Self-doubt and fear interfere with our ability to achieve or set goals. Self-doubt and fear are the voices in our head telling us, "You'll never succeed, so why try?" and "who do you think you are?" Self-doubt and fear are also what make us listen to those voices and decide to give up before we get started. 
 
While many people experience self-doubt and fear at some point in their lives, they take action anyway. Others remain stuck, or are confident in only one area of their life, such as work. They are too afraid to try new things like going back to school, entering new relationships or learning new skills. 
 
When we let self-doubt and fear rule our lives, we miss opportunities. We predict and believe that nothing good will happen to us, so we don't try anything new, and refuse to take even low-level risks. This leads us to discount people or situations that could help us reach our goals. While self doubt and fear can come in different forms and from different sources, we can learn to break through them. 
 
The vicious cycle of self-doubt and fear can paralyze you to no end. You have to learn to rule self doubt and not let it rule you. Understand that you are the decision maker and you can change the way you think is you just have a little faith.  you can be successful in whatever you do. 

To live with self-doubt is to like having your life ruled by the feelings. Don't focus on the negative concentrate on the positive. I know this can be difficult but it is not impossible. We are equipped with this ability but we must learn to use this part of us to fight fear and self doubt. Stop telling yourself that you are not good enough or that you will not make it. Realize that it is that you may just be afraid to try. Know, that we do not inherit a spirit of fear but one of love. 

Making positive changes
learn to change your attitude about yourself. read about and talk to people who have broken through their self-doubts and taken control of their lives.  get support from others and consciously began turning Your destructive self-talk into constructive self-talk. if you took certain actions, your mind and emotions will follow. began to plan and achieve your goals. Have faith in your ability.  then you will soon see that life will began to improve. learn to let go of blame and start to take small risks. stop comparing yourself to other people and began to open up to new  opportunities. 
 
If you need help overcoming feelings of self-doubt and fear, please read these ten techniques and processes that have helped me get to this place in my life.
 
1. Make a list of your fears. Only by admitting that they exist can you seek solutions. 
2. Write down how these fears affect your life. 
3. Become aware of the voices in your head and write down those negative messages. 
4. Start building a support system of friends and eliminate people from your life who foster feelings of negativity. 
5. Join a support group of people who have similar issues. 
6. Change each negative message to one that is affirming and constructive. 
7. Read books that help you feel better about yourself. 
8. Be aware of your past, and be willing to let go of it. 
9. List your goals and the actions you need to achieve them. 
10. Take one of those actions every day. Each time you do something that brings you closer to achieving your goals you will feel better about yourself. 
 
When fears and self-doubts come back, and they still do, I break through them by using the tools and skills I've learned and now teach. They work.

Be Blessed Family!

It is tempting to retreat to safety and comfort when challenges and difficulties arise. To avoid turning around and abandoning your goals, you must make going forward more compelling then going back.



One of the keys to reaching your goals is to eliminate any escape routes. It is tempting to retreat to safety and comfort when challenges and difficulties arise. To avoid turning around and abandoning your goals, you must make going forward more compelling then going back.


When striving towards a goal, you must focus on what you want to obtain and avoid the impulse to go back to what you know and to what is comfortable. When Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico, one of his first orders to his men was to burn the ships. Cortez was committed to his mission and did not want to allow himself or his men the option of going back to Spain. By removing this option, Cortez and his men were forced to focus on how they could make the mission successful.


Eliminating an escape route creates a compelling reason to focus on the goal and to keep moving forward. However, it is important to keep in mind that although Cortez had his men burn the ships, he did not have them burn the food and supplies. Cutting off an escape route to increase motivation and create the desire to press on where you might otherwise give up is totally different from throwing caution to the wind and taking undue risks. Reaching your goals still requires prudent planning and managing. All goals contain a certain degree of risk, but it isn't necessary to create undue risk and stress by not properly planning and thus lacking the necessary tools and supplies to achieve your goal. Take risks, but don't be careless or foolish and simply hope that everything will be okay.


