Believe in Yourself

This next article is part of an ongoing series here at TSB Magazine called The Success Principles. The series is based on the 64 principles laid out by Jack Canfield in his course of the same name. If you’re new, I always suggest starting any series from the beginning.

Principle 5: Believe In Yourself

Today’s lesson is on the shorter side. It is actually a companion piece to yesterday’s lesson Believe It’s Possible.

Once you believe that the outcome you want is possible, you must then believe in you own unique ability to achieve it.

You may read a book like The 4 Hour Work Week and form a new belief that it is actually possible to work less than 15 hours a week and still be rich. But there may still be that lingering doubt in your mind… that it is not possible for you. Sure he did it, but you don’t have his brains, degree, contacts, or know how. This completely artificial belief will limit your ability to succeed. You must make the choice to believe in yourself.

Yes, believing in yourself is a choice. In principle one, we made it clear that your life is 100% your responsibility. Your past is your past. The past is not a reliable indicator of the future. If it were, Payton Manning would have continued to choke in the playoffs and never would have won the Super Bowl. If it were, Neil Strauss would still be a geek who was clueless with women. If it were, many long time recovered drug addicts would never have been able to pull themselves away from their addictions. But they did. And they did because they believed in themselves.

Canfield says:

If you assume in favor of yourself and act as if it is possible, then you will do the things that are necessary to bring about the result. If you believe it is impossible, you will not do what is necessary, and you will not produce the result. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I’ve written a great deal in this post about the can’t do mentality that is poison to our generation. What human beings are capable of when they “have to” is amazing. There are stories of 63year old women picking up the back end of a Buick to get it off her grandson, an Olympian winning an unheard of 8 gold medals, men who’ve learned 7 different languages… and countless other examples of feats that would never have been accomplished if the doer stopped to think “I can’t do that.”

You must make the clear decision to believe in yourself. Like we mentioned in principle one:

Yes, some people will naturally have it easier at certain things… maybe they will be born into a wealthy family, have more connections, a bigger social circle, a faster metabolism, are naturally stronger or more athletic… but if you look at yourself closely you’ll find that you have many advantages that other people lack.

You must get in the conscious habit of focusing on the advantages that you have, and eliminate all thoughts about what you lack.

There is a great chance that you are already smarter, more creative, more ambitious, more athletic, persistent, funnier, more charismatic, have access to better coaching, more education, more information… than half of the people who have already achieved what you desire.

Believe! And self-confidence will follow!