How to Believe In Yourself and Stay Motivated | Jack Canfield

Hi there, I'm Jack Canfield and I have a question for you. Do you believe you have what it takes to achieve your goals? As Henry Ford once said, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. So you may as well believe that you can. And today I'd like to make that easier for you by sharing some very helpful tips on how to cultivate the unshakable self esteem that you'll need to believe in yourself and stay motivated to pursue your dreams. During our Breakthrough to Success event this past spring, we asked the 500 plus participants what their biggest obstacles to success were. And the answer was almost always the same. It was their mindset. They didn't believe in themselves. They were afraid of failure. They were still caught in the grip of old hurt, struggling with feelings of bitterness, anger and regret. They didn't think they were worthy or deserved the success they dreamed of. And even though they understood this about themselves and realized that they were their own biggest enemy, they still felt like they were somehow powerless to do anything about it. Well, I'm going to tell you the same liberating truth bomb I told them. You are the only one in the world who does have the power to do anything about it. Because if there is one unarguable truth about the universe, it's our thoughts create our reality. Our minds are the only tool through which we're able to perceive the world around us. And everything we experience in life is filtered through our minds. So if you can learn how to think better thoughts, you will experience a better reality no matter what is going on in the world around you. But the thing about our thoughts is they often feel entirely out of our control. And that's because in many ways they are. You can't really stop the ceaseless flow flow of thoughts that stream across your consciousness. But what you can do is choose which thoughts to listen to. As Byron Katie says in her book Loving what is, and I quote, a thought is harmless unless we believe it. It's not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts that causes suffering. Now, when we invest our energy and attention in thoughts that cause us harm, we suffer. So what we have to do is learn how to recognize when we are thinking thoughts that