Stop Believing You Will Fail Before You Begin

Today and throughout history, there have been people that seemed to accomplish the impossible. Whether it was to climb to the top of the highest mountain, sail the impossible sea, or locate a missing civilization, those individuals believed they could do something everyone else said was impossible, yet they did it anyway – and succeeded. There have also been individuals that failed to accomplish even the most basic goal. So what is the difference between these two types of people?

The difference between the two is confidence and believing they can accomplish whatever they set mind to. Oftentimes, people who don’t succeed at relatively easy tasks convinced themselves they would fail before they even began. Many people don’t realize that the mind is incredibly powerful and can have a real influence on behavior. Here are three ways you can stop believing you will fail, so you give yourself the best chance to succeed.

1. Learn To Be Patient With Yourself

Everyone must learn to crawl or scoot before they can walk, just as they must learn to read a book before they can write a novel. If you are one of those people that wants to reach for stars, but you don’t want to learn how to get there, you are setting yourself up for failure. Whether it is losing the last five pounds you want to battle, the promise to yourself about writing a chapter in your novel each day, or dedicating yourself to volunteer three evenings a week to the nearby homeless shelter, if you find yourself being too inflexible, you will become discouraged and disheartened after the first time you miss your self-imposed deadline. That will set you up to look at yourself as a failure.

2. Accept Change To Experience Growth

Few people like to throw their world into chaos by changing what they are familiar with, but it is often the change that causes growth. An example would be finding a job in a new city to change our lifestyle, ending a relationship with a toxic friend, or getting help to end an addiction. Holding onto what is comfortable is admitting you don’t believe you can succeed in changing the pattern of destructive behavior or thought patterns that you recognize as harmful. If you don’t believe you can change, how will you ever break the pattern that haunts you?

3. Think in Positives, Not Negatives

When you feel down, the world looks bleak. Doors appear to be shut, time seems to drag, and everyone looks like they are frowning at you. Negative things are sure to happen in your life, but research has shown that if you expect the negative to rule your life, it will because it appears to be contagious and magnetic. That is, if you look for negativity, you will find it – and share it with others. Sadly, being blue, sad, lonely, unhappy, and grouchy are emotions that are all part of life, but they don’t have to take over your life. If you are having a bad moment, realize it is just a moment. If you expect bad days, bad weeks, or bad months, you are setting yourself up for long negative times in your life instead of a bad moment surrounded by good thoughts, laughter with friends, and relaxing hours.

You can’t control your entire world, but you can believe in yourself when the unexpected pops into your life to throw your world into chaos. Understand that you have the ability to react in different ways to any given situation and remember to be flexible as you keep in mind, you can do it – no matter what it is. If you take that first baby step, pick yourself up when you fall, and lean on someone for help when you need it, you can do anything you believe you can. All you need to do is stop believing you will fail and start believing you will succeed.