Mastery comes with confidence. The first step in gaining confidence is understanding your self-worth. Realistic self-belief is the base upon which mastery is built. But rarely do we make a true assessment of ourselves and our abilities,
Being Realistic about Yourself
To achieve any kind of success you need to be realistic about yourself and understand who you really are. If you are not fit enough to run for a few minutes, you cannot hope to compete in the Olympics. Self-belief stem from an understanding your capabilities, your strengths and weaknesses.
You may envy the achievements of other people. That is a common human tendency. But that is of little use, if we are to foster a belief in ourselves. What we need to do, is to develop an understanding of our capabilities and limitations. In other words, we need to do a self-assessment.
Take a blank sheet of paper and list the things that you believe you can do. Sort the list to have the things that you really do well at the top, followed by things you can do fairly well. At the bottom will be things that you could do with some training and improvement. Keep this list as a reminder of what you’re capable of and of who you are. You need to know what you can do and what you can improve upon. To become a master at anything, you need to have certainty about, and not suffer any illusions, about your expertise and ability.
It is not that important what other people believe. You should not take the opinions or advice of others at face value. They may be prejudiced. You have to do this yourself. Don’t be disheartened of you are not as capable as the well-known legends in your field. You can always improve. The most important thing is to value yourself. When you know your potential, you are on your way to mastery.
Goal Setting
Goals setting is an important aspect of our lives. We are rational creatures by nature, and set goals for ourselves to get us to the next milestone. Whether it be to achieve a particular grade at school, a place in a sports team, a college qualification, or a job, we are always setting goals for ourselves.
If you’re not goal oriented, you are leading an unplanned life. Your life lacks direction. You aren’t living; you are merely existing. You are merely taking life as it comes. On the other hand, people who set goals quickly learn what they are worth, When you achieve a goal, you realize that you are capable of that, and this gives you confidence and reinforces your belief in yourself.
Initially you goal my seen vague, a shot in the dark. But when you achieve it, you know you’re capable of it, and you have the confidence to plan ahead. Achieving goals turn your bleary view into something concrete. Goal achievement helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and helps you to develop self-belief.
Appreciating Your Successes
When you achieve something, however trivial, be sure to take some time out and celebrate it. It need not be a huge celebration. It may just be a night our with friends of family, or an overdue holiday. By celebrating, you are creating a memory and reinforcing your achievement. It helps you appreciate your success, small it may be, and will help propel you forward.
Celebrating and appreciating your success, is a must. By celebrating you are writing your accomplishment into your memory. It will add to your self-belief. If you simply let the achievement pass you by without a whimper, it will soon fade from your memory. You will not have any positive associations with your achievement.
Do involve people in your celebration. People around us often reinforces our feelings. Family and friends understand the importance of your accomplishments. Chances are that their eagerness to celebrate with you, will remain with you to turn your success into a lasting memory. In building a realistic belief in yourself, you should not downplay your achievements. Hence the need to create happy memories with your accomplishments.
It Is Better to Have Tried than Not at All
Our apprehension at taking on the unfamiliar can prevent us from ever attempting to do so. Apprehensions can take a severe toll on our lives. We tend to overthink everything we do. Many people lose out on a life well lived, because they never tried. Their prejudices and fears made it impossible from them to achieve their goals.
But people who have belief in themselves, recognize what they are capable of, even when they have not yet proved it to to the world. They possess the inner-motivation to put in the preparation or practice they need to do. They understand that they may not succeed at first, but they try. They know that without trying they will never succeed.
Don’t let others’ criticism or apprehension put you off from trying. They may not know you. They don’t understand what you feel. You are the only person who knows your self-worth, and with this mind, can pursue your goal with possible success down the road.
Constantly Improving Your Idea of Self
Throughout your life, you learn new things, gain more experience, meet new people, and broaden your horizons. You gain new competencies, and become better qualified at what you do. You enjoy accomplishments, and even in your failures, you are learn and testing your limitations. Our belief in ourselves is subject to time and our own experience.
That is why you always need to keep evolving your belief in yourself. Something you failed at years ago, may well be in your grasp today. And if you were able to do something back then, you will probably be able to do a better job now. You have to realize that your capabilities are constantly changing, and so should your practical belief in yourself.
