Do You Believe in Your Success
Posted on January 28, 2015 by Steve Smith, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Achieveing success is largely a matter of belief; absolute, unshakable belief! Do you have it?
Achieving success in life and in business is a journey, not a single event. Most people never achieve their dreams because they really don’t believe they can make or are worthy of it. So, why do some people have unshakable belief in themselves and how can you develop the right belief patterns to reach what you desire most?
There are lots of elements to becoming successful. Whether you are in business or pursuing some other life’s work, it helps to have enough advantages to give you a fighting chance! While it helps to have the knowledge, the skills, the money, the contacts and the desire to want success for you, the real driver for those who actually attain great levels of success is their belief in themselves. I’m not talking about ego or a false sense of who you are; I’m talking about a deep level of belief that acts like internal GSP to keep you on the path and headed in the right direction.
To illustrate this point, I need to tell you a story.
Several years ago, while bootstrapping my own business, I was invited to listen in on a discussion among 6 highly successful entrepreneurs. Each had gained and lost a fortune during their time in business. Some had lost more money than I can count! But on this day, all were enjoying the fruits of success with multiple ventures pulling in millions of dollars.
The group initially came together at the request of one individual who was based in Canada. He was interested in the path each of his colleagues had taken to get to this point in an effort to identify common areas and possibly create a system that would insure success of this magnitude for others. Needless to say, I was glad for the opportunity to listen in.
After a few minutes’ initial greetings and some light chat, they began sharing their experiences of particular successes and failures that lead to the results they each were currently enjoying. As each person around the table took turns throwing out questions for the others to comment on, one question was asked that I believe changed the meaning of this entire discussion. The gentleman from Mexico asked the rest, “at what point in your life did you know you would be successful?” To me, the answers were astonishing! To a man, each recounted a time early in their lives (one at the age of 9) when they firmly believed that their lives would be wildly successful. One of the participants even admitted that while he did not know what he would be successful in, the thought that he would live unsuccessfully never entered his thinking. He just assumed that it would happen.
My take away from this unrehearsed, insightful discussion among 6 very successful entrepreneurs was this: you can amass lots of education, attract loads of financing and surround yourself with other successful folks and it won’t be enough if you don’t really believe in what you are doing or that you have what it takes to be successful. Are there times when doubt comes knocking? Absolutely! But those who fundamentally believe they have what it takes to endure the journey will shake off the doubt and get quickly refocused.
Do you have the ‘Belief’ foundation you need?
Take a moment and think about the journey you’ve committed yourself to. Does it fulfill your purpose? Is your pathway clear? Are you ready for the unintended turns in the road that may lead to slowdowns or setbacks?
Are you able to devote all of your energy, desire and commitment to one pursuit? Think about the people you look up to and the things they have accomplished. Were they devoted to mastering and achieving one thing or were they scattered across several ventures?
What inspires you to keep moving forward? Traditional belief focuses on a higher being or calling. Most highly successful people I have studied pursued their convictions for reasons other than money.
Have you matched up your strengths, passions and commitment to things that will respond accordingly? Most of the time, we all tend to want what is not best suited for us. In fact, I read an article many years ago on higher education that stated that 85% of college graduated end up in careers that are not a result of their primary education.
Are you investing the time in your core discipline to assure you have a chance to succeed? It’s been widely documented that achieving legitimate expert status requires a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice. Without a true belief in what you are doing, this alone would be hard to attain.
Beliefs are personal and unlike opinions, very deep seated in ones psychological makeup. If you believe it, you will act upon it or do things to support your beliefs despite any criticisms you face or doubts from those around you. The reason we hold other highly successful people in such esteem is because most of us can’t really fathom being able to do something of a similar nature.
But people achieve unbelievable levels of success every day in this country and around the world.
How about you? Do you believe in your own success?
