Belief is a state of mind and a success principle you need to add to your tool box. Helen Keller was deaf, mute, and blind and she was able to succeed. Thomas Edison had 10,000 failed attempts before he discovered how to make the electric light bulb. So, what’s keeping you from success? Could it be your beliefs? Don’t think so, keep reading to make sure. Because you won’t be ready to achieve success until you belief you can acquire it.

You hold certain beliefs based on either your personal experience or shared experiences. You aren’t consciously aware of many of your beliefs, but you respond automatically based on those beliefs. For example, you may believe that certain breeds of dogs are wonderful and other breeds are mean and not to be trusted. You may hold that belief because you had a dog of the wonderful dog and liked it, and you encountered a dog of the mean kind that led you to believe that kind of dog is mean. You may also have gained that belief from the shared experience of your family, friends, and associates. Here’s an example. When I was a little girl riding in the car with my Mother and we would pass a group of teenagers gathered on a street corner she would say…you know what she said. She said, “I’ll bet those kids are up to no good”. I didn’t realize I held that believe or even acknowledge it existed until one day driving in the car with my sons I heard my self say out loud as we drove past a group of teenagers gathered in a parking lot one night, “I’ll bet those kids are up to no good”. As soon as I heard myself say it I thought to myself, “wow where did that come from”? Your beliefs shape your attitudes. Until you recognize and challenge your beliefs you’ll hold attitudes that may or may not serve you well.

Success is driven by your actions and your attitudes drive your actions in the form of behaviors. Your attitudes shape your behaviors. Even though you may try to mask your attitudes they show through loud and clear. So, if your attitude based on your beliefs is that no one will want to meet with you to hear about investments and insurance that is exactly what will happen. You don’t believe you provide a valuable service and neither will others. Or, perhaps you value your product/service but you don’t value people. People just kind of get in the way of your success. Guess what, people will get in the way of your success because they won’t feel comfortable being around you. Your behaviors will make them feel uncomfortable. Maybe your belief is that you shouldn’t ask people for money and that your value isn’t tied to the money you make. You’ll relay those beliefs through your behaviors too.

Your behaviors are sending out signals that are killing your success. You may say the “right things” and “do the right things”, but somehow the people you meet are picking up on your behaviors and the signals they’re getting are telling them there is something wrong with this picture. I’ll bet you’ve experienced this yourself. Have you ever met someone whose tone of voice and body language was enthusiastic and confident, but when you looked in their eyes they were lifeless and hollow? Your behaviors determine your results. When you’re sending out mixed signals because of your underlying beliefs your success will be stilted.

Because your beliefs are shaping your attitudes and your attitudes are displayed in your behaviors your results keep reinforcing those beliefs. When you meet with a prospect and they don’t choose to work with you, you tell yourself, “see I knew that person wasn’t a real prospect”. You appear to be right, but you may be wrong. They weren’t a good prospect because you never believed they were. Because you didn’t believe they were a good prospect your behaviors sent out signals to the prospect that made the prospect question you. Your prospects always have to buy you first and they didn’t so end of story. Identify and challenge your beliefs so your beliefs support the attitudes you want to hold, and the behaviors you want to display yielding the results you’re trying to get now but your beliefs are getting in your way.