The first step in high achievement is believing that success is possible. When I was 10 and started dreaming of competing in the Olympics, I did not think it was a possible dream. After all, I was not a great athlete and was always the last kid picked to play sports in P.E.
I needed to start believing in myself in order to get myself to take action. Lack of self-belief or lack of confidence, results in fear of failure, and that’s what keeps people from pursuing their dreams. After all, if you don’t believe you can achieve your dream, why even try? Once you believe, you are ready to commit to taking action. And believe me, success requires taking MASSIVE ACTION – for a long time. Unless you commit, you’ll never make your dream come true.
There are a couple of things you can do to raise your self belief level. The books you read and the people you associate with will ultimately determine what you believe. Today we’ll talk about reading the right books.
My dad got me to read biographies. Dad said, “Ruben, why don’t you read some biographies – the stories of great people. If you read about the lives of people you look up to, people you admire, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t work in life, because success leaves clues.” Then he backed off. And let the books work their magic.
I started reading biographies and started loving them. I read tons of them. My favorites were the stories of people who had overcome great odds to realize their dreams, before long I realized that ordinary people could accomplish the extraordinary if they followed success principles.
If you don’t like to read, tune in to the Biography Channel and before long you’ll start to believe too!
Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com