We may hear a lot about how it is important for one to believe in oneself, when it comes to the journey of accomplishing something. And no doubt, it is very, very important.
It is easier to do this when one is just starting, or when things are going well. The challenge is keeping it up when things are NOT going as planned.
So when things are not going as planned, how can we keep believing in ourselves to keep going? When things don’t go as planned, it is very common for emotions such as doubt, fear, anxiety, and negativity to start taking root.
I have 3 different ideas you can choose from to help you deal with this. If you’ve been following me recently, you might think that I’ll say something along the lines of practicing gratitude, writing/speaking affirmations, and meditate. While those 3 things are wonderful, and I do advise them to affect your emotional, subconscious mind, I’d like to talk about 3 strategic ideas, to connect with your rational, conscious mind.
1st Strategy - Tell yourself any modicum of success generally needs lots of repetition of attempts. How many times did the Wright brothers try before they got the plane off the ground? How many times did Sylvester Stallone’s script for Rocky get rejected before it got accepted? How many times did your feet have to touch the ground before you could ride the bicycle successfully without training wheels? Repetition and iterations are all part of the process. Sometimes fewer, sometimes more. But whatever you do, do not stop the repetitions of attempts.
2nd Strategy - Tell yourself that the goal will stay the same, but you will forge a new path to get there. Don’t be so quick to use this one. But it is worth talking about, because perhaps there is indeed another way to get to your goal. But don’t rely on shifting your strategies too much, because it may not be the strategy that’s the issue…it might be your lack of discipline towards commitment. But if you are starting to see that an evolution is inevitable, don’t fight it.
3rd Strategy - Tell yourself the fact that you are trying is already ahead of the game. Most people don’t try, and you are in the game. That, in it of itself, is a win.
Yes, believing in oneself is critical to one’s success. It can be challenging when you don’t see the results you’d like to see, after a certain amount of repetitions and iterations have already taken place. So you can tell yourself that it may need more repetitions, or you may need to change strategies, or that even trying is winning.
These are all little hacks to trick your conscious mind to let your subconscious mind know that it’s all good, and you practically believe you’re already successful!