The Power of Self-Belief

"Self-trust is the first secret of success; it is the essence of heroism."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In his bestselling book, “Tough Times Never Lasts but Tough People Do,” Robert Schuller narrates an interesting story of frontline employees who—unaware of the difficulty of the situation—managed to find a solution to a problem that had put the top executives of their company into a corner.

It happened by the timely stimulation of the chief executive of the company. The wise leader of the organization appealed to frontline workers’ sense of worth. He spurred them to believe in their own ingenuity. 

He told them they were intelligent, hardworking fellows who could do something great. Fortunately, they believed what he said at that very instance, which caused them to believe in themselves. Consequently, the infantry troops suddenly became the knights in shining armour— with the aid of a little confidence boost.

Schuller continues: “Every person is creative, but a lot of people don’t believe in their own creativity.” In other words, a great number of us don’t have sufficient believe in our own selves.

As the above narration reveals, the main difference between a highly successful person and the typical average sort is not about resources or opportunities. 

The principal difference centers on resourcefulness, which is the product of deep belief in one’s abilities to make things happen, as the Heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali once stated: “It's the lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges; I believe in myself.”

You see, we are all brilliant in some way; all of us have potential for creativity. In fact, each one of us has more than 100 billion brain cells lying beneath the skull, waiting to be utilized.  Imagine what we can accomplish if we all put them to good use!

Besides, all creative ideas come from the almighty Creator, and any willing person can tap into His Ocean of wisdom at any time. So, what we really need is to start believing in the positive ideas that flow into our minds.

For example, Madame Marie Curie had an idea that Radium Metal did exist, and more importantly, she believed that she could find the source of the unknown radioactive element, despite the fact that no one had ever seen it before, and no one knew where to start looking for it. And by the power of her vigorous self-belief she was able to discover the source of radium. 

How We Can Develop Self-Belief

Self-belief means the confidence, the trust and the faith that we have in ourselves and in our ability to execute our ideas.  

The legendary business philosopher, Jim Rohn reminds us of one simple way to improve and develop belief in own ability to make things happen. He said: “The greatest builder of self confidence is self-esteem, and self-esteem comes from DOING the daily things you know you should do.”

And the author of ‘the Power of Awareness,’ Neville Goddard put it this way: “Man’s faith in God is proportionate to the confidence he has in himself, and the confidence must be earned, everyday.”

Furthermore, the American lawyer and the author of ‘the Big Book of Faith,’ Iyanla Vanzant, summed it up as: “Faith (in yourself) is the knowing by which you (must) do.”

Disbelief in our own abilities simply comes from perennial neglect of necessary daily disciplines. This is why the author of ‘the Road Less Travelled,’ M. Scott Peck says that goofing off in the day is tantamount to placing little or no value on one’s life. 

On the contrary, remarkably productive people strive daily to max out every single minute of their time; lack of neglect is the top secret of the self-assured.

While right thinking is necessary to begin with, action is the ultimate builder of self-confidence. Thus, we should fortify our self-belief by consistently taking action. And the action doesn’t necessarily need to be grand or perfect. It only needs to be right. 

To grow the belief we have in ourselves, our minds and bodies must become an active asset; we need to make proper use of all the resources at our disposal.

So, if you must start small, start small. Just figure out the right things to do, then get started. The progress you make from cumulative regular actions will generate more confidence and belief in your capacity to do even better. 

Remember, we are what we repeatedly do. Our belief is a function of not only what populates our minds, but also what occupies our time, and what engages our limbs. Our belief manifests in our habits, especially in our keystone habits.

When we begin to form good-action habits in our lives, our self-belief will begin to soar. And, in due course, when our confidence gets strong enough, we can accomplish incredible things like Madame Marie Curie. 

In finality, believe in yourself, and the universe will be forced to believe in you.