Who Do You Think You Are?
“Who do you think you are?” Has anyone ever asked you this question? And if someone has, can you remember what your answer was?
Knowing the answer to this question and realizing why you have a specific picture of yourself in your mind is crucial to becoming successful, wealthy, and happy.
Your failures and suffering, as well as your successes and happiness, are directly linked to the way you think. What you think creates emotions. Your emotions trigger what and how you say things. What you say stimulates your actions. Repeating your actions or behavior becomes a habit and your habit becomes you.
Perhaps you are like the billions of other people in the world; you aren’t sure of who you really are anymore. What you experienced, what other people said about you, and what you think others think about you could have created a negative image in your mind. One that tells you that others are better than you, that you are a loser and a failure.
As we grew up, we are often deceived by parental figures, peer groups, subjective educators, misinformed and negative people, fake news on the TV, in newspapers and magazines, and by the massively influential social media wave most of us partake in. These influences manipulate and “brainwash” us. We’re led to think negative thoughts about ourselves, others and the world around us. This leaves us living in a negative state full of suffering.
If you really desire to live your dream, to achieve your goals, to become successful and wealthy, and be happy – you can do it! Regardless of whether you believe it or not, what anyone else has been telling you, or what the world wants you to believe!
But you need to make a decision to change your thinking. You need to set higher standards, strive to lift your levels of excellence, and find your core motivator – that thing that creates a burning desire deep inside you; that thing that will propel you towards your goal.
The Cycle of Success
If you read or listen to the success stories of people like Ford, Edison, Disney and many others, one thing repeats itself like a refrain. They all had to acquire this before they mastered their professions or creations and became successful. We all need it as well. We all use it and even pay for it to be able to make a living and to excel in this world. Without it, it is as good as impossible to become successful.
It is the first and most basic requirement in the pursuit of your dream. It triggers the other elements in the cycle of success that create more success.
This important element is KNOWLEDGE.
KNOWLEDGE
The better you know and understand how something works, the better you are equipped to use it, to work with it and to utilize it to create whatever you want to achieve.
Have you ever bought something like a bassinet for a baby, a model airplane or ship, or a piece of furniture you had to assemble before you could use it?
If you didn’t know how to do it, you had a few options: get someone with the necessary knowledge or expertise to do it for you, or start assembling it through the time consuming process of trial and error. Another and the better option would be to follow the instructions in the user’s manual. Doing this would enable you to do it correctly and timely the first time.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Can you remember the feeling you experienced when you tried to do something and it worked? It felt great, didn’t it?
When you graduated from school, mastered a course, received your driving permit, pocketed your first paycheck, assembled a doll house for the kids, when you baked a cake or cooked a meal everyone raved about, you felt so good and proud of what you achieved. It made you believe you could do anything! What you achieved was proof that you can succeed in what you set out to do!
Most people don’t grasp this important truth. To become successful and rich, you need the necessary knowledge and understanding to create your product or make your undertaking, business or whatever you want to do, work. But then you must put the knowledge to the test by taking action on it. Only by taking action and applying the knowledge will you see results. Then when the results are satisfactory, you know you are on the right track. You measure your outcome by the results your actions yield.
Failing to produce the results you want is an indicator that you have to adapt or change what you were doing to make it work. Then, when you have the desired results, it will boost your self-confidence to keep on doing it despite obstacles you might encounter. This is the truth that’s common knowledge among successful people, but unfortunately it has remained a secret among the “poor”.
PERSISTENCE
The self-confidence you now have, the belief in yourself and your abilities, the proof of your success based on the results you achieved, motivates you to persist in with what you’re doing until you achieve what you want. You have tasted successes, perhaps in the form of a payment, and you are not allowing anything or anyone to keep you from reaching bigger achievements.
When you encounter obstacles or experience negative results, so-called failures, you don’t quit. You keep on working until you have solved the problem and learned what you need to get the best results. Remember Edison’s goal to create a long lasting practical light bulb? He did more than 10 000 experiments before he accomplished it. He never gave up. He pursued his dream and was willing to do what it took to make it a reality.
Unfortunately, this is also the most difficult phase in the cycle of success. Not everyone makes it past the step of persistence. Perhaps about 95% of people quit right at this stage. The reasons differ from person to person.
Some say: ”It is too difficult to accomplish.” or “It is taking too long to get results.” or “I don’t think it will work for me.” or “I don’t have the money to spend on this.” or “The person that introduced me to this business made it all look good, but it isn’t that easy. He just wanted to make a commission.” or: “The time is not right now, I will try it later.” For many the “fear of failure” causes them to quit even before they start!
HARVEST
Too many people never reach the goals that could change their lives because they lack persistence. They give up before their harvest arrives. All they needed to do was to persist for another hour or perhaps a day. So near and yet so far! Perhaps the most difficult thing is to make a decision, commit to it and start taking action. Once that is done, the rest is just diligence and tenacity. It boils down to the fact that if something is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.
Until now you may have been focusing on aspects that were the opposite of what you wanted or expected at that time, instead of on the WHY you are doing it to inspire you to persist. Andy Frisella said: “Instead of thinking on how hard your journey is, think how great your story will be.”
Remember how Henry Ford, Edison, Disney and many others became successful? They didn’t always have it their way and failed many times. But, they had a vision of their goal and were motivated with a burning desire to achieve it. They learned and gained knowledge even through their failures; they kept on acting on their vision, sometimes starting from scratch more than once and kept going regardless of how long it took.
FINANCIAL FREEDOM
Being desperate to change your life from having enough to being able to live the lifestyle you and your loved ones deserve, you tend to grasp at straws. Especially in a situation where you are afraid the bank might repossess your vehicle or start foreclosing on your house. This is when it is easy to become negative and desperate, making the wrong decisions and ultimately orchestrating your own downfall.
Did you know that, on average, at least ten CEO’S of some of the biggest companies in the world went bankrupt seven times before they made it big? They had a dream, a goal and a reason that motivated them. They learned and acquired knowledge wherever and whenever they could, especially through their failures and bankruptcies.
They refused to give up and quit on their dreams. They started over again and again until they reaped their harvest, making them financially independent. Wasn’t that what Henry Ford and other successful people did?
Perhaps you think you aren’t in the same league as them and tell yourself and others you will never be that successful and rich. Or perhaps someone else keeps telling you that you’ll never be like that. But, you know what? Very few of the most successful and richest people thought they would make it as big as they did.
Some started out small scale and with little money, but with a big dream and great determination. They just followed the steps of the Cycle of Success, building their businesses step by step and the rest is history. The point is: never sell yourself short, never lose hope! Keep the faith and your dream alive, keep on reading and to find out what you need to help you become successful and live the life you want.
APPLICABLE TO YOU
Remember not to be narrow-minded about the Cycle of Success. It applies to many more areas of life than just business. For example, the steps of the Cycle of Success is also applicable to relationships, to raising kids, playing sports, working a job, taking up a hobby, cooking, baking, and many other skills you already have or want to acquire.
Think about things you do on a daily basis. Could you perform those tasks the first time you tried? It is actually amazing when you realize the process you went through and how you applied the steps of the Cycle of Success to become skillful and successful in what you are already doing. When you think how effectively you use your skills every day I hope you will have a light bulb-moment, realizing how great and successful you already are in most things you do!
Yes, it’s true. You are more successful than what you thought. And that counts for just about every aspect of your life! Everything you’ve done, no matter what, spells success. The results might not always be what you want, but at least you tried. As you become more knowledgeable and keep on doing it, the results create self-confidence and now you do it without thinking about it.