I call the following seven belief lies of success, taking Anthony Robbins concept, because it helps us to remind what beliefs really are. Concepts about how things are we have adapted and are certain of.
A belief is not a truth. Truth, right and wrong are moral concepts we have chosen to belief. This is not to say I do not have ethical and moral beliefs that guide me. In fact I have them and I am very clear about them. It is to acknowledge that we have built those beliefs rather than they came out of nowhere.
People that are trained in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) call opinions, beliefs and convictions lies to show that they are not facts rather they are interpretations about the reality as we choose to perceive. That perspective opens the door for a totally new way to look at beliefs.
Opinions, beliefs and convictions can be changed, and replaced by ones that serve us and our goals better.
Limiting beliefs are beliefs that stop us from taking action, prevent us to grow or lead us into a state of depression and the feel of being unworthy and useless.
Empowering beliefs are the ones that drive us to action, support growth and well-being. The belief that you can not fail is empowering, the belief that you are not in control of your destiny is limiting.
Benjamin Franklin had the belief he could not fail. He abandoned the concept of failing and replaced it with the concept of learning. " I have learned hundreds of ways to not invent the light bulb before I learned the one way to do it".
Such a belief is powerful. It drives us forward instead of leaving us in inactivity.
Using the word lie for beliefs is meant as a reminder that we never know for sure how things are. It reminds us to be open for other concepts and to evaluate their usefulness instead of abandoning them right away.
So here are the seven beliefs that empower you to success.
Belief # 1
"Everything happens for a purpose and a reason and it serves us"
This belief shifts our focus to the positive things that happen. Most of us focus on the negative side of events and on the roadblocks in an event rather than on opportunities. Being certain that whatever happens has a purpose and a reason that is benevolent, serves us, empowers us to look for the good and positive, the pleasurable in every event and takes us toward action by increasing the curiosity to find out what is good about what happens rather than what is negative.
Having such a belief helps tremendous to follow through over long time periods, month, years even a lifetime.
Belief # 2
"There is no such thing as a failure. There are only results."
We always succeed in whatever we do. We always get a result out of every action. If something doesn't work the way we expect it to work, this is a learning experience. If we take our learning experiences to change the approach, our small successes, we used to call failures, eventually will bring the us the big success.
Think about it, one of the most complex skills possible is walking upright. It is a constant balance between failures and success. In fact by having learned to walk we actually have learned to fall down without falling down. Every step we do is an attempt to fall to the ground and this attempt is only stopped by our skill to put the next foot into a position to prevent us from falling.
Yet, every human being has learned to walk. Even better we learn to walk without lots of experience, we just try something new constantly unless we got it. If we had stopped trying to walk after some attempts ("I can't do it. It doesn't work") we never would have got this basic skill.
Belief # 3
"Whatever happens, take responsibility"
This is the belief that ensures you about the fact that you have control over your life. Whatever it is, good or bad, you created it.
Again the question is not if this is true or not the question is does such a belief empower us to take focused action. And it certainly does. If you don't belief that you create the world, your failures and your successes, you are under the mercy of circumstances. And being under the mercy of any external power is always limiting.
Belief # 4
"It is not necessary to understand everything to be able to use everything"
This is one of my favorite beliefs. Why? Because it empowers you to aim and go for the top. Many of us believe that to be the CEO of a multi billion dollar company, like General Electrics for example, requires huge amounts of detailed knowledge. Yet, that is not true.
You do not have to be a CPA, MBA, scientist and business analyst or whatever function is required in a business to be a successful CEO. In fact, most CEOs, especially the successful ones, have not climbed to the top through the specialists path. They reached this point by internalizing this belief. If you need to get something done you don't know how to do, call in specialists and let them handle it. After all you use your TV, toaster, stove and a lot of other things without understanding how they work. All you know is how to use them.
Talking about specialists, here is another favorite quote of mine.
" Specialists now more and more about less and less, unless they know everything about nothing." If your goal is to become an entrepreneur, this is the belief you can't do without.
Belief # 5
"People are the greatest resource"
If you want to make a difference you need to interact with others. To gain power you need to share yours. If you don't share your power no one will share their power with you. Without respect and appreciation for people, all people, you will not be able to build the network of dependencies that you need to become successful. Business is about people and relationships not about functions and organization charts.
If you look at people as mere functions, replaceable at your mood you eventually will fail. To succeed you need others that support you and that are willing to go the extra mile with you to succeed. You only will find those people if you are willing to give more than they expect. More respect, more appreciation, more love and more accessibility.
Belief # 6
"Work is play"
If you belief that work is pain, a must, something unavoidable you have all ingredients for disaster. If you do not love what you do, find something you love and do it. Being in pain 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, is a sure way to become depressive.
Unless you do what you love, unless your work becomes a game as attractive as the games you used to play as a child, the ones you forgot about time and everything around you, unless you have such a work you won't be successful in business.
Mark Twain once said " The secret of success is to make your vocation your vacation'. Love what you do and if you don't, do something else.
Belief # 7
"There is no abiding success without commitment"
In any field you look at you will find that not the brightest and smartest, the fastest and strongest are the most successful but the committed.
Commitment is what leads you to success because it focuses you on your goal and ensures you follow through. It is the tool that helps you to overcome the obstacles under way, obstacles that are much to high for the not committed. Commitment is just another word for the only success strategy that exist. Now your outcome, model what works, take action, evaluate the result, adjust your action and keep going, evaluating and refining until you get where you want to be.
The only failure ever possible is not to follow through. If you stop going for your goal you never can reach it.
© 2005 by Norbert Haag
Norbert Haag is a business consultant, entrepreneur and sought after speaker for more than 20 years. His company - Online Business Coach http://www.onlinebusinesscoach.com - provides information and services for online businesses, small business owners and freelancers.
You can reach Norbert at nhaag@onlinebusinesscoach.com.