Month: February 2020

The power of belief is in action within you continuously and is constantly being manifested as quickly as you can think. If you find your current results displeasing today, you only need to put the power of positive belief to work for you and change those beliefs from your past which made today your reality, to empowering achievement-oriented beliefs and you will be well on your way to success.

When your beliefs are positive it is important to take a stand for what you believe in. It is important, also, to be proactive about what sparks your vision, fuels your choices and instils your ‘can do’ spirit with a sense of purpose, meaning and focus. When you control and use your belief system, not only for your own success but also for the support and uplifting of those around you, you will find yourself well rewarded.

The power of belief is the most impressive part of man and the most highly developed; the source of greatest energy. Man is unique because of his ability to believe and often, those beliefs have changed the course of humanity.

All the people who follow challenged the existing beliefs and accepted standards of their day and many made enemies among the influential people of their time. The strengths of their beliefs and ideals, however, gave these men sufficient fortitude to endure and overcome their many hardships and difficulties.

Socrates (Greek Philosopher, lived 469-399BC)
He questioned conventional assumptions about morality, justice and other social concepts and he faced a death sentence with equanimity because of his unshakable belief in his own philosophy of life. His philosophies were taught around the world for the next 2,000 years.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Galileo was born into a poor but noble family in Italy and at university was fascinated by a wide range of subjects. He became a mathematics professor in Pisa but his beliefs against and strident criticisms of Aristotle’s teachings left him isolated by his contemporaries. During the next 18 years he pursued his interests in astronomy and mechanics and made important discoveries about gravity, inertia and the laws of motion. It was in astronomy, however, that Galileo became famous. He came to the same belief as Copernicus that the sun was the centre of the universe and not the earth. Such beliefs brought about the opposition of the church leaders of the day and his teachings were forbidden. In 1623 a new pope allowed him to publish his works on astronomy; however, after publication Galileo was arrested and imprisoned for several months. He was convicted of heresy and made to recant his beliefs. He spent the remaining years of his life under house arrest but despite censure of his works by the church, he continued to believe in himself and make discoveries until his death in 1642.

Christopher Columbus
Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, and as a young man went to sea. He became an experienced sailor and moved to Lisbon in Portugal to try and gain support for a radical new journey he was planning. He visited the courts of the kings and queens of Europe asking for help and money. Finally, after many refusals, Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain, agreed to fund his voyage into unknown territory. At that time the Europeans wanted to find sea routes to the East and Columbus believed he could find a route to the Far East by sailing west. He spent ten years trying to get people to agree that it could be done.

He believed the world to be round, although he thought it was much smaller than it was, and he firmly held on to that belief despite opposition and the many rejections he received over the years. Finally he was able to sail west and he found what is now known as the West Indies; although he always remained convinced he had come to an area of the Far East. Columbus made four journeys across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean. His belief had fuelled his determination until it became a reality and in doing so he opened up new lands for exploration.

Albert Einstein
Born in 1879 in Germany, Albert Einstein was to become the most celebrated scientist of the twentieth century and his theories were to lay the framework for new branches of physics. He taught himself maths but did not do well at school because he had no interest in other subjects. On leaving school he became a maths teacher to support him in his studies of maths and physics. Einstein’s belief that light doesn’t just travel as waves but as electric currents (his Quantum Theory) was not immediately accepted, neither was his special Theory of Relativity. Like all new theories, it took time for others to come around to agree with his beliefs. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

Martin Luther King
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1929, Martin Luther King was one of America’s most influential civil rights activists because he believed that all people were born equal. His passionate, but non-violent protests helped to raise awareness of racial inequalities in America, leading to significant political change. He captured the imagination and hearts of people, both black and white. A turning point in his life was the Montgomery Bus Boycott which he helped to promote. His boycott also became a turning point in the civil rights struggle – attracting national press for his cause. The boycott, caused by a black lady refusing to give up her seat on a bus although it was in a white only area, was won after lasting for several months, when it was finally brought to the Supreme Court who declared the segregation as unconstitutional. Martin Luther King offered a vision of hope to an oppressed people although he remained committed to the ideals of non-violent struggle. In 1963 Martin Luther King was named as Man of the Year by Time magazine and the following year was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work toward social justice. Unfortunately he made many enemies along the way and on 4 April, 1968 he was assassinated. He remains symbolic of America’s fight for justice and racial equality.

All these people, and the many more who have not been mentioned, had a powerful and positive belief in themselves and the world around them and refused to be intimidated by those who refused to expand their minds to something new.

How many people feel comfortable promoting themselves and their business? From surveys carried out around the world there are very few. A large percentage of business people had a very limited belief system about selfpromotion; they were not comfortable about promoting themselves and avoided it most of the time.

Self-promotion should not be about egotism. Strangely, perhaps, it is about serving others and giving help and support when needed. It is about being sincere, reliable and trustworthy in all your dealings. When you effectively promote yourself and your business and show a passion for what you are doing, more prospects will want to do business with you.

If you are beginning to see that the beliefs you hold are limiting your journey to success, the good news is that you can change those beliefs and move away from a negative lifestyle. Instead, believe what is true, based on your own positive experiences and what you believe to be true will become your reality.

Success in business comes as a direct result of confidence and confidence is built on the pillars of your beliefs. Thus a positive belief in yourself comes from:

FIRST PILLAR – Skills and Knowledge
An in-depth knowledge of your ‘tools of trade’ is vital. You must learn all you can from available resources and always remain teachable.

SECOND PILLAR – A Positive Mental Attitude
Be confident in your own ability to believe that you can succeed at what you are doing. Look for opportunities everywhere and act upon them quickly. Decide you are going to be the best in your field and get excited about it. Raising the bar activates your mind and allows you to unlock the resources of your greater potential.

