I always say, ”you will never have a life until you believe in yourself.” This is something people forget about. We keep hoping in life that people will believe in us first. Yet that doesn’t happen often! You have to believe in yourself first. You won’t always feel brilliant. You won’t always achieve what you set out to on the first try, with no resistance. But you are the one who has to start, and that begins with self-belief.

Every morning when I get up, I look myself in the mirror and say, “I believe in myself.” And I want you to do it too: out loud! Look yourself in the eye and say, “I believe in me.”

Why? Because we need to hear it. We need to push through the doubts that make our voices shake when we try to make these statements of self-belief. Passion is fuelled by a belief in yourself – the belief that you are worth it, that your passions and interests matter, and that you can make a difference.

We are about to uncover the mindset-performance loop and its significance. You will learn how to work towards building an opportunity mindset and eliminating the excuses that hinder you from pursuing your passion.

But first, I’m going to tell you something that might blow your mind. Are you ready?

Fear is an illusion.

Yes, you read that right. Most of the time, the fear of what might happen is much larger than what actually happens – if it happens at all. Your brain is programmed to protect you. That’s its job! But there’s a big difference between the kind of protection we needed in the days of cave men and sabre-tooth tigers and the kind of protection we need now.

And we wonder why the software in our brain needs updating.

I do a lot of extreme sports, including skydiving. Having a healthy level of fear helps keep me alive! It makes me want to triple-check my gear to make sure the parachute will open when it has to and that I follow procedures on every step. But I don't have fear to the extent that it stops me from pursuing my passion for suchactivities. If anything, excessive fear and/or panic is a big 'no-no' in such sports because it clouds yourjudgment and causes accidents.

Let’s turn our attention now to the fear we create in our mind with regard to things like changing careers, starting or ending a relationship or decisions like this. Do we run from fear, feel the fear and do it anyway, or do we put it in its place and learn lessons before we press on. With that in mind, let me introduce you to a powerful concept…

The Mindset-Performance Loop

Here’s the thing: your mindset determines your attitude. Your attitude determines your behaviour. Your behaviour determines your actions, performance and results. This can be a positive loop or a negative one. But it is there in every aspect of life.

This might remind you of a famous quote by Lao Tzu: “What your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

This wisdom is certainly something to live by. Life comes in waves. We aren’t always on a high. We aren’t always in a trough. I like to think of these waves as cycles. They can be with virtuous, with favourable results, or vicious, with detrimental results. But regardless of our place in that, mindset is vital.

Are things happening to you or for you? Are they in the way or on the way? How you perceive these challenges places you on either a learning mindset loop, or a self-pity loop that takes you down. Your destiny is written by you, based on the thoughts and mindsets that create the software your mind runs on.  

So how are you writing that destiny? How are you programming that software?

Now, I understand that many people believe this means spending a lot of time working on their weaknesses. To that, I say this:

Focus on your strengths and manage your weaknesses.

This way, you bring your weaknesses to an acceptable minimum so they don’t damage you, but you forge forward in your strengths. Think of it as an 80/20 rule. 80% of your time is spent on strengths, and 20% is spent on weaknesses. I think that’s a pretty great ratio in life!

Change your language, change your mind

One of my favourite things to do as a coach is help people craft their passion statement. This is a rewarding process that takes them from complacency and frustration to sometimes jumping up and down with excitement and motivation over what they love. It’s transformational - Caterpillar to butterfly kind of transformational!

Reflecting on this process, something has become really obvious to me: there is a discomfort in the process, a necessary confusion and something like growing pains. So how do we deal with that?

You might have heard of this by the name of NLP, or Neurolinguistic Programming. Neurolinguistics is about how the use of language impacts the neurology of the brain and, thus performance. It’s just like the mindset-performance loop above.

So, for you to change your results, you must change your thoughts. To change your thoughts, you must change the way you describe them in your mind.

Let's look at an example. If I told you I have a "problem", how would you feel? I don't think the majority of people wake up in the morning thinking, "Oh! I want to deal with a problem." They wake up in the morning hoping for a better day than yesterday. Now, let's describe the same situation as a "challenge" instead. I come to you and I say I have a challenge for you. How do you feel? My guess is that you would suddenly find a little bit more energy. You're up for a challenge, right? "I can defeat it, I can beat it, I'm powerful, I'm strong!"

You see, just changing the word to 'challenge' calls on a more powerful energy.

Now imagine the same situation once again, but now describe it as an "opportunity." I come to you and say, "Hey, I've got an opportunity for you." You're probably going to say, "Oh my god! an opportunity." Who does not want an opportunity, especially if you want to live a passionate life?

Another powerful reframe in Neurolinguistics is this: Learning vs. failing.

I know that there can be fear attached to failure. With that said, some of the greatest entrepreneurs and inventors have learned to look at failure as a rich investment in learning.

Remember, fear is an illusion. It is a brain mechanism there to protect us, but we are not running from sabretooth tigers. We are running from things we create in our heads.

There is so much to this mindset key of self-belief! Too much to fit into one blog. So I want to give you a gift: download my guide to creating your own passion statement here. Use that passion statement to fuel your belief in yourself and unpack your excuses and motivators for chasing down your passion! Remember: its never too late. You are a master of your destiny, not a victim of your history. You have courage, humility and discipline.

Moustafa Hawmi 

Download your free Passion Statement Guide.

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