“Your success depends
mainly upon what you think of yourself and whether you believe in yourself. You
can succeed if nobody else believes it; but you will never succeed if you don’t
believe in yourself.” -William Boetcker
What we think and believe is
paramount. What we think of ourselves and believe about ourselves is what
determines our ability to succeed. Before we can ever actually succeed at any
endeavor, we must first believe we can. Even the simplest definition of success,
the pursuit of a worthy ideal or goal, requires the ability to believe success
is possible.
Many of the most amazing
accomplishments recorded throughout history have been achieved despite the
disbelief of the majority. Great achievers set their sights on a prize and
commit to the attainment of that prize despite all the doubts, all the
criticism, and all the naysayers. If the doers had listened to the doubters, we
wouldn’t have been to the moon, we wouldn’t regularly circumnavigate the globe,
and I certainly wouldn’t be typing this message on my iPad.
William Boetcker was a
believer. He came to America from Hamburg, Germany, and quickly made a name for
himself as an eloquent motivational speaker. He became an ordained minister,
but his notoriety came from his speaking and his writing. He established
himself with his own belief and his ability to inspire others to believe in
themselves. And remarkably, he did this in the early 1900s, long before
motivational speakers were a mainstay of American culture.
“Our greatest weakness
lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one
more time.” -Thomas A. Edison
If there ever was
a true secret or formula for success, the advice captured in this quote by
Edison might actually be the missing ingredient in the formula. Is it possible
the difference between success and failure could be separated by the
willingness to try just one more time?
We all have
elements of our personality and behavior which are typically categorized as
either strengths or weaknesses. It has been suggested we focus on developing
our strengths and manage around our weaknesses. If our greatest weakness lies
in giving up, the easy work around is to simply remind ourselves to try one
more time.
How is it that
Edison developed this incredible capacity for persistence? To really
understand, we need look no further than his early beginnings in childhood.
Edison was considered both a troubled and a troubling child. He was reported to
be incredibly hyperactive and disruptive. His first teacher quickly lost
patience with him and he was ultimately withdrawn from public school and taught
at home by his mother instead.
His early
education was grounded in scientific textbooks. This introduction to science
provided the foundation for his future. Edison viewed the scientific method as
a way of eliminating ideas that wouldn’t work. In other words, he realized
every wrong attempt discarded would bring him closer to success. He knew if he “failed”
enough times, he would succeed. His method was to actually fail systematically.
Yes, he embraced failure because he never viewed a failed experiment as
“failure.” Also key to the process was his vision. He had seen a
working incandescent light bulb in his mind’s eye and therefore knew it was
possible. He knew a solution existed. He made a commitment to persist until he
succeeded.
“The key to
success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we
fear.” -Brian Tracy
Most of the things we either fear or worry about will never come to pass. They
have no real relevance in our lives other than the power or value we assign
them.
Life is a sea of distractions. It’s very easy to get caught up in current
events and all of the distractions arising from following the details of those
events. The real questions to ask are how these events will directly impact our
lives and what results we desire. When we take the time to question these and
focus our effort and energy on what is most important to us, we also gain
control over our thoughts and activate our goal seeking system.
When we focus, we
literally concentrate all of our energy on the task or challenge in front of
us. We can accomplish more in thirty minutes of focused thinking than
we might accomplish in an entire day without a focused plan. We must keep our
focus on the task and take steps toward reaching our goal.
We must ask ourselves What skills do we need to improve?What
activities will yield the greatest return on our investment of time and
energy? Answering these questions will help our focus stay on the task
instead of shifting to areas that are not part of the advancement toward our
goal.
Answering these questions will focus our efforts on what we desire and squarely
place worry and fear where they belong, outside of the scope of our
concentrated effort and energy.
We must always keep our focus on what we desire because our thoughts attract
events. If our thoughts are focused on what we don’t want and what we try to
avoid, we might attract just that.
Like
most people, before Bobby rode in his first Pan-Mass Challenge, he had this
story that ran through his head. He wasn’t aware it was there. It’d been a part
of his life for so long that he never even thought about it. That story was I
am not a cyclist. It dictated his choices in how he looked at and thought
about riding bikes. Well, it did… until the day he was challenged to change
that story.
Before
Bobby wrote this book, he had a story in his head that said, I am not a
writer. That story dictated his choices in how he looked at and
thought about writing a book… until the day he was challenged to change that
story.
You
probably have a story in your own head that you may not even be aware is there
that tells you I am not a … (fill in the blank with whatever
it is you don’t believe is part of your identity). That story will dictate your
choices and thoughts about who you are, how the world works, and what you are
capable of doing until you decide to take control of the story and change it.
This is your challenge.
Right
now, every decision you make in life is writing a story about who you are, how
the world works, and what you are personally capable of doing. The results you
produce are the evidence your mind uses to convince you that the story is true.
But you aren’t at the end of your story yet. You are just in the middle.
If
you do not like the current story being written, now is your opportunity to
change it. Read this book. Follow this framework. Let it lead you on a journey
to prove to yourself that you can be whatever or whoever it is you want to
become. All you have to do is COMMIT and then figure it out.
