This is the Foundation of Success

Achieving success in any area of life certainly takes hard work, dedication and consistency, but the foundation of success is our inner belief.

Without belief, our own self-doubt and fear of failure takes over and can paralyze many back from ever getting started. Don’t let that happen to you.

Success begins with believing that we are capable of attaining the goals that we set out to accomplish.

It’s been said that there are those that think they can, and there are those that think they can’t, and in both cases, each is right!

Which one are you?

Do you need more belief?

If so, do you know how to increase your belief?

The following tips can certainly help.

We can only reach our true potential when we have a strong belief in our capabilities or are at least willing to “faith it until we make it” long enough to develop our capabilities which in turn serve to build our belief along the way.

Said another way, when we develop our capabilities, we strengthen our belief.

So how do we develop our capabilities in order to strengthen our belief?

It starts by having the courage to commit to taking action towards a particular goal.

Without taking action we will never build lasting capabilities, confidence, or belief.

Only by taking action will we refine and hone our skills, through trial and error, making adjustments, improving and developing our capabilities - building our confidence to continue towards our goals.

A very helpful strategy to fuel our belief is to surround ourselves, both literally and figuratively, with other like-minded, positive influences that will contribute to our encouragement, motivation, and belief - assisting us along our journey towards success in any area of life we desire to improve.

These positive influences can be strategic relationships with others who have similar goals, interests and objectives, as well as virtual influences such as books, podcasts, and online communities.

Equally important, if not more so, is our ability to identify and remove potential barriers, such as negative influences that can erode our belief over time.

These negative influences are typically found in the form of the naysayers, sometimes those people we are most familiar with, who say things consciously or subconsciously that can deteriorate our belief over time.

Also, worth mentioning on this topic…

One rule of thumb that I use as a filter is: consider the source of any opinion or advice you may receive about the things you desire to achieve.

If it comes from someone who has what you desire to have (do/be/obtain) in the particular area of advice, listen very carefully.

If it comes from someone who does not have what you desire, or who does not appear to even be on the path of achieving what you desire in the particular area of life they are giving advice on, don’t give too much weight, if any at all, to what they are saying.

This has served me well as a filter for unsolicited opinions.

One final strategy that can certainly aid in fueling our belief is to take time to celebrate small successes.

Be intentional to pause and reflect on how far you’ve come from where you started and celebrate that for a moment before refocusing your sights on the goal ahead.

This exercise of taking time to occasionally celebrate our growth and improvement can serve to fuel us by helping us realize the gains we’ve made, rather than only focusing on what we haven’t yet accomplished by continually looking at the goal ahead and how far we may still have yet to go.

Understanding that belief in our own ability to achieve our desired goals is critical to our success and requires courage to commit to action, the ability to learn from our mistakes, make appropriate corrections, improve and grow, thereby developing one’s capabilities, improving one’s confidence, growing one’s belief and ultimately expediting their success.

In closing, try surrounding yourself with some of those positive influences I referred to above on the “Life's Hard, Succeed Anyway” podcast, like this week’s interview with Sergeant First Class Joseph James who lost both legs in the War of Terror. You may listen and subscribe here.

Until next time,