Are you just trying your luck at succeeding in life and not sure whether you will actually get there? Is doubt and unbelief haunting you and preventing you from making the most of your opportunities life?
If you doubt your ability to achieve or get something, chances are you will not no matter how hard you try. There is something to be said about the power your mind yields on the results you achieve in life. The battle is not won or lost based on circumstances or fate. The battle is won or lost in the mind.
I have seen it at work many times. One such case, I remember well, was when we decided, with a friend of mine who is also a student of management, to join the military. We had some idea of the rigours of military training and had heard stories of people that had attempted it and failed or quit. But, and this is the crucial thing, before we joined we never once discussed the possibility of failing. We never once made any plans or allowance for failure. We had decided to join the military and as far as we were concerned only 6 months of military training lay between us and getting to be officers in the air force.
I was quite surprised that many people I told the news were very negative about it. They said how difficult military training was and how much pain and suffering we would be put through. The sleepless nights, physical exhaustion, hard labour and all that we would go through were all emphasized. Only one or two people saw the end from the beginning. They saw us becoming officers.
It was so bad that by the time we got to the military academy I was all too aware of what awaited us. But, and this is the crucial thing, failure was still never on my mind. I went there to get into the military. There was only one outcome possible – becoming an officer. I saw this very same determination in my friend whom I had gone with.
We were both not much to admire physically. I was thin and with my glasses on rather nerdy looking, and he was on the shorter side. It was no surprise that many expected us to quit after a few weeks. When we got to the military academy we found that there were plenty of people around that looked very impressive physically.
I remember thinking how easy the training would be for them. I was wrong. A few weeks into it the strain and stress began to take its toll. Some of the people that looked the strongest due to physical prowess, started to show weakness. It was not a physical weakness, but a mental one.
You could hear it in their talk. You could see it on their faces. They were defeated mentally. Complaints, discouragement and uncertainty were evident in them. Not surprisingly, quite a few of them quit or ran away. My friend and I began to notice this and we would avoid spending time with them. We continually encouraged each other by thinking and talking about what we would achieve at the end of it all.
Through the military training I came to see that same determination in others that ultimately made it. For the most part, they were people that never thought about failure. Even in the hardest of conditions and circumstances they kept positive. In fact it seemed that the harder things got, the more determined they would become. It was a first hand lesson in human nature and success. To this day, I have a lot of respect for all the great people I was privileged to be with in military school. They were certain of their future and certain of their ability to pull through.
But the greatest lesson I learnt was from those that did not make it. It was clear that for all of them one thing was true: they doubted their ability to succeed and they lost track of what they had gone to the military academy for. The inability to see past their present suffering and hardship was ultimately what caused them to fail.
Analysing all the times when I have experienced outstanding results in any endeavour the one thing that stands out is that there was a certainty of success. It is a certainty that is totally oblivious to failure. It is a certainty that knows that difficulties and setbacks may come, but the ultimate end is victory and nothing else. It is a certainty that puts your mind at ease. It is that still, small, but clear voice in your mind that says “everything will be okay.” It is almost as if God himself is speaking to you and telling you to “have faith.”
William Lyon Phelps said “If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.”
You need to be certain of the fact that success is as attainable for you as it is for any man. Furthermore, know of a certainty that regardless of how long it takes and the obstacles you may face on the way, you will live a successful and fulfilled life. Never once doubt this. Thomas Carlyle advised that “One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them into the certainty of Yes or NO.” The only answer for you should be “yes.” You can and will make it.
