Of all the things that go towards shaping our destiny, it is
our belief in our own abilities which has the greatest
influence. Our level of self belief determines whether we
succeed or fail to achieve our dreams and ambitions. As Henry
Ford said "If you think you can, you're right. If you think you
can't, you're right."
I was watching a program on the Biography Channel the other day
which illustrated the truth of Henry Ford's words and
highlighted the importance of self-belief. The subject of this
program dropped out of the educational system without a degree,
in fact, he quit school before he even reached college age and
left school with woefully inadequate qualifications. The reason
for this academic failure was a combination of dyslexia and
general lack of interest in school work.
Sadly, the lack of academic achievement was accompanied by a
complete lack of prowess on the sports field. To top it all
off, as well as being a dunce and a sporting failure, the poor
kid was not even good looking. He did not have rich parents to
give him financial support . His parents were not business
owners, so there was no chance of a career via nepotism. He had
no obvious skills or talent, so a career as an artist or
musician was not an option.
This sounded like the stereotypical beginning for a person who
will at best survive by taking low-paid employment and, at
worst, will drift into a life of crime as a way of snatching
what he is incapable of earning. His school headmaster is
credited with saying on his premature departure from the
education system, `I feel sure you will either end up in prison
or become a millionaire'. To entertain the idea that this
person had any prospect of becoming a millionaire, you would
have to know his character. We can only see the external
disadvantages, the headmaster was aware of the strength of
character and depth of self belief existing within this person.
That self-belief more than made up for any lack of education and
academic qualifications.
One thing the prospective jailbird/millionaire had was the
ability to spot a niche for a new business. No, this is not a
story of luck bringing an instant rags to riches transformation.
Unfortunately his first two business ventures failed miserably.
Did this set him on a path of serial business failures? Not at
all, the failures probably taught him valuable lessons. He
started the first business at the age of seven, so the chances
of real success were pretty remote! The fact that he had
sufficient self-belief to start his first business before he
even reached his teenage years gives us a clue as to his
character.
The condensed version of the rest of this biography is that the
"hero" of the story built a successful business before he
reached his twenties, was a millionaire by the age of 25 and was
the owner of a Caribbean island before he was thirty. He did
not stop working then, he went on from flamboyant success to
even bigger flamboyant success, setting records and achieving
the apparently impossible.
The subject of the TV program was Sir Richard Branson who is,
at the time of writing, a billionaire several times over. He
has attributed his success to hard work, belief in his business
ventures and a willingness to take risks. These risks have
included the well publicised (and life threatening) hot-air
balloon journeys, starting a business on borrowed capital and
taking risks in business where the potential losses were huge.
It is self-belief which made it possible to take those risks.
Without belief in himself, Richard Branson would not have dared
to borrow the money to start his first business as a magazine
publisher after leaving school. Without self-belief the balloon
challenges would not have been contemplated. Without
self-belief the ambition to own an airline would have remained
just a dream.
"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting
challenges, and I believe in myself". Those words were said by
Muhammad Ali but they sum up the essence of what makes any
person able to reach his goals in life. We must learn to sow
and cultivate self-belief if we wish to achieve the harvest of
our dreams.
(c)About The Author: For more information about self motivation in
business visit Elaine Currie's Work At Home Website: http://www.HuntingVenus.com
and find even more articles at the Work At Home Income Directory Article Directory at 
