Self-Belief: Can you trust yourself?
Most people would say that they were trustworthy and reliable. Surely it would be insulting to suggest otherwise? And yet, in your own experience you can probably remember times when you:
- Said you were going to cut down on eating junk food but when someone brought chocolates to the office, you had a piece…or three
- Said you would make four more sales calls before leaving work but left after only making two.
- Said you wouldn’t check your Blackberry for the next hour but then couldn’t resist having a “quick look”
Each of these transgressions point towards someone who cannot be trusted to keep their word to themselves.
It may not seem like much when you press that snooze button after promising to yourself to go for a run on Sunday morning. But in actual fact, each time you say you’ll do something and don’t, you are eroding a bit of trust in yourself. Repeatedly failing to do even the smallest thing that you promised to yourself will eventually lead to a situation where you don’t believe a word you say.
It will be a case of you saying “I’m going on a diet” and your mind saying “Yeah right, whatever”.
Self-belief, the confidence in your ability to succeed relies on you being able to “trust” yourself. If you hardly ever do what you say you will do, then you won’t have faith in yourself.
Action Step
For the next 7 days, pledge to only say you’ll do something if you’re absolutely committed to doing it. Only say you’ll wake up at 6am if you are sure you will do it. You want to cultivate a personal rule that if you say it, then it will be done, no matter what.
Notice the change in self-belief you have, when you start living by this simple rule.
I agree with this 100%. You make some interesting points. I look forward to your blog every week.
[Reply]
Comment by Rachel — July 9, 2009 @ 1:33 pm
Wow, Kaizan knows that I get up at 6am and check my blackberry all the time! Great post!
[Reply]
Comment by Lisa — July 9, 2009 @ 4:52 pm
Its depressing, but each time I say Im gonna lose a few pounds, I do hear the little voice say “yeah right”. Even when I say, Im not going to sleep till I get this done, I end up falling asleep. It takes discipline to always do it when you said you would.
[Reply]
Comment by Ryan — July 10, 2009 @ 9:13 am
Never thought of keeping your word to yourself being related to self-belief, but of course it is. Nice post!
btw How come you don’t hear about anyone with a “iPHone” addiction?
[Reply]
Comment by Fraser — July 10, 2009 @ 9:57 am
[...] If you value the contribution these activities make to your life, schedule them in. Schedule the time and the place you will do them. And don’t break the appointment. Keep the promise to yourself. [...]
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