THIRD PILLAR – Past Success
Remember your past successes and build on them. Look at your past failures but only for the purpose of finding out where you went wrong and learning from your mistakes. Focus on the positives and start building and reinforcing your beliefs in this area to produce confidence in your abilities.

FOURTH PILLAR – Your Environment
This can have a powerful effect on your beliefs. The influences you come into contact with every day will produce either positivity or negativity. Some of your contacts can even cause conflict between you and your goal so be aware of the influences you are picking up both inside and outside your work environment. Instead, remember you should always ‘increase by association’, so associate with people who are positive and already successful or at least working hard towards success in their own lives.

FIFTH PILLAR – Taking Action
Believe in your own capacity to take action to produce the results you want in your life. You can only act appropriately if your belief system is switched to positive.

You cannot escape the power of belief but you can control it. Practice being aware of all your thought processes in various situations and use the power of belief to your advantage, don’t let it control you. Whatever you dream you can achieve if you strongly believe you can achieve it. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; you get what you expect.

By believing that a desire you have will not come to pass or be fulfilled, whether consciously or unconsciously, what is created happens as a result of your disbelief and the outcome produced is more of what you did not want.

Conversely, if you were to have a firm and positively decisive desire and were to hold fast to your belief that your desire will become reality, it must manifest exactly as you ‘believe’ that it will. It Must! Any other outcome would go against the laws of creation. That is how important and powerful the power of belief really is. It is through and due to the power of belief that an outcome is, and always must be, created.
We have already established that the basis of our belief system was taught to us as children. It does not stop there; however, as throughout our lives we receive input from a huge number of sources such as friends, books, business associates, media influences, etc. In fact the sources of knowledge and information that form our current beliefs are virtually unlimited.

So how do you establish a new and powerful belief system? The only way is to change your thinking habits and to input new information. Unless you change what you know, you will continue to believe and act in a manner contrary to your best interests. You need to objectively look at your beliefs up to the present and find out which beliefs led to failures in the past. We learn from failure as well as success. Past failures should prompt you to change the conduct that led to it or your future will play out the same way as your past. Learn also from other people’s experiences; their failures and their successes. Both success and failure involve future consequences so it is wise to gain the knowledge you need to avoid problems that may arise.

You will find that success comes to you when you have been able to build an inner knowing that you can do anything you set your mind to. That process must always begin at the level of your consciousness which is why it is so important for those desiring a greater quality of life, to develop and begin consciously to utilise their mind power. Refuse to listen to the voice of negativity but determine to listen to the quiet voice of success which often has to struggle to be heard. You will learn to know the right voice to listen to because if it is not leading toward the achievement of your goal then you will know it is the voice to ignore. Discipline yourself, also, to change your attitude to one of positive and affirming commitment to success until that attitude is firmly settled into your subconscious mind. Continue to commit to change any aspect of your current belief system that has the capacity to come between you and your dreams.

Other ways of expanding your belief system for success are to be a good observer and a good listener. All events affect us and if we are sensitive to what is going on around us we can capitalise on opportunities that present themselves to those who are constantly alert. When new ideas come your way, be prepared to listen and weigh them up against your checks and balances to determine what you should do about them. Whatever level of action you deem to be correct will ultimately decide your beliefs. There is a saying, “You change your beliefs when you allow yourself the luxury of critical thinking.”

It is often a good idea, also, to learn from the successes of others by making a study of people who do well. The truly assured people have a belief in themselves, i.e. a faith in their ability, their worth and their talents.

All of these basic activities can lead to a feeling of achievement as you develop new and positive beliefs which lead to a life of happiness and success.

As already mentioned, the foundation of your life is made up of what you believe about the world around you and your place in it. The great thing is that you get to choose. Beliefs are powerful because we can choose what we want to believe. Certainly, we have the beliefs we were taught as children; however, as adults we can consciously choose to hold on to those beliefs that are valid and change the rest. Choose your beliefs carefully, however, and base them on reality, not faulty perceptions from the past. Take care to choose beliefs that are non-limiting to allow you to work toward your potential. Just as the sum total of our past decisions has led us to where we are today, the decisions we make today will lead us to the rewards or the regrets of the future. If we want to make wise choices we must control our thoughts. Jim Rohn says, “What we think determines what we believe; what we believe influences what we choose; what we choose defines what we are; and what we are attracts what we have.”

Right now your brain is full of a number of beliefs and feelings about yourself, all of which influence your day-to-day outcomes. Become aware, therefore, what your current beliefs are and examine how they might be affecting the level of confidence being displayed in your outward actions. If you want to change, stop thinking about and believing that you are a product of your past and start acting and behaving like the person you want to be. Nothing ever changes if you don’t do anything different. If you recognise your belief system to be limiting, make it your intention to take action for change. Don’t listen to what other people believe you to be. Listen to your own spirit deep within you; it has the answers to all your questions.

We were not born with our belief systems in place. We put them there and if we put them there, we can change them. They weren’t established immediately, so it may take some time to replace them, but it can be done with consistent effort. To change a limiting belief, it is most effective to work backwards from your desired result. Ask yourself questions about what outcome you want and what is holding you back. Be truthful with yourself. Become aware of the negative beliefs and make a list. Examine the beliefs and write another list accentuating all the things you did well in your past, as well as the people you have helped. Check your thoughts and the words you speak and make an effort to change them. Becoming aware of the changes that need to be made is the first step toward a positive outlook. When you change your belief system your emotions and actions also change. Stay consistent and you will win.