Success Law 3: The Law of Belief

Seven Laws that Guarantee Your Career and Business Success

Just like a first class meal at a five star restaurant these postings are spaced so you can dine slowly and digest as you go. You’ve had the first and second courses and now you should be ready to enjoy our next course which is another fine mini repast for your distinguished palette. You are hungry aren’t you? May I be your maitre d’?

The third law of career and business success is the Law of Belief. It declares that whatever you believe with emotion or feeling becomes your reality. The more intensely you believe something the more it will become true for you. Your beliefs whether wise or foolish, positive or negative will become deeply imbedded in both your words and your actions and will manifest themselves in the results you see.

Over 35 years ago I heard a wise teacher share the following truth. “You are today who you are, what you are and where you are because of your believing. You will be tomorrow where your believing takes you. No person can achieve more than he can believe and no one can believe more than what he is taught.” So, where are you? Where has your believing brought you in your career and business success thus far? Is it where you want to be? If not, it can be changed.

Belief acts as a filter causing you to filter out things you don’t want to see or hear. Typically, it then welcomes those things that already agree with what you believe. The truth is, you don’t believe what you see, you see what you believe, be it fact or fantasy, right or wrong.

The sad fact is that many beliefs that we hold so firmly are far from the truth. They have been given to us or even forced on us beginning at a very early age by a variety of sources many of whom are well meaning (like parents or teachers) but nonetheless not always right or well informed. If you are not consciously and consistently holding your beliefs up for careful consideration you are prone to being one of the masses blindly led by the nose.

As a business coach and mentor I see this frequently with the people I work with. They have engrained a belief, an attitude or a mental picture that is hindering or even crushing their potential, but they can’t recognize it. Helping them see this erroneous belief and breaking free from its death grip can be challenging because it has become part of who they are. Slowly as they begin to trust me and know that I have their best interest in mind they are able to mentally detach themselves (at least for a moment) to see what this belief is doing to their progress or lack thereof. Freeing yourself from self-limiting beliefs can be like unshackling a prisoner from years or decades of imprisonment. To use a well known phrase, “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last.” Are you ready to be free?

People have one of two basic views or beliefs about life which includes both career and business. Either they have a benevolent or good view of the world or they have a malevolent or bad view of the world. Those who have a benevolent view believe that they have control of their lives and the direction they are going. They feel good about themselves and expect to see and enjoy good from the people and circumstances they encounter. They are optimistic and generally positive about who they are and where they are headed. They have an upbeat mental attitude and they are able to respond positively to challenges in their life.

Those with a malevolent view have a negative and pessimistic view of life. They feel that the cards are stacked against them, they don’t get any lucky breaks and that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer no matter what. They see injustice and misfortune everywhere and don’t have a take charge and move ahead attitude. They typically find themselves with others just like them and thus promote a breeding ground for failure for all. Misery loves company and they have plenty of it.

If you believe you are meant to succeed and you have a destiny to fulfill and your beliefs are built around this personal vision you will press on and move forward despite detours, hardships and unforeseeable circumstances. You will have the career and business success you believe is rightfully yours. And this type of belief works every time as is documented in the lives of thousands of people from centuries ago till the present.

With only a few laws left in this series we’ll have to move quickly to cover the final four laws but we will get it done. Come back after you’ve digested this mental meal and be ready to dine again. The secret will be revealed. Bon Appetit!