Belief Needs Action and Not the Other Way Round — My Big Lesson Moment
The secret to moving from dreaming to achieving.
This has to be my biggest lesson from the previous year. I have to admit that I had been stuck. I didn't know how to get my dreams off the ground. I remember I once told a friend that I sometimes wonder if I have what it takes to move my life forward, I meant it. I guess we all feel this way sometimes.
At a point, I thought I had a self-belief problem. I’d think to myself, if I could just believe in myself enough then I’ll do what I need to do. I was stuck at the Belief stage, it’s also the self-conviction stage — where you try to convince yourself that you can achieve your goals. This was my mindset until my big lesson moment sometime towards the end of 2019. Here’s what I learned; Belief needs Action to get itself off the ground. While Belief is central to achievements, Action is the engine that propels it. Life-altering, I tell you.
Belief stage is the point where people analyze their chances, measure their qualifications against their aspirations, stuff like that. It seems like a noble task to think through and see all sides to your intended goal, unfortunately, it’s also the point where people conclude and say “I don’t think that’s for me”. This is the point we give up because we are exhausted from over-analysis. It gets worse when you realize that people can be at this point for most or even all of their lives, never coming remotely close to their deepest desires.
Like in the diagram above, you don’t need Belief to take Action. Instead, you need Action to fuel Belief. It starts with Action. Results from small actions will do more for your Belief than big dreams can. It makes sense that Nike would say “Just Do It”.
Nobody breaks through a wall just by analyzing how strong it is, you break it down by hitting against it, continuously. Once the goal is clear, that’s enough, go ahead and do something, make a move. There is only one outcome, you’ll learn. You’ll know whether you have the right tool and if you don't, you’ll get the right one. That in itself is progress because now, you know what you are up against. That single action gets your Belief juices flowing than anything else.
If you want to believe in yourself, get something done. It’s all the motivation you need. The more you do, the more results you’ll get, the more belief you have, and the more you can get done. The cycle continues.
Looking back, I didn't have a Belief problem, I had an Action problem. Now, I just go ahead and Do It.