Before you decide to burn your ships, make sure you have the supplies and tools necessary to achieve the goal. Something like quitting your job might sound like a good way to close the escape route, but it might also be a fast way to bankruptcy if you don't have resources to carry you through. Creating a savings account balance or having a journey job (a job that is a stepping stone to what you really want) allows you to take the risk of leaving your current job without creating undue risk. I once took a six-month leave of absence from a job while I was deciding if I wanted to move to a different state. Although it was difficult making the transition as I was very homesick, once I found a job in my new location, I resigned from the job I had waiting for me because I knew it would be too tempting to go back.


Close off the escape routes and make sure that you have a compelling reason to move forward. However, at the same time, make sure that you plan for the risk and have the tools, supplies and resources you need to achieve your goals. You can't eliminate risk but you can plan for it. Don't just jump in without thinking through the process and having a solid plan for moving forward.

Be Blessed Family!

Goal setting for your new  adventure or business.

Why not take some time out to think about and write down your goals for your business


What do you want to achieve?

Before you actually set up, decide what you want to achieve with your adventure or business. If you are already in business, review where you are going, are you clear about this?

Why not take some time out to think about and write down your goals for your business?

Write it down

Research shows that only 3% of people write down their goals, and on average these people earn 10 times those who don’t have goals. Plus research shows that people with up to date written goals are as much as 3100% more successful than people who do not have up to date written goals.

And make sure your business goals don’t conflict with things you want to do personally. When you are thinking about your goals, think about and write down your personal goals too. And if you are a multi owner business you will obviously need to discuss your responses with your colleagues, and agree on a shared set of goals for the business.

SMART goals

Make sure that the goals you write are SMART. What does this mean? It stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timed

Apply these five measures to each of your goals.

What does it mean to you in reality?

Once you have written down your goal as a SMART goal, think about what the effects would be if you didn’t achieve it. What is the pain that you and those you love will experience if you don’t achieve your goal, such as ill health, poverty, unhappiness etc. (Why do this? Because recognizing this pain is an enormous motivating force that will help you to work even harder to make sure you don’t fail!)

Then decide what you will gain when you succeed - ie wealth, health, happiness, a prosperous retirement etc. What will you see, hear and feel? And what else will your success allow you to achieve  or do? And finally write down the key things you will need in order to achieve your goal. For example, it could be new resources, contacts, skills, actions etc.

Repeat this process using a new sheet for every single goal you would like to achieve.

Prioritize

Next try and prioritize the goals you have written. Lay out all of your goals in front of you and decide which are the most important to you, which are less important and which (if any) are, on reflection, not important after all.

For each goal that is still important work out how you will achieve it, break it down in to smaller steps to make it easier to manage.

Plan in timescales to do each step, write them into your diary or planner. That way you make reaching your goals part of your daily activities.

Look at your where your time goes

Its worth having a look at how you spend your time at the moment, and comparing this to the way you would like your life to happen. Then you can fit your goals into this as well.

To do this, look at the personal goals you set out and list out the broad areas of your life that are important to you eg family, friends, business, health, fitness, money etc Make a note of the percentage of your waking time that you would like to spend in each of these areas in an ideal world (make sure that the column adds up to 100%) Estimate approximately the percentage of your waking time you think you are actually spending in each area at the moment, - just a rough and ready approximation here, don’t waste time trying to get pinpoint accuracy the aim is just to get a broad feel Then calculate the gap between the two Looking at the gaps does it suggest that you need to make changes in order to achieve your goals? If it does, what changes are you going to make?

Next steps

Think carefully about everything you have just done and thought about. What are the implications for what you are doing in your business and your life - and what you should be doing?

Transfer the things you should be doing to an action planner. Keep this somewhere where you won’t lose sight of it, so that you are reminded on a daily basis about what you want to achieve.

If you think it would help contact an advisor, mentor or coach to discuss what else you can do to achieve your goals. Sometimes it helps to go through the whole exercise with a third party, who can be more objective and help you to focus on the right things.

Review your action planner. Prioritise it. And start taking action!

And remember, however good your ideas and intentions are… they will come to absolutely nothing unless they are turned into action.

So focus on taking ACTION. And start taking it today.

I often talk about leadership and management. Leadership is about doing the right things while management is about doing things right. Often when we study time management, we study efficiency (doing things right) and make the assumption that we have the effectiveness (leadership) solved.

The first step in any time management system should be to work on goals and as such, I use the following 60 Minute Goal Setting Exercise.

Step 1:
 
at the top of a blank piece of paper write down “values” and then spend 10 to 15 minutes writing down everything that you value. 

There is a great website: www.stevepavlina.com/ that has a list of several hundred values to start your mind thinking in the right direction. After the time is up, stop doing this and move to Step 2.

Step 2: 

At the top of a blank piece of paper write down “lifetime goals”. This is where you can dream; for example, what places would you like to visit; what experiences would you like to have; what would you like to accomplish within your lifetime. This might include traveling to Australia; getting a university degree; living in an X square foot house, etc. There are no rules to this brainstorming – simply make a list.

I have done this goal setting exercise many times and I tend to use the same list of lifetime goals and add to the list each time I do the exercise.

Step 3:

At the top of a blank piece of paper write down what you would do if you had six months to live. This part of the exercise really came home to me this week when one of my close friends died at 36 years old. Some of us may have only six months to live; however, we may not know it yet. List everything that you would do if you had only six months to live. Part of the purpose of this exercise that I found works well for me is that it brings the truly important into focus. Often I find things that I would do if I had only six months to live that are not listed on my life time goals.

Step 4:

At the top of a blank piece of paper write down your goals for this year. After doing the first three steps, you will find this step much easier than the others. These are the goals to focus on NOW.

This total exercise will only take an hour. An hour spent clarifying your goals can save you hundreds of hours.

Be Blessed Family!

Be careful what you believe because that is what you will experience.
Your belief system is a mechanism which is uniquely yours. It is powered by your desire and controlled by your thoughts and actions. In other words, your success is measured by the strength of your belief. 
  
What is it that you desire?

Often people do not have a clue what it is they want, they just know what they do not want. Now is a good time to evaluate your goals and determine the end result you want to achieve. Put your goals in writing and place them where you can see them throughout the day. Read them frequently to keep them fresh on your mind. 

Be inquisitive.

Research and learn as much as you can on how you can achieve your goal. Use all possible resources such as books, CDs, courses and people. Yes, people. Talk to as many people as possible who are already successful in what you want to achieve. Ask, ask and ask some more about what they did to reach success. Do not limit your contacts to only the people you already know. Introduce yourself by phone or mail, explain your purpose for contacting them and ask for a tip. The worst thing that can happen is that they ignore you. The best thing that can happen is that they become your mentor and offer support and encouragement. Chances are you will receive at least one great tip from many of the people you contact. This method is the least expensive and most rewarding. 

Be unique.

Next, take the ideas you learn, embellish them and come up with your own creative process. Think of how you can approach your goal in a way that no one else has. Dare to be different. Don’t be afraid to take risks. What do you have to loose? Write out a list showing the worst things that could happen and then list all of the best possible outcomes. Always maintain your concentration on your desired result.

Be a great competitor. 

When you were a child and saw your older siblings or friends riding a bike (without training wheels), you didn’t look at their scraped knees and elbows and say, “Whoa, I could get hurt doing that.” Instead, you begged to try it for yourself. With a great deal of practice and often pain, you gradually learned how to maintain your balance. Before long you were trying to “out do” your friends with your speed or fancy tricks. When you fell, you would get back on and try again with even greater determination. From your very first effort, you believed in your mind that if you got back on, you would eventually learn to ride. I bet you even knew in your mind you would be the best in the neighborhood, in your school, in the state, in the world!   
 
Be positive. 

If you see obstacles before you, then you will also only see problems. If you have hesitations that you plan will not work, then it will not work. If you are influenced by the power of negative people, then you will never be any better than they are. Believe in yourself and what you are capable of achieving.   

When your desire to succeed is stronger than the pain, fear or frustration of failing, there is no turning back. I challenge you to view your goals just like you did when you were a child before you learned about self doubt and negative criticism. Remember, anything is possible as long as you believe. Make a commitment that you will not let anything or anyone, including yourself stand in your way of reaching your goals.

Be Blessed Family!