product.

Comparisons like that are dangerous to your own self confidence and can defeat what you’re trying to accomplish. You may not be aware of their many failures in the past or of how many hours and dollars they’ve spent getting to this point.

One way to look at comparisons differently is to view them as challenges. “If she can do it, I know I can!” may be exactly the boost of adrenalin you need to take action and make your own success come true.

Many people who have reached a certain level of success use comparisons to others as a tool to strategize their future business moves. It provides quick insight to trends and what’s working for others so you can incorporate many of the same ideas for yourself.

Competition is fierce among many types of businesses – especially Internet marketing. Looking into strategies of other marketers can be a good thing if you use them as models rather than comparing yourself to them in a negative way.

Self doubt can become the nemesis of your future. Guard against comparing yourself to others in a negative light and focus on your present and future goals to lead you to the success you desire.

You may know for sure that you have the knowledge and experience to succeed, but there still may be nagging doubts that you can’t or won’t succeed online. These doubts can be confused with low self esteem, but they’re very different in how they factor in to results.

When you have high self esteem, you feel good about yourself. You may be physically fit, very intelligent or are known for being a hard worker who gets the job done. Self doubt may creep in when you’re faced with something new or different such as an online marketing business.

Even those who have been in the business long enough to have gathered a reputation of success can have doubts about their abilities to bring their businesses to the next level of success.

There’s always something new to learn and you have to be ready and willing to put the time and effort behind your ideas. Self esteem comes from positive self-talk that brands you as a person you can believe in to achieve the outcome you want.

Self doubt can crush all of that by focusing on past failures, comparing yourself to other marketers and giving in to fear. One way to fight self doubt and let your self esteem take over is to take action.

That’s the only way you’ll ever gain the experience you need to reach the business goals you’ve set for yourself. You’ll gain confidence as you progress through the smaller goals to reach the larger ones and this will boost your self esteem and push the self doubt into the background.

Self esteem is knowing your capabilities and self doubt only sets up obstacles for you to overcome to reach your goals. A little bit of both (self doubt and self esteem) is natural and can be good for you if viewed in the right way.

Your self esteem can push aside self doubt when it threatens to paralyze you and ruin your plans for the future. After all, you’ve succeeded with many things in the past and can do it again.

Reach back into your mind and remember the successes you’ve had in the past. If you’re new to Internet marketing, you may have to remember successes in other areas of your life, but as you overcome the self doubts associated with marketing, you’ll be able to feel good about yourself in that area, too.

Your self esteem will carry you far in life. The self doubt you may feel when starting a new business can be put to rest by taking action and gaining valuable experience that silences any questions about what you’re capable of.

Validation is important to your self-esteem and can help lift you to new heights. Without it, self doubt sets in and you begin to lose belief in your ability to meet your goals. A child hopefully receives validation from his or her parents.

Positive reinforcement nudges the child to reach higher and try new things. Online entrepreneurs, however, usually have to validate themselves to feel good about themselves and what they’ve already accomplished.

The reason could be that not many people know how Internet marketing works and how much an entrepreneur has to plan and prepare to get the results he or she wants. There are ways to get what you need when it comes to validating your efforts.

Sometimes praise and gratitude come to you unexpectedly, but there are ways you can celebrate yourself and what you’ve accomplished. A gratitude journal can help you recognize all of the positive things that happened in your day or week.

Make notes of decisions or accomplishments you’re proud of or those goals you’ve reached with your time and efforts. Even the simplest achievements can be a triumph you can celebrate.

Avoid judging yourself harshly. Those are negative thoughts you don’t need and can affect your emotions and decision-making. Find the positive in what you’re accomplishing and don’t let anyone else have a part in judging you too harshly.

Ask yourself what you need right this moment to help you feel healthier, more motivated or energetic to reach and surpass the goals you’ve set for yourself. Try to provide what you need rather than rejecting or depriving yourself.

If you feel down and depressed, your body may need exercise or the proper fuel for you to feel more energetic. When you ignore those feelings, it’s easy to become mired in negative thoughts and forget all of the good things that you’ve accomplished.

Validating yourself reinforces self-confidence and boosts the knowledge that you can do or be anything you set your mind to. Remember that validating yourself isn’t a form of self absorption.

It’s a way to renew your spirit of entrepreneurship and carry on to reach the success you long for. You’ll gain strength and be better able to calm the negative and debilitating thoughts when you find ways to reassure yourself that you’re worthy of the success you seek and extremely able to find the path to reach it.

The fallout from self doubt can be devastating and render you incapable of continuing to make rational business decisions. It’s like flailing yourself with a whip day in and day out – a torture so blistering that all you can think of the pain it’s causing.

When you let the exhausting task of doubting yourself take over your life, you’ll be less likely to seize opportunities and have a more difficult time in beginning or finishing tasks that could bring you success.

Moving forward can be difficult as the voice of self doubt becomes louder and drowns out the reality of who you are and what you’re capable of. Standing up to the chatter and telling the chaos and loudness to stop can help you break the destructive pattern of self doubt.

It’s like turning the flame down under a pot of soup that’s about to boil over. You take over control of your thoughts rather than letting your mind overflow with doubt and take those thoughts where you want to go.

Remember past times that you’ve doubted yourself or that fear kept you from taking part in a venture that turned successful. You likely ignored your instinct and gave in to the negative voices in your mind that told you it wouldn’t work.

This time could be different if you don’t allow the voices to take control. Each time you leave your comfort zone and ignore the self doubt torture, you come closer to realizing a positive outcome to your efforts.

Self confidence will replace self doubt and you’ll finally be able to focus on your future success rather than past failures. Silencing the exhausting torture of self doubt will also boost your optimism about the future.

You’ll become more confident about your abilities and motivated and enthused about your ideas. Take action even though you don’t feel like it. Freeing yourself from the loud and destructive self doubt voices – if only for a few minutes – can calm the voices and help your mind find clarity and creativity.

You can always tweak the immediate actions you take later on. The real task of the moment is to get feedback, knowledge and experience so you can build your self esteem and empower yourself to success.

Conquering self doubt frees you to stay on the course and reach the goals you’ve planned for yourself. Don’t let the voices of self doubt exhaust you to the point of abandoning your future success.