You’ll See It When You Believe It!

Believing in our own ability to achieve our lifetime goals is an assertion that most people will claim to have, however few will actually show their belief in themselves by taking thoughtful, deliberate action and moving themselves towards their desired outcomes in a persistent manner.

It seems that a lot of people think that belief is secondary, that they will “believe it when they see it”, but unfortunately, this puts the success equation the wrong way around, because, in order to achieve our goals we must believe in our ability to succeed in our plans.  In other words, we need to be able to accept that we will “see it when we believe it”!

Seeing it when we believe it is one of the reasons goal setting is important as it helps to equip us with a vision of our future, and if we can visualise our future, it gives us something tangible to work towards and creates a possible reality that we could manifest through action.

But having seen this possible future, do we then believe there is a chance of it actually becoming our reality?  Truly believing is very important because, when we believe that we will achieve those things which we set out to accomplish, we will be ‘pulled’ towards the outcome.  Think of it like this: when we really believe in our ability to succeed, we will take the necessary actions that will pull us towards our goals.  Because by believing in ourselves and our abilities, taking the necessary actions doesn’t seem so daunting.  When faced with an obstacle we will interpret this as just something that needs to be worked through until a solution is found, and so we will carry on.

By contrast, if we don’t really believe in our ability to achieve our goals, but decide to take action anyway, we will be pushing ourselves to persist.  But pushing towards the outcome is infinitely harder!  Also, when faced with an obstacle, we will begin to question the validity of our goals and whether the obstacle is a “sign’ that we’re doing something wrong.  This will then test our commitment to keeping going.

Our existing beliefs will have been with us for many years.  They may or may not be a true reflection of reality because they will have passed through our own particular perception veil and will have been affected according to our personal experiences.  In some circumstances these beliefs may now limit us and this is when our ability to believe in the successful outcome of our goals becomes questionable.

Limiting beliefs will often be preceded by ‘I can’t…because…’:

• I can’t apply for that job because I’m not experienced enough
• I can’t join the band because I can’t sing
• I can’t lose weight because I don’t have enough willpower

..and so we continue with the actions which support our ‘I can’t…’ reality.

But the crux of the matter is that we can’t create new circumstances from old actions, and likewise, we can’t or won’t change our actions until we change our beliefs.

It’s difficult to truly change our ingrained beliefs. Quite often we think we do, but our ongoing actions don’t support our new beliefs, and so we

• make some enquiries about the job, but don’t really believe in our ability to get it, so don’t even bother applying
• don’t try out for the band because we’ve heard the other singers and they are so much better than us
• lose a few pounds, but things stall and we lose faith in ourselves

But, it takes time, persistence and a lot of energy to ensure our actions match our new beliefs because it’s so much easier for us to follow our old familiar patterns of behaviour.  And this is part of the reason lack of motivation is commonplace.

The motivation we seek will come out of our new beliefs and actions. If we truly believe we will succeed, we will follow through as we will feel compelled to do so. Think of it this way.  If we *knew* (believed) that we would fail would we be motivated to continue?  Of course not!  However, if we knew (believed) that we would eventually succeed, would that knowledge motivate us to keep going?  Yes it would!  If you knew you couldn’t fail, why on earth would you give up?!

So let me ask you again…if you knew (believed) you couldn’t fail, why would you give up?

When considering this question, remember the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

Man is made by his belief.  As he believes, so he is.

Challenge your beliefs regularly to ensure they’re not preventing your success.  Our beliefs are often inconsistent with what we really want to achieve, and, since our actions are a product of our beliefs we may inadvertently be taken off course.

Over to you – are your beliefs supporting or holding you back?  Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment!

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Photo: Graham Campbell