Successful thinking is your key to success, but what exactly is successful thinking?
Why your failures are self-inflicted
While everyone yearns to run their own successful business and thrive, only a few do. In my quest to start and build my own freelance business, I have come across different kinds of people, all with their own dreams and aspirations.
However, I can’t recall how many of them have been able to chase those dreams and aspirations to fruition. If I were to put a statistic to that number, I would probably say less than 10% have gone beyond talking about it. 30% have at least tried, and a bigger percentage has failed.
And that’s when I stopped to ask, why is it so hard to start a business and thrive?
Are there no opportunities that you can take advantage of and make a home run?
Is it incompetence, laziness, lack of skills, or know how that you luck?
NO.
I don’t think so. I have come to realize that the reason you might be struggling is that of your perspective. Is your successful thinking intact or is it the reason you are STAGNANT? Because your train of thought is pessimistic!
You need to think like a successful person or employ positive thinking techniques in order to succeed.
If it’s anything to go by, I would say………….
It’s all in the mind!
With the people I have interacted and shared with, one thing has come out strong. It seems like there are invisible scripts about making it or earning more than you currently are.
Truth be told, I have found myself suffering from the same perspective from time to time. But I have realized that they are false perceptions that have no bearing on my success.
Neither do they have any power over my ability to succeed (this is the train of thought I refer to as successful thinking).
Here are some of those false convictions that might be holding you back.
My ideas are not good enough
This mostly manifests itself in two forms. On one side, you might be thinking that your idea is not good enough. Often, this is because as human beings, and lately, we have adopted a sort of perspective I refer to
as ‘monkey see, monkey do’.
What this means is that we look at what other people are doing and we want to do the same. You look at the likes of Google or Facebook and suddenly, your idea seems bleak.
And because it seems like you would need some magic to come up with a business like these tech giants, you end up feeling stuck.
On those times you believe your idea is the next big thing, you realize that it has been implemented by someone else. In some cases when it hasn’t, you can’t seem to find a reason why anyone would pay for it.
And for that, you shelve it until you have a better idea.
Besides, who wants to start something if it’s not brilliant, right?
Wrong!
On the other hand, you might have one too many ideas. Surprisingly, having too many ideas is not as rosy as it might sound. It is paralyzing and confusing, to say the least, and that is understandable.
With so many ideas, the problem is implementation as there is no clear starting point.
What do I do first and when?
How do I have so many ideas? I can’t be that good.
Those are the questions and statements that go through your mind. And all they bring is self-doubt.
Either that or you find yourself jumping from one project to the next without fully investing in any single idea.
You convince yourself that the risk is lower with multiple projects in the pipeline without realizing that you rob yourself of the opportunity to succeed in either one.
Successful thinking means you should be staying positive, even when nothing seems to be going your way.
I do not have enough time
Most people who crave self-employment or running their own successful business are gainfully employed. As a result, there is always the question of time. Again, this is only something you are making up in your mind, another excuse to make yourself feel better about not trying.
Why don’t you try?
It’s already hard finding time for family and friends, how do you find time for ‘another job’? The one you have is already hard and you can’t seem to do enough. Truth be told, more often than we would like to acknowledge, some of us waste time by doing irrelevant tasks.
Like struggling with that report that will never be read, or trying to put together a PowerPoint presentation while your understanding of PowerPoint is terrible.
When you have some time off work, you still can’t seem to get anything done?
While even the best of us have those days, if it is an all-time habit, then it stands in the way of your success. Now, it’s less of a time thing and more of a lack of ENERGY or MOTIVATION.
But unlike those days at work when you are able to squeeze in a week’s work in only 3 days, today, on your day off work, there is just not enough time to pursue that idea that gives you sleepless nights and restless days.
I don’t feel ready
When you feel like you are never ready to focus on something out of your comfort zone. Then you have been bitten by this nasty self-compromise bug.
Granted, all of us have a list of things that need doing or a project that needs to be completed just before we take on anything else.
And when money is involved, it gets even worse. Where do we start without understanding the basics?
There is a training you still haven’t had the time to attend or finish.
What about capital? Do I have enough?
We convince ourselves that there’s just one other thing that I need to line up before I dive in. That because we might not have the 100% time or capital we need, there is no chance of success.
But that is very far from the truth. Remember, a journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step.
The uncertainty of a new venture instills fear in us. So much that we think we will invest so much time in it, only to end up failing.
Instead, why not think about how you’ll succeed rather than how you’ll fail? This is how successful people think, the real definition of successful thinking.
Or better yet, why not work to build a system that leads to a single destination: SUCCESS.
Trading my time for money
While the thought of earning more and being financially independent creeps up on all of us daily, the thought of sacrificing the little time we have at the end of the day to pursue that one goal is unfathomable.
Understandably, you might be exhausted at the end of the day, and sometimes even overwhelmed. But how do you get over it, especially with the knowledge that for your situation to change you need to do things differently.
You need to start thinking for success.
The one thing that makes more sense than a second 8-hour job is a ‘side hustle’, something you can do in your spare time and that will eventually earn you a passive income.
And to own your time, it’s the only thing you can do. Otherwise, your time is owned by whoever is keeping you from chasing your dream. It might be a regular job or one of these invisible scripts.
Then again, if I start, I have to be a…………………
The Sleazy, slick-haired salesman………….
And nobody wants to be one of those. There are already one too many, and they are infinitely annoying. Still, this is another invisible script holding you back, and the opposite of successful thinking.
You start questioning your character and personality. Reasoning out how you are an introvert and as such would not be a good salesman. Or questioning who would want your product (which you will never know until you try).
While most of these invisible scripts are valid, they are a step towards self-evaluation. Albeit unchecked, they definitely have the power to hold you back (if you believe and dwell on them).
Way forward is Successful Thinking
Do not let these fears and scripts anchor you down. Use them to evaluate yourself, your dreams and goals, and your ability.
The short of the matter is you need to build a system to help you succeed. And therein lies the challenge.
Originally published at blendedgear.com