Alone Or Solitude ??

The motivation today as the strength for us takes a step to the side of that more went up.

Hope you had an exciting week. We had some snow here in the UK. I
find that exciting and am sorry we see so little of it!

Today's article examines the power of belief. Is belief really that
powerful?

Performers in any kind of competition speak of the importance of
belief and confidence. The stars who win gold medals often describe
how they believed, and even knew, that they would win the event
before it started.

Does belief, then, always work? Not always.

I was surprised when I watched one or two episodes of American Idol
recently at how many candidates said they believed they could
become the next American Idol.

Many were sure of it. They believed they could sing well enough to
charm a nation. The same thing happens in Pop Idol, the UK
equivalent of American Idol. 

Some of these confident people clearly had no hope at all of
becoming the next idol as they could not sing in tune and had not
given much thought to their appearance or performance skills.

Yet surely if their belief was strong enough, they should at least
be able to get through to the next round of the competition? 

I began to think that if they are so deluded about what they
believe possible and don't realise it, maybe I am just as deluded
about what I believe possible for myself.

I have not been too deluded about my singing since I was slung out
of the school choir at the age of 8 although I have sometimes
questioned that expulsion and considered it a little hasty!

Maybe I am deluded about my ability to write something worth
reading? You will have to decide that!

Perhaps the expelled American and UK candidates did not really
believe. Maybe they were just hoping? But many of them were really
upset and even furious when they were turned down. They really
believed they should have been allowed through to the next stage of
the competition.

Many of us would have been annoyed at the needlessly rude remarks
of Simon Cowell but some candidates were just horribly disappointed
anyway when they failed to pass their audition.

Paula Abdul, another judge, tried to let people down lightly. She
spoke kindly  and wisely to Jonathan who was convinced he could be
the next idol. 

"Always believe in yourself and you'll make it in something."

Part of the answer to questions about the power of belief can be
found in Paula's words. We need to decide carefully which of our
talents are worthy of our belief.

Some of the 'singers' who wish to perform in American or UK singing
competitions might do better as dancers or actors or fans of those
who could sing well.

We should also realize that belief and confidence should be based
on reality and regular training.

Sarah Price, the English backstroke swimmer, won two gold medals at
the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in August 2002. She was asked
for the secret of her success and answered that it was caused by
the confidence she gained from her  systematic training.

Consistent, systematic  training means that you must train when you
may not feel like training. Regular training is vital whether one
feels like it or not.

My favourite quote on consistent training comes from Peter Vidmar,
the American gymnast. He speaks of the two secrets which were
responsible for his success:

"There's only two things I had to do to win Olympic gold: train
when I wanted to, and train when I didn't."

Peter won two gold medals and one silver medal in gymnastics at the
1984 Olympics. He later became an inspirational speaker showing
people how to apply the lessons he had learned in sport to their
lives in business.

Before Sally Gunnell, the UK hurdler, won Olympic and World
Championship gold, she oozed confidence and belief in herself. Why?

Because she had a record of success behind her and because she knew
she had prepared hard and eaten correctly for months before the
championship.

She had not touched chocolate in 6 months! The world was about to
become her oyster or chocolate egg instead. She won gold at both
meetings.

Athletes who have talent and confidence but who do not train hard
and regularly, seldom win the big championships. Many have the
talent but are not prepared to pay the price of training when
others relax or sleep.

If you do not believe in your ability, start working your way into
the necessary belief by preparing hard and training hard. Someone
has wisely said:

"It is easier to behave your way into new thinking than to think
your way into new behaviour." 

Basically, I do think that belief is crucial to success. The
eventual winners of the American  and UK Idol clearly need to
believe in their own talent enough to enter the competition and to
keep working away even when they are discouraged by the occasional
poor performance.

Sally Gunnell needed to believe in her ability enough to even begin
the arduous training and preparation necessary to achieve Olympic
gold.

However, your belief must be based on some evidence at least that
you can achieve your goal and on hours and hours of hard work and
training.

Don't worry too much then about whether you feel you will win or
lose or whether you will succeed or fail. Just get going on what
you have to do to achieve your goals and let your belief grow along
with the work you put in.

Do the work anyway and don't worry about the results. If you do
your best the results will usually follow and you will stand out
from the majority of people who seldom do their best.

Belief and work have always been the powerful combination
recommended by the great religions and by the great self-help
gurus.

The harder you work, the greater your belief will be. And the more
you believe in yourself, the harder you will work as you begin to
accept the possibility that you might actually achieve your most
cherished goals.

One of the greatest self-help experts Dr Maxwell Maltz had no doubt
about the power of belief:

"Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed
possible. This power becomes available to you just as soon as you
can change your beliefs."  

The power to do the impossible becomes available when we can change
our beliefs. However, changing our beliefs might well involve hard
work as we develop the skills which will allow us to start
believing in our own abilities.

Have a great week and get to work on your own abilities. As you
work at them you will start believing in them.