"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.
