Blogger : - Neil McAffer
Title : - Success - " It's within you ! "
" Unfortunately there are a lot of people who aren't believers , so it's important to believe in yourself " - Venus Williams - 5 x Wimbledon Singles Champion
We live in a competitive world where all of us strive for survival and success ! To a greater or lesser degree there are those who achieve their goals but the reality is that most of us feel we should be doing or should have done better. Certainly the opportunities to succeed are there , however , often without realizing why , we are unable to make the most of the chances that come our way . Sometimes we think we should , or we are advised to , take a look at ourselves , but most of us don't really know where to start , we leave it , just carrying on with the same old course of our lives , making excuses for ourselves and justifying not changing our ways or habits .
Globalization has certainly given us the inspiration to dream . We are constantly reminded by the media of the earnings and lifestyles of those " making it " , the Bill Gates , Richard Bransons , David Beckhams , Angelina Jolies , Brad Pitts , Barak Obamas and Nicholas Sarkozys of this world . We have come to worship celebrity and affluence . Of course seeing others achieve success motivates many of us to strive for the same . Some develop the passion to extend their abilities and reach a degree of excellence that enables them to stand apart from everyone else . Others work very hard to achieve their goals but don't seem to get to where they want to go . They lack that winning mentality and often end up having to content themselves with a lot less than they had always wished for . In the most unfortunate scenario there are those who even lack the confidence in themselves to set any kind of goal and prefer to pass their lives being fans and admirers , thinking that some of the glitter of their favourite stars or team is rubbing off onto them .
" It's all in the head " or " matches are won and lost in the head " are expressions that are quite common to us . " You should take a good look at yourself " or " you need to find it within yourself " as well . Behind the expressions is the belief that someone possesses a winning mentality whether permanently or on a certain occasion When a person is deemed not to have this mentality they are then advised to look into themselves as in the second two expressions. We talk of confidence or a lack of confidence which we regard as the factor behind performing well or not . While most of us hear these expressions I don't think that many really stop and think of their significance . It all refers to a belief that we all have it within ourselves to succeed or to be successful . Why when we hear these phrases and listen to others recommendations do we so often tend to take no notice ? In our society being mentally suspect or " not having it " is considered weakness , a social stigma . Rather than doing something about it or " taking a look at ourselves " most of us tend to ignore our situation , burying our heads in the sand and making excuses or justifications for not doing anything to change our ways of thinking and eventually our destinies .
Many of us possess the technical qualities necessary to succeed but lack the belief in ourselves to do so . Successful people , champions in their own fields , reach their goals through the belief they have in themselves . From the expressions we use referring to having a winners mentality or not we always refer to the fact that belief in ourselves , a winning mentality , all comes from within . Within us we all innately possess the qualities necessary to succeed in life , to reach our goals , to be winners !
" We've met the enemy and it's Us " - Cartoon character " Pogo "
We all have it within ourselves so why is it that the qualities we so desperately need often don't seem to be there when crunch time comes around ? Maybe we should start answering this question by asking ourselves who we really are ? Yes , " Who Am I " ? Knowing who I truly am can perhaps lead me to the positive qualities that my real self innately possesses , the qualities that I will need to achieve success in my life . To understand " who I am " , what my identity is , I need to understand the difference between my inner and my outer world. Our inner world is our true or natural state , here we are naturally calm , naturally positive . From the positive within us we derive all the qualities that we need to be successful - determination , courage , willpower , perserverance , patience and countless more . We all possess these qualities .
Inside is our true self , our identity , however we play out our lives in an outer world , the world we live in . In this scenario we live our lives constantly changing roles depending on who we may be with and in which situation we find ourselves in . During our role playing we tend to act and behave in a way that we think others or society expects of us and in this way we open ourselves up to the attitudes , opinions and influences of the world around us . Rather than identifying ourselves with our inner self we come to identify ourselves with the roles we play in our outer world and in doing so we lose contact with our true inner qualities . We are indeed educated to perceive everything externally so instead of identifying ourselves with our inner state we think that we are the role that we are playing , we consider ourselves to be an identity based on such criteria as race , nationality , religion , gender , age , family , ideology , etc . Just imagine how many attitudes , opinions , and prejudices exist on these criteria ? If our identity is based on this image we believe ourselves to be, imagine the number of influences we will be subjected to during our daily lives . It's no wonder that we become confused as to who we really are , become influenced by and dependant on others , and lose focus as to what we and our goals are . We learn to doubt ourselves because we lose sight of our true self and our innate positive qualities .
We describe ourselves as of a certain age , a certain religion , race , nationality , etc. ( eg ." I am a black , Christian American , aged 25 and living in New York city " ) but when we consider it not one of these characteristics is what we permanently are. They are mostly descriptions of our beliefs , activities , or physical characteristics at a certain time . We need to identify with our inner self to discover our permanent identity , the identity that gives us the belief in ourselves based on the positive qualities we innately possess .
" Decide what you want to be , what you want to have , do and think the thoughts of it " - Serena Williams - 9 x Grand Slam Singles Champion
Self doubt is the reason behind the failure of so many in this world to reach their true potential . It is the cause of us falling into the pitfalls and traps that society sets for us . On the other hand those who possess belief in themselves are able to overcome any obstacle that stands in their way . The winners of the world are totally connected to their inner selves , they enjoy their own inner peace and are in touch with their own positive qualities , they know themselves .
Rafael Nadal - World number one - " My greatest asset ? My state of mind . I'm always calm . "
This state of mind is the basis of your winners mentality !
Now that we know that the qualities that bring success are within us all , it only depends on our own self whether we make the decision to pursue our true nature , change our negative thinking and get onto the road to becoming the winner that is there within us .
My book " More than the Game " based on the international tennis circuit will give you the insight you need to the pitfalls that exist in a competitive world when you allow self doubt to rule on the tennis court and in your life , and will show you how to achieve the belief in yourself to fulfil your potential and reach the goals that you set for yourself .
Look for it on www. techpresspublishing.com/Authors.html
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