When It Comes to Success, The Only One You Have to Measure Up to Is Yourself

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.

Comparing Yourself to Others Helps Self-Doubt Thrive

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.

Trying to Predict Success Sets You Up for Failure

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.

Use Every Failure as an Opportunity to Learn and Grow

Most of us don't think of failures as opportunities - but successful entrepreneurs know the secret to turning the knowledge learned in a failure into opportunities for growth and success.

Kids learn about winners and losers at an early age and may be taunted when playing sports or about the dismal results of a test. Some take the "loser" label and define their future self-worth with it and are reluctant to take risks, while others become more determined to show everyone that they can win.

We hate the way failure makes us feel, but when we realize it's not the end of the road and we have time to come back as a success, failure can actually be a learning experience.

What you learn from failure is invaluable to your future success. A close analysis of what went wrong with the failed idea or venture can help you make sense of the situation and learn lessons that will make you a true winner.

You may have to dig deep to find the reasons for a failure. Did you devote enough time to the project and were you prepared for the results? Could the failure be one that's out of your control or could you have changed something along the way to strengthen the outcome?

Every failure can be turned into a unique opportunity to grow and learn - and every success might be detrimental to future successes. It's a contradiction that's difficult to understand unless you've experienced both the opportunities in failure and the dangers in success.

Being honest with yourself is the first step in turning failures into opportunities and learning experiences. Blaming failure on others or making excuses can only serve to dig you further into a state of denial.

When that happens, you don't learn anything. If you don't use your failures to find flaws in your thinking or how you managed a product or venture, you're likely doomed to failure.

Learning from past mistakes is a trait that every successful person on this planet has profited from. Remember, that every failure you experience shows that you tried. If you never fail at anything, chances are you're not trying hard enough to succeed.

While none of us seek to fail, the process of life and how it works condemns us to some failures along the way. Your success will come when you seek to learn how you failed and figure out what you're going to do next time to ensure success.

Make Marketing Friends to Boost Your Confidence

Networking is one of the most important things you can do to boost your business - and your self-confidence to move on to greater successes. But meeting people can be a challenge to some - even though meeting others online provides some level of anonymity.

Fear starts rearing its ugly head, especially if you're a newbie and trying to meet people on forums where everyone seems to know what they're doing and exactly where they're going and how to get there.

Although networking may evoke self-doubt for some, it can be the best move you could ever make to grow your business. You don't have to join online conversations and forums pretending that you're already successful.

In fact, most marketers are more than willing to help newbies succeed and go overboard to be sure you're getting the information you need and the help you ask for. They'll proudly share ideas and past successes and failures with you and will likely support you in your ventures.

It's good to know people going through the same thing you are. They can provide support whenever you feel alone as an entrepreneur - helping you work through self-doubt issues and get back in the groove with your productivity.

Participate in events and meet-ups that you've researched and are sure that they're relevant to what you're trying to accomplish. You don't want to waste your time participating in an event that brings you no new or relevant information.

Before the event, think of some conversation starters to get information flowing. Know as much as you can about the product or services to avoid tedious questions. Also, think of ways you can end a conversation if you get into a boring or irrelevant one.

Links and business cards are great ways to network, too. If you're attending a meet-up session or going to a seminar, be prepared to pass on a lot of cards and ask for others. You may end up with some future clients or JV partners to add to your list.

To network successfully, you should be genuinely engaged with the other person and focus on making the conversation interesting and bringing out others in a positive manner.

Mainly, think about what you're going to say or conversations you'd like to engage in prior to the event and try to inspire others as well as be inspired. It's good to get out of your comfort zone once in a while to experience new ideas.

You may be surprised to find out how much you already know about your industry compared to others you meet either on or offline. Networking is a business strategy that many marketers underplay, but can be an invaluable part of your future business successes.