You Don't Have To Believe In Yourself To Achieve Success
Let me explain...
When I was younger I struggled badly with self-belief.
Someone (can't remember who) said in passing "you need to believe in yourself"
* slaps forehead * why didn't I think of that.
The following day I had a revelation...
What if I didn't HAVE to believe in myself.
What if I wrote down my goals and created actionable steps to achieve them.
Even on my darkest days, I would still get shit done because I would know the steps I needed to take for that day.
This made much more sense to me. And guess what...
It worked for me. Even though I didn't believe in myself I still achieved success.
Don't get me wrong "believing in yourself" still works for a lot of people. So if it works for you then great - keep doing it. But for me and many others, it doesn't. and that's who I'm writing to.
I hope these words can be beneficial to you.
As a creative, I tend to deal with self-esteem issues more. Most creative people feel the same. And those 3 words don't help.
When your identity is tied up in your work, it puts an insane amount of pressure on you to perform. It can be crippling.
Putting yourself out there is hard, it's even harder when people don't like your work. You can't shrug it off, you take it personally.
Which leads to the lil devil on your shoulder whispering "I told you so"
Followed by self-doubt and before you know it people are telling you to "believe in yourself"
You're on the hamster wheel my friend.
First off let me start by saying this...
You don't have to believe in yourself to get shit done but you do have to take action.
You may BELIEVE you can become an Olympian. But unless you put the ACTION into showing up every single day and putting in the work. Guess what nothing will happen.
Believing in yourself is NOT enough to create success...
You need action.
Some of the most successful people on the planet are introverts who struggle with social anxieties.
But they don't let that get in their way of success. They don't tell themselves to "believe in themselves".
No, they tell themselves "I want this more than I want to be shy."
People who achieve success do so with consistent action — but they don’t do it alone.
Ask yourself:
- Are you surrounding yourself with positive, action-oriented people?
- Are you putting yourself in situations where you are inspired to take action?
- Have you supportive people on hand to chat with when things get difficult?
Seek out environments where taking action is reinforced. Surround yourself with people who are pursuing similar goals. Spend less time with negative people.And invest in new relationships that bring value to your life.
Whatever it is your trying to pursue. Writing, art, design. You're going to start off badly and eventually, after enough repetitions you slowly get better at it. Bad is just the starting point of good and good is the starting point of perfection...
That’s why 99% of us don’t want to share anything because we don’t want to be seen as bad in our field. We don’t want to be seen as an amateur so we never share our work.
This is the only difference between you and the people you aspire to be like. At the beginning of their journey, they accept that their work is never going to be perfect.
It took Thomas Edison 10,000 attempts to create a light bulb. It took James Dyson 5,126 tries to invent a bagless vacuum cleaner.
Whether we like it or not, failure is a vital stepping stone to fulfilling our dreams.
How many times did you fail before you gave up on something?
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
-Chinese Proverb
Turn yourself into someone who gets on with it.
When an idea hits you, don't wait around. Act on it and move forward with it immediately.
Have you ever said to anyone, “I'm going to write a blog post next week” and then next week you sat around and watched Netflix?
Next time stop, make a plan and act on it.
Do you want to launch a freelance business? Do it today.
When you pause and wait, you procrastinate, you look at funny videos of cats.
You lose the drive to move forward and you allow self-doubt to creep into your mind.
Crushing that important task first thing in the morning sets the tone for a powerhouse day. It's a solid plan in theory.
But in reality, you will have days where motivation isn't there.
The days when motivation is at an all-time low and the gotta-dos you don't wanna do are stacking up.
That’s life. But don't let it drag you down into a pit of inactivity and self-pity.
I have found that the best thing for these situations is to start very small. Take baby steps towards your goal. Beginning with small tasks can help you build momentum. Start by…
- Going for a 10 min walk (my fav)
- Writing for a few minutes
- Putting your gym clothes on first thing
After you complete the task you can then go about your day...
But I guarantee you that once you are doing the task and in motion, you won't stop. You will continue taking action for a little bit longer.
These small tasks will add up over time and will help you build confidence by seeing achievements
You know that feeling. You sit down at your computer. Ready to create your masterpiece. But what happens? You end up getting sucked into the vortex of emails, social media, and endless internet browsing.
We live in a world of constant noise, and it can be very distracting. But don't let those distractions hold you back.
Here are ten tips for banishing distractions and getting things done, like a boss:
- Silence your phone. Close irrelevant tabs. Get rid of anything that might ping or bleep at you during work hours.
- Make a list of the most important things you need to get done and take action on them first.
- Group similar tasks together so you can get into a flow state and get more done in less time.
- Set up a designated workspace that encourages productivity.
- Take regular breaks to step away from your work to recharge and refocus.
- Limits can actually increase creativity. Try setting constraints for your work and see what happens.
- Sometimes the hardest part is getting started, so dive in and the momentum will follow.
- Declutter your workspace, inbox and to-do list to make it easier to focus on what's important.
- Experiment with productivity tools, apps, and software that can help you stay focused.
- Surround yourself with things that inspire you. Remind yourself of why you're doing what you're doing.
Remember, if you want something you've never had before, you have to do something you've never done before.
So stop believing in yourself.
Stop waiting for shit to happen...
Instead get off your hands, set goals and take actionable steps every day towards getting shit done.
You can do it.
I believe in y...
SIKE!!!
- Dave
