There is no surer guarantee of personal or business success than the power of belief. But belief is not something that happens to you. It is a conscious choice you make and, when combined with knowledge of what you do best, it gives you unshakeable confidence and profound focus. One of the key character traits of entrepreneurs is the power of belief grown from self-knowledge and the ability to understand the world of the problems they seek to solve. Entrepreneurs are no less risk-averse than anybody else. The difference is they choose their responses to the uncertainty of launching a new venture. We all suffer crises of self-doubt. What the power of belief does for you is enable you to see that self-doubt is the state of being in unreality. The power of belief gives you the perspective you need to observe and accept the undependable future and so avoid getting lost when self-doubt rears its ugly head. Cultivating the Power of Belief The power of belief is not a blind choice. It's a choice informed through careful self-examination and assessment of what you do best. Granted, we are infused with beliefs of many kinds during our formative years. Yet as fully realized adults we have the opportunity to decide what we believe and in so doing be fed by the power of conscious choosing. All factors being equal, successful human beings define for themselves what being successful means. They have the power to believe in their ability to handle whatever comes. Ask yourself today what success means for you. Write about it. How does what you believe about success affect how you live, what you do, who you choose to work with? What You Believe and What You Do Best A recent study by the SBA Office of Advocacy reports that successful entrepreneurs have the ability to assess the problem opportunity in the marketplace and understand how that translates to potential demand. But what's significant about their legendary risk-seeking behavior is that it is driven by their unwavering belief in what they are trying to accomplish. It is the power of belief that, for them, minimizes the risk in any endeavor. Thomas Alva Edison was a tireless investigator. He had a broad background in applied science and he persevered even in the face of apparent setbacks. He had a strong, conscious belief in himself that enabled him to weather what others would consider to be career-ending failures. The point of his life was to follow a course until he found success. Not until he hit a stumbling block. Not until failure stopped him. He followed every idea through until it evolved into a solution that worked for real-world problems. You can never be sure of results. The only sure thing is your power to choose. Making conscious choices means believing you can exert the effort required to succeed in a given venture. It is imperative for your success that you trust the creative process and be open to the possibility in every apparent misstep or supposed failure. Taking the power of belief and aiming it through the knowledge of what you do best focuses you naturally on those problems you are best equipped to solve. Take the steps today to get clear about what you believe and what you do best. Then use the power of belief combined with what you do best to focus yourself on the success you deserve. *** |