Moving toward Mastery
Mastery comes through confidence. Confidence comes through believing in yourself. It is a natural progression. When you have a realistic belief in yourself, you become more confident. You are not put off by detractors and the obstacles in your path. You are your own best friend and motivator. That is what confidence really is.
Your will power and persistence will drive you towards achieving your goals. But it is you confidence and your intense belief that you can achieve success, that that gives you the will to succeed. Your belief made you confident and hence you achieve.
This is true in every aspect of your life. With each new achievement your belief in yourself is reinforced. You go on to try more difficult things. You keep on progressing and pushing your own boundaries because your belief in yourself is evolving. And then one day it happens. Somewhere along the way, you begin to excel, and become a master at what your do.
The Vital Ingredients for Achieving Mastery
Let’s review what we’ve learned, and identify the vital ingredients to achieving mastery:
Believing in Yourself. Without self-belief, you will not achieve mastery. To become an expert, it is vital that you know you can achieve it. But your belief must be realistic, based on the knowledge you gained from your own honest self-assessment.
Confidence. Believing in yourself is one thing, gaining confidence is another. Confidence is what turns your self-belief into action. Your confidence is what make things happen, to exercise your abilities.
Practice. Confidence cannot be empty. It has to be reinforced with practice. In other words, you cannot be confident about achieving something, if you haven’t practiced it earlier. For example, you cannot be confident about addressing a large crowd, if you haven’t tried it before. Practice will have your move towards mastery.
Shunning Criticism. You may face a lot of criticism on the way. You need to see through this and move ahead. This is where your self-belief comes into play. Your self-belief and confidence will enable you to fend off negative criticism.
Mobilizing Your Strengths; Improving Your Weaknesses
We all have strengths and weaknesses. It is when we mobilize our strengths and convert our weaknesses into strengths that we are able to achieve mastery. Weaknesses can be improved, though you have to be realistic about them. Recognizing that your have made a mistake or have some limitation in your make up, will enable you to work on it, or at least find an alternative means to overcome it.
But even more important in your path to mastery, is to understand and utilize your strengths. All great performers, whether in business, sport or entertainment, have their weaknesses, but they manage to hide them by focusing on their strengths. Your strengths are also your competitive advantage, which allows you to outperform others. Mobilizing your strengths will allow you to improve your performance and reach mastery.
Avoiding Stress and Keeping Focus
When we don’t achieve our goals and success remains elusive, we experiences frustration. The frustration turns in to stress and self-doubt. As stress takes its toll, you find it difficult to remain focused on your goals. And you will begin to doubt your ability to reach your goals.
You have to realize that success will not come in a day. You have to give it time. But the sooner you start and the more steadfast your believe in it, the faster you will achieve your goals. It is true that many people strive all their lives to achieve something, without success, despite their self-belief. But that should make you even more determined.
Whilst you need to be relentless in achieving your goals, you should attend to your stress too. Allow time for family and friends. In stressful times, these are the people will stand by you. Take breaks and go on trips. Treat yourself to small luxuries that make you happy. Try stress management therapies, such as meditation. When you are intrinsically happy, you will be free from stress, and better able to focus on your goals.
Awareness of Self is Attaining of Mastery
Awareness of self is the most important ingredient in the achievement of mastery. To excel at something, you have to recognize that you have the ability to do so. And this realization must come from within. While others can encourage you, that in itself is not sufficient.
Throughout or lives, from childhood, through adolescence, to adulthood, we question ourselves as to what we really want to do with our lives. We are doing a self-investigation, and base our decision on our understanding of our abilities. Mastery lies in our understanding of our capabilities, and utilizing them to the maximum. If you constantly do this, you will continuously be making headway towards greater proficiency.
Of course, practice is important. We can never underestimate its importance. You have to realize that. You have to learn from your experience. But it all starts with believing in yourself. You need to understand your abilities. That’s the first step to mastery.
You may be skeptical about all of this. That it doesn’t apply to you. But it’s based on the real-life experience of people who have reached the top. Taylor Smith’s Journey to Fearless is more than the story of her first major concert tour. It’s a living example of how self-belief gets you to mastery. Nobody said that learning cannot be accompanied by entertainment.
