One of the defining and most significant qualities of the most successful people we know is confidence. It is their inner belief that they can achieve anything they want to achieve, and enjoy as much success as they wish - however they personally define success.
Success is different for all of us; some people use obvious material signs to show the rest of us that they have made it ... large houses, fast cars, ostentatious life styles, with a deliberate "Look at me, I am better than you" statement. Certainly, post-Thatcher, the British tend to judge each other based on the house they live in, the quality of their car, and most recently, how exclusive their children's school is. It doesn't seem to matter that the house may be heavily mortgaged; the car belongs to the company etc...
All of this illustrates that when we judge success, or perceive success, we really do have to be somewhat circumspect, and dig below the surface. For the record, my own measurement for assessing someone's true financial strength is "net worth" - in other words, how much could they write a check for today, if they had to?
My personal definition of success - well actually, it isn't mine, I borrowed if from Earl Nightingale - is "the achievement of a worthwhile goal" or in my case "a series of worthwhile goals" It really has become a bit of a cliché to say "Success is a journey and not a destination" but actually, that very accurately describes my philosophy.
But let's get back to my assertion that successful people - genuinely successful people - have considerable inner confidence and self-belief. If you think about it, it is quite obvious. Success is not an easy thing to obtain - if it was, everyone would be successful, and the word unsuccessful would not appear in our dictionaries.
Did young Tom Edison ever lose his self-belief? Did the visionary Walt Disney ever question his theme park plans, even though more than one hundred banks rejected his requests for finance? Did any of the most successful authors you have ever read, give up after their manuscripts were rejected time after time? No, none of them did, because they had such strong self-belief.
Closely aligned with self-belief, is courage, commitment, durability, resilience, patience, and vision.
That last one is very important, because it is our ability to vizualise what success will feel like that drives us on, and often keeps us going in times of adversity.
Can anyone be successful? Yes, of course they can...... if they want it badly enough. If one person can be successful, then we all can, but "most people" never work out what it is they really want. They talk in vague terms about more security, more disposable income, more holidays, but never quite make it. "Most people" spend their twilight years looking back in total frustration - "I wish I had ..." "If only I had ..." but by then, it is usually too late.
In professional selling, cultivated sales skills, the use of a clearly defined sales process, in-depth knowledge ill only take us so far. Without that strong inner-belief and confidence, we will only ever get so far.
Where does that confidence come from? I'll illustrate the answer to that question in a follow-up post.
For now, my advice, based on my own personal experiences is always question ... but never doubt your ability to succeed. When doubt enters our minds, confidence slips out via the back door - they can never co-exist.
More soon ....
News: Most sales professionals, in most industries struggle to effectively manage their pipelines and as a consequence, forecasting can be very hit and miss: Today, I am interviewing Colleen Francis, who shares her views on this persistent management challenge ... simply click on the banner below.