The Power of Belief

Greetings fellow discoverers. It has been some time since I last wrote a post and for that I am sorry. It was my lack of diligence to learning and sharing discovery in this wonderful field called life. That being said, I would like to bring to light something that has been given stage multiple times but, I feel, we as mere mortals don't fully grasp, and that is the power of belief.

Lets begin with giving belief definition. According to Webster's, belief is "a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true." Webster's also gives a more concise definitions that I think give better credence to the word "belief." This definition states that belief  is "a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing" [Emphasis added].

What do you believe. No. Not say you believe, but truly believe. What is your habit of mind? 

Today in one of my classes I was asked a question that struck me because, when asked, I laughed. It was a laughter of discredit. Now I have said before that I want this in life or that in life, but when I was asked if I thought that such event would occur, I only laughed in disbelief. The fact is, while I said I wanted such events to take place in my life, at my core, I didn't believe such events were possible to unfold. When presented with the opportunity to answer honestly, I did answer honestly, and realized that my belief was setting me up for failure.

This, I believe, is the majority of society. We talk about the next greatest innovation, the next great trends, building projects and developments, gaining the big client, and more. We think of great goals in our head, but our habit of mind conflicts with such goals. This is why, as a whole society and as individuals, we must make clearly stated goals. By clearly stated, I mean written and rehearsed. If we aren't writing our goals, we aren't making declarations against old habits. If we aren't rehearsing goals, we are not allowing the goals to win in our mind.

Its like setting your goals in a boxing match. In one corner, you have human-tainted belief. He is lazy, selfish, and pitiful. He would rather win and have you do nothing because humans are naturally inert. In the other corner, you have goals, clear, concise, etc. His interest is winning and making your situations and others around you better. The bell sounds. This is where justification is important. Why should you act this way or that? Justification is your strategy and focus. It draws attention to the issue. It should counter and dominate the old beliefs. The third part to winning over these old beliefs is will. This is the "Make yourself." Will acts on your justifications, delivering blow after blow to your old beliefs.

It boils down to this: If you don't have goals, you have nothing to rival your old, failing belief systems. If you can't justify your goals, you have no focus on the opposing beliefs. If you don't implement your will, and make yourself, your goals only remain wishful thinking. Oppose your habit of mind, Justify success, and win. 

Don't remain in a wishy-washy state of "If only" and "I'd like to." Believe that there is more to be had in life, and believe it more than more is not for you. Set goals and set out to destroy those core beliefs that cause you to fail again and again. And realize, sometimes you will have to fight old beliefs for the full 15 rounds of your life and it will come down to a decision of whether you fought better, and other times it will be TKO for the old beliefs and you will be the undisputed victor. Fight. Win. Stay Curious.
 

I Am The Curious Salesman

Helen Keller once said "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all." Yet we seem to loose this sense of adventure with time as we grow older. Instead of conquering the next frontier, discovering the next miracle, climbing the next highest mountain, or building the next giant monument, etc... we settle for possessing trinkets and merely occupying space.

Alarm goes off... Get up, get dressed, blast the morning news, cut yourself shaving, go to work, punch in, work, punch out, back to home, back to the evening news, back to bed.

Yes its important we work. Yes its important to have routines. But what about living a life of adventure and discovery? At what point do we become too mature to think and grow and enrich our lives? "When you're green, you grow. When you're ripe, you rot." Whose words were those? The guy who franchised the business that made popular the Big Mac, Filet-o-fish, Shamrock Shake, etc.: Ray Kroc. Thinking and learning are critical parts to business growth and innovation for McDonald's, as with other businesses (Get an inside taste of McD's innovations with this article by Huffington Post: http://huff.to/12fD6SG). Innovation gives them great new menu ideas, ways to keep costs low, and ways to get the message out. But ideas could be conjured without curiosity?

Curiosity is defined as the desire to know. Essentially curiosity is the catalyst to innovation. This is why I constantly ask questions. You see, I spent my time growing up merely wandering through school and not observing and questioning the world around me. I lost valuable time hopping from failure to failure. But I recognize my intelligence, and I realized I was rotting.

Now I choose to grow. I study, I learn, I apply, and figure what works, what excels, and what fails. This is what streamlining is about: adopting efficient skills while eliminating waste. And this is also what this blog is about: Recording lessons and passing them to others that they may learn and become better as well. I am curious.

My career is sales. I am the Curious Salesman. It is not enough to only sell and practice sales. I desire to become the best. I desire to become a Sales Leader and Expert. And I recognize that leadership is one part reaching up to the hand above and another part pulling up the hand beneath. I invite you to follow along as I grow. And I invite you to grow with me, celebrate each success, ponder each failure, and take this daring adventure of Success and Fulfillment. I invite you to BE CURIOUS