As outlined and discussed in three previous articles, the first three essential keys to success are know your goal, know your plan and know why you want to achieve your goal. The fourth imperative step is to know you can – to have the self-confidence and belief that you can achieve your goal.
Supreme confidence coupled with your ability to succeed is what propels you forward to achieve your goal. You must develop an “I will not be denied” attitude. Confidence and belief in yourself is what keeps you pushing forward, conquering obstacles in your way instead of retreating. Confidence is the backbone behind your ultimate success.
In order to build belief in your- self and supreme self-confidence, you must do the following:
1. Recognize You Are Already Successful
Everyone had had both successes and failures in life. To build self confidence, you must make a firm and conscious decision to focus on your successes and not your failures. Other people and society in general will tend to focus on your failures. If you listen only to them, you will never develop belief in your potential. You, and you alone are responsible for deciding what to believe. If you listen to successful self-confident people, you will notice that they almost never say they failed. Instead, they will call it a mistake, a foul up, a delay, a misunderstanding, a hiccup, a challenge, a bump and even an opportunity. In other words, they refuse to recognize failure.
2. Develop Written Goals and Plans
Having a clear-cut plan of where you want to go and what you need to do to accomplish your goals provides a feeling of self-assurance. Just by having a plan and crystallizing your thinking, you automatically provide yourself with the confidence of knowing how you can achieve your goals.
“Supreme confidence coupled with your ability to succeed is what propels you forward to achieve your goal. You must develop an ‘I will not be denied’ attitude.”
The greatest obstacle to self-confidence and belief is fear. When you fear the outcome of some course of action, you lack confidence. Fear comes from the unknown. Fear thrives on cloudy, hazy, misty and fuzzy planning. The way to annihilate fear is to crystallize your thinking on exactly what you want and specifically how you will attain it. The best way to do this is to write it down as detailed as possible.
3. Know Yourself
In order to invoke real and long-lasting change, you must change your attitudes and your habits. By looking at yourself and gaining the self-knowledge that you must make internal attitude changes in order to act in new and different ways, you have laid a framework for building confidence. Knowing where you stand now in your beliefs and where you want to go is a major step in developing your assurance that you can get there. Practice the habits and attitudes that you want to develop. The best way to learn is by action, not just words.
4. Gain Experience
Practical experience is by far the best tool for developing a supreme belief in your ability. A person who has been in a situation is infinitely more confident when faced with the same situation than a person who only has second-hand knowledge.
Don’t shy away from seemingly difficult or challenging tasks. Even stressful situations can be catalysts for tremendous self-confidence. If you put yourself in situations that push you to your full potential, your confidence and personal leadership will grow exponentially. In addition, you will be much more likely to tackle new experiences with enthusiasm, rather than fear.
Belief in yourself is one of the greatest assets that you can have in life. It is the cornerstone of success. Without self-confidence, you are doomed to a lifetime of mediocrity and fear of winning. Fortunately, if you do not have confidence in yourself, you can build and develop it. By focusing on past successes, crystallizing your goals and plans, knowing yourself and gaining experience, you are well on your way to supreme confidence – and ultimately to success.
By Randy Slechta, CEO / President of Leadership Management International, Inc. a global leadership and organizational development company.
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