Perhaps the most powerful single factor in your financial success is your belief about yourself and money. We call this the Law of Belief. It says simply this, “Whatever you believe, with feeling, becomes your reality.” We have a tendency to block out any information coming in to us that is inconsistent with our reality.
What successful people believe
Studies have shown that successful people absolutely believe that they have the ability to succeed. They will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they will fail. They do not even consider the possibility of failure.
Positive thinking versus positive knowing
You always act in a manner consistent with your beliefs. The most important belief system you can build is a prosperity consciousness – where you absolutely believe that you are going to achieve your financial goals. We call this positive knowing versus positive thinking. Positive thinking can sometimes be wishing or hoping. But positive knowing is when you absolutely know that, no matter what, you will be successful.
The foundation of willpower
Another principle related to your beliefs is willpower. We know that willpower is essential to any success. Willpower is based on confidence. It’s based on conviction. It’s based on faith. It’s based on your belief in your ability to triumph over all obstacles. You can develop willpower by persistence, by working on your goals, by reading the biographies of successful people, by listening to audio programs and by reading books about people who’ve achieved success. The more information you take into your mind consistent with success, the more likely it is that you will develop the willpower to push through the obstacles and difficulties you will experience.
Beat the odds on success
Remember that success is rare. Only one person in one hundred becomes wealthy in the course of a lifetime. Only five per cent achieve financial independence. That means that the odds against you are 19-to-1. The only way that you’re going to achieve your financial goals is if you get really serious. To succeed, you must get serious. You must get busy. You must get active. You must get going. Remember, everything counts.
Resolve to achieve greatly
Self-mastery, self-control, and self-discipline are essential for anyone who wants to achieve greatly. Control over your thoughts is the hardest exercise in self-mastery that you will ever engage in. See if you can talk and think about only what you desire and not talk or think about anything that you don’t want for 24 hours. Continually repeat to yourself the words, pictures and thoughts consistent with your dreams and goals.
Whatever you repeat often enough, over and over, becomes a new belief. It’s a hard thing to do at first but with practice, you can reach the point where you are thinking about your goals and desires most of the time. If you can focus your mind on your goals for 24 hours, you can begin to change your entire future.
Believe in goal-setting
In our conversations with hundreds of top salespeople and business owners over the years, we have found that they all have one thing in common. They have taken the time to sit down and create a clear blueprint for themselves and their future lives. Even if they started the process of goal setting and personal strategic planning with a little scepticism, every one of them has become a true believer.
Becoming a true believer
Successful people have been amazed at the incredible power of goal setting and strategic planning. Each one of them has accomplished far more than they ever believed possible and they ascribe their success to the deliberate process of thinking through every aspect of their work and their lives and then developing a detailed, written road map to get them to where they wanted to go. This is possible for anyone.
The definition of happiness
Happiness has been defined as, “The progressive achievement of a worthy ideal or goal.” When you are working progressively, step-by-step toward something that is important to you, you generate within yourself a continuous feeling of success and achievement.
You feel more positive and motivated. You feel more in control of your own life. You feel happier and more fulfilled. You feel like a winner, and you soon develop thep sychological momentum that enables you o overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you move toward achieving the goals that are most important to you.
Determine your values
Personal strategic planning begins with determining what it is you believe in and stand for. These are your values and they lie at the very core of everything you are as a human being. Your values are the unifying
principles and underlying beliefs of your personality and your character. The virtues and qualities that you stand for are what constitute the person you have become from the beginning of your life to this moment.
Your values, virtues and inner beliefs are the axle around which the wheel of your life turns. All improvement in your life begins with you clarifying your true values and then committing yourself to live consistently with
them.
Fuzzy or clear?
Successful people are successful because they are very clear about their values. Unsuccessful people are fuzzy or unsure. Complete failures have no real values at all.
Build self-confidence and self-esteem
Values clarification is the first exercise in building self-confidence, self-esteem and personal character. When you take the time to think through your fundamental values, and then commit yourself to living your life consistently with them, you feel a surge of mental strength and well-being. You feel stronger and more capable. You feel more centred in the universe and more competent of accomplishing the goals you set for yourself.
Action exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, decide for yourself what makes you truly happy and then organize your life around it. Write down your goals and make plans to achieve them. Visit www.briantracyanz.com and download a great personal goals survey.
Second, formulate your values by deciding what it is you stand for and believe in most. Commit yourself to live a life in line with your inner most convictions.
Finally, identify your areas of weakness. Next, take action to increase efficiency and effectiveness in these areas. Personal development and business training can help you clarify your goals and develop the skills you need to achieve them. If your aim is to be among the top five per cent of people who achieve financial independence, you must build a belief system consistent with the success you desire and you must believe in the power of personal strategic goal-setting.
This article was prepared by Andrew Phillips and Brian Tracy.
Andrew Phillips is the owner and CEO of Brian Tracy International ANZ. Andrew is a recognised expert in sales and leadership training and specializes in helping businesses and individuals achieve their goals faster than they ever imagined.
For over two decades, Brian Tracy International has been recognised as one of the world’s premier training and development companies, helping millions of individuals and businesses solve personal, professional, and organizational challenges.
For more information please contact:
Andrew Phillips
Phone: 1800 634 227
Mobile: 0418 500 721
Email: andrew@briantracyanz.com
Web: www.briantracyanz.com