Self Belief is a massive topic, covered by every self help book starting right back with the Bible. I tend to focus on one area where self belief really matters to the outcome of your effort and desire.
And it needs to be in you when you make the decision to go from employed to working for yourself.
Why?
Because it’s such a huge leap for you to take. Employment offers a steady regular income that allows you to plan holidays, home purchases, family occasions, build a savings safety net and maybe some investments. Its comfortable, safe but it can feel restrictive.
And when comfortable and safe start not feeling right, then you might experience a yearning to go it alone, to hand in your notice and open your own doors for business.
You’ll feel every emotion under the sun from excitement to fear, self belief to crippling doubt in your ability to make it work, anxiety that the phone is never going to ring to euphoria after every sale you make, no matter how small.
Your business outcome will be in line with this famous quote from Henry Ford :
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right”
Your outcome will be based on how you think and whether you believe you can make self employment and your own business work, or not.
How do you decide if that journey is for you?
If you spend your time worrying about what can go wrong, before you even get started, then that’s probably what will happen for you. You create a self-defeating prophecy.
Instead, envisage a clear picture of what your success looks like, bring it to life in your imagination, filling in every details, every sense, flood the images you create with sensation. Put yourself in the picture in your mind, when you achieve this great success what will you see, what do you hear around you, what do you smell, what do you taste? Luxuriate in this success in your imagination and make it so real you can almost touch it. Consider how it makes you feel, it hopefully will make you feel really good!
A former client of mine felt that he would have made his business a success when he had a holiday home in Florida. His ‘made it’ moment was standing on his deck, looking out at the ocean, at the incredible blue of the sky starting to turn red and pink as the sun set in the horizon, listening to the waves rushing up the sand, as he opened a bottle of beer to start relaxing at the end of the day. He held the bottle opener in his hand and smiled as he heard that woosh as the bottle opened. He felt immense peace in his belly, pride in his heart and satisfaction in his soul. He had done it.
Did he believe he could achieve it? Absolutely.
Did he doubt himself? Not any longer.
Now his focus was on what he had to do today that steadily moved him towards that bottle of beer on his deck, the reward he had chosen for his hard work. There was no longer room for doubt in his mind, it was too focused on what had to be done to take him to that moment. He was driven, he was excited and he was on his way.
I met him a couple of years later and he said, “I’m still on track for that bottle of beer” I thought that was fabulous. That single image had inspired this man through years of the struggle that is owning a business and making it successful.
Sometimes it’s just a nudge, finding a bit of confidence or self belief that you moves you from thinking about your options to taking the action required to bring them to life.
Can You Move Mountains Just Because You Believe That Much?
Self Belief is a massive topic, covered by every self help book starting right back with the Bible. I tend to focus on one area where self belief really matters to the outcome of your effort and desire.
And it needs to be in you when you make the decision to go from employed to working for yourself.
Why?
Because it’s such a huge leap for you to take. Employment offers a steady regular income that allows you to plan holidays, home purchases, family occasions, build a savings safety net and maybe some investments. Its comfortable, safe but it can feel restrictive.
And when comfortable and safe start not feeling right, then you might experience a yearning to go it alone, to hand in your notice and open your own doors for business.
You’ll feel every emotion under the sun from excitement to fear, self belief to crippling doubt in your ability to make it work, anxiety that the phone is never going to ring to euphoria after every sale you make, no matter how small.
Your business outcome will be in line with this famous quote from Henry Ford :
“Whether you think you can, or
you think you can’t – you’re right”
Your outcome will be based on how you think and whether you believe you can make self employment and your own business work, or not.
How do you decide if that journey is for you?
If you spend your time worrying about what can go wrong, before you even get started, then that’s probably what will happen for you. You create a self-defeating prophecy.
Instead, envisage a clear picture of what your success looks like, bring it to life in your imagination, filling in every details, every sense, flood the images you create with sensation. Put yourself in the picture in your mind, when you achieve this great success what will you see, what do you hear around you, what do you smell, what do you taste? Luxuriate in this success in your imagination and make it so real you can almost touch it. Consider how it makes you feel, it hopefully will make you feel really good!
A former client of mine felt that he would have made his business a success when he had a holiday home in Florida. His ‘made it’ moment was standing on his deck, looking out at the ocean, at the incredible blue of the sky starting to turn red and pink as the sun set in the horizon, listening to the waves rushing up the sand, as he opened a bottle of beer to start relaxing at the end of the day. He held the bottle opener in his hand and smiled as he heard that woosh as the bottle opened. He felt immense peace in his belly, pride in his heart and satisfaction in his soul. He had done it.
Did he believe he could achieve it? Absolutely.
Did he doubt himself? Not any longer.
Now his focus was on what he had to do today that steadily moved him towards that bottle of beer on his deck, the reward he had chosen for his hard work. There was no longer room for doubt in his mind, it was too focused on what had to be done to take him to that moment. He was driven, he was excited and he was on his way.
I met him a couple of years later and he said, “I’m still on track for that bottle of beer” I thought that was fabulous. That single image had inspired this man through years of the struggle that is owning a business and making it successful.
Sometimes it’s just a nudge, finding a bit of confidence or self belief that you moves you from thinking about your options to taking the action required to bring them to life.
How are your beliefs shaping your future?
Categories