Shout Out the Doubt

The previous post I wrote about confidence. Winning the war insie your head. Today, we explore another battle in the same field. The war of doubt. Once you set your mind on a worthy goal, the doubts creep in. 'You can't... (fill in the blank- run that far, operate that business, afford that vacation, get that degree, and so on.)
What do you do? W. Clement Stone said, "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." I believe that (which is step two of the quote). Develop a worthy goal. Write it down. Post it somewhere that you can see it. Read it regularly. Read it out loud. Then you will have two battlefields.
The first battlefiled is your mind. I'll give you an example. I made a goal in October of 2002 to ride a motorcycle 200 miles per hour. It actually didn't seem too dificult at the time. Nine years later, I still haven't accomplished it. There are a few reasons. For one, most motor vehicles have optomistic speedometers. For instance, when I went 194 on my Suzuki Hayabusa, the speedo read 212. Another limiting factor is I decided not to do it while breaking the law. It actually could be relatively easy to go 200 on a remote highway in the Nevada desert. Running a bike like that in an uncontrolled environment added danger to myself and others. After studying options, I decide to go to El Mirage dry lakebed in California to do speed runs. The course is 3 miles of flat, dry lakebed. There is 1-1/2 miles to get up to speed, a 132 foot speed trap, and a mile and a half to slow down. The problem has been getting my rear tire to hook up. I have plenty of horsepower (178 at the rear wheel), but the tire just spins. Where's the mental part? When going 150 miles per hour and faster, my mind of doubt screams, 'easy!' However, I must not listen, keep the throttle pinned and spin the wheel ike crazy. One hurdle to overcome when attempting 200 miles an hour is doubt. Nine years of an unfulfilled goal also can nag at me.
Another battlefield is the doubts of friends. "Are you crazy? Why would you do that? does your wife know what you're doing?" And on and on. You simply can't listen.
Qualifier: It must be a worthy goal. Winning the Tour de France (if you're my age) is not a worthy goal. It is a fantasy. Getting on 'Dancing with the Stars' is a fantasy. Becoming an owner of ten pizza restaurant franchises is a worthy goal. It should be challenging, yet doable. But you mustn't listen to those voices in and out of your head.