Do you believe in yourself?
Aside from being busy at my day job, I realized that another reason why I’m stuck when it comes to my writing projects is that I no longer believe in myself the same way that I did when I started writing in 2013.
From 2013 to 2015, I published consistently, wrote four ebooks, and my blog was read by hundreds to thousands of visitors. But somewhere along the way, I lost my belief and my momentum. I also lost the trust of the people who used to read my blog. (I’m sorry.)
Belief is important to get any project done. Belief gives you the courage to put your work out there. People will not believe you unless you believe in yourself. People can sense it. You have to be the first person who will believe in your project.
So, how do I plan to believe in myself once again? First, I wish to share how beliefs are formed.
How beliefs are formed
I first read this from Tony Robbins’s Awaken the Giant Within. Imagine your belief as a tabletop. Your belief stands on pieces of evidence, which form the legs of your table.
The more pieces of evidence you have, the sturdier your belief becomes. The stronger the legs you have, the harder it is to break that belief.
By failing to follow through on my plans in the last five years or so, I gathered pieces of evidence that I quit (or at least take a long, long break) whenever work got busy or when things didn’t go my way. The belief that I was a quitter became strong and sturdy.
Soon, I believed that I won’t ever be able to finish the things I started.
How to change your limiting beliefs
To change your beliefs, first, you have to identify your limiting belief. Then, you replace it with an empowering one. So, for my belief that I’m a quitter, I have to replace it with the belief that I’m a finisher.
Then, you build evidence to strengthen your new belief. How? By taking action and getting small wins each day. If I wish to become a finisher, I have to break down my one big goal of writing a book or publishing consistently into daily milestones. It can be a finished post each day, a draft, or an outline. Every finished post, draft, or outline then becomes a leg to support my new belief.
Finally, by building new legs or creating new evidence, the old legs and old beliefs are slowly broken down and replaced. By becoming a finisher, I replace my old belief of being a quitter.
Evidence is out there
As a person of faith, I believe that it is God’s love and grace that helped me get through the times when I no longer believed in myself. His strength is far greater than my own. Without Him, I cannot do anything even if I have the utmost belief in myself.
Still, I also struggled to believe in Him from time to time. But, the pieces of evidence of His love and grace and mercy are out there. I just have to keep my eyes open.
Lord, help me believe in myself. More importantly, help me believe in you.
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This post first appeared on carlocruz.org.
