Self-doubt is adisease... a cancer that slowly eats away at you. When self-doubt creeps in to your life, it has a habit of slowlydestroying your resolveandweakening your efforts.

As James Allen said,"He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure."

And so it stands to reason that those whostill remain conqueredby doubt and fear are then still in the grasp of failure, and it isabsolutely necessarythat they free themselves from the grip of self-doubt in order to have any significant measure of success in life.

The fact of the matter is that, if you have self-doubt (like I have had for much of my life), you are really not that much different than themajority. The majority are full of self-doubt, and constantly are motivated by fear (whether consciously or subconsciously).

Now very few would actually admit this (and thus prevent their own progress), but it is nonetheless true. And I would argue that if you are willing to admit your own self-doubt, you have much more courage than those who don't admit it.

So how do you NOT destroy yourself through this cancer? Taken from "The Science of Getting Rich", here's 3 steps to help you slay this universal beast:

1. Do not act towards your goalwhile you are experiencing self-doubt. If you are seriously doubting your ability or direction, you must take the time to step back and correct this before further action towards your goal. While pursuing your goal, you need to act in the "certain way".

So for instance, if you have started a business, but are doubting your ability to make it happen, you should step back and correct the problem by following the next two steps:

2.Cultivate gratitude. Oddly enough, gratitude is your main defense against self-doubt. Be grateful for everything that you have in life... all the good, and all the challenges (see all evil as just a challenge that is there to help you grow).

And specifically, express gratitude for the fact that you ARE able to accomplish what you were doubting before. When you start to express gratitude for something that you haven't received yet, it increases your faith and diminishes self-doubt. So make sure you thank God for all the good you have, and all the good that is coming to you.

3. Spend a day or two incontemplation of what you want, and express gratitude over and over again (whether you "feel" like it or not) that it is coming to you. Imagine yourself having accomplished your goal. See yourself there already in your mind, and thank God that you have already received it.

4.Examine your motives, and make sure that you are motivated by more life and well-being for all, and less well-being for none. This will ensure that you will get rich on the "creative plane", as opposed to the competitive plane, where there is nothing but misery.

Carefully walk through all these steps and you will find that self-doubt begins to fade away, and courage and resolve begin torise to the forefront.

You do not have to live your life in fear of doubt and failure. You simply must control your thoughts, cultivate gratitude, and work for the well-being of all. And once you have conquered doubt and fear (as James Allen says), you have thenconquered failure.