“Whether you believe you can or can’t, you are right.”
Henry Ford
Isn’t it profound how accurate and yet extremely simple the above quote is?
A few weeks ago, I had purposed to do a photo shoot for two new products I’d made. I had literally no resources at hand for the shoot. I however believed I could do the shoot. My mindset was “I can” and that propelled me to look within my already existing networks to look for a photographer and model that could do the photos for literally or almost no cost. I wasn’t successful and almost gave up but within that time, I met someone who offered to take the photos for free. That encouraged me. Next, I got a model who was also willing to do the shoot for free as well, and that encouraged me some more.
Things did not go as planned though and the photo shoot dates couldn’t be met for a myriad of reasons. Weeks passed, and as the time lag grew bigger I became discouraged and slowly started to believe that perhaps the photo shoot was not supposed to happen. I also put my concerns side by side with other business challenges. The obstacles only seemed to grow bigger in my eyes. The “I can’t” mentality had kicked in, in full gear, and I wasn’t even interested in the shoot anymore until someone close to me made me see different. He showed me that the shoot was still possible and I simply had to keep pushing to make it happen. I still wasn’t as interested in the shoot anymore but I pushed past my feelings for he had reawakened the mindset “I can”. The new mentality enabled me see how to make it happen. I went ahead to rearrange the shoot and set new dates. All parties came through and the shoot happened yesterday! It all started, almost ended, and finally reawakened within my mind. My person triggered the reawakening.
Everything that we need to succeed is already in us as latent potential that needs to be unlocked. Coupled with skills and strategy, that potential can grow exponentially and manifest itself in tangible, immeasurable works. Whether you need to start a new business, take a trip, succeed in your studies, play an instrument, organize an event etc., the inception of all these things will start in your mind. In the case of failure, it also starts in the mind before manifesting tangibly.
The first key that unlocks the latent potential within us is the word “can” and the firm belief behind that word, that indeed you can! Having confidence in yourself and knowing you are capable of so much more will catapult you to great heights. Not having confidence in who you are and what you do could frustrate your efforts or make you sell yourself short in so many areas leading you to never fully realize your fullest potential.
Self-doubt is a battle we need to set our minds to win every time it creeps up. You know the old adage “practice makes perfect”? Well, we need to practice being confident if it does not come naturally. You can do that by telling yourself, out loud and internally, that you are capable of achieving all you need to and by acting confident even when you may be shaking on the inside.
To stay confident, be conscious of the people and environment you surround yourself with. They indubitably have an effect on personal individual confidence because they speak into your life. Keep positive people and things speaking into your life consistently.
Read more; it’s not rocket science! Develop a good reading culture where you immerse your mind in books that develop your mindset and help you see solutions to the challenges bothering you. Having knowledge greatly helps increase confidence because you get answers and solutions at hand, and are therefore not walking blindly.
If you forget everything you’ve read, remember this – you can if you think you can.
Have a lovely week ahead.
Love,
Keziah.
Keziah Elaine Ayikoru 
You can. Always. You.
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So Severe, how nice of you to pass by and read. Thanks for the affirmation. You can too. Always.
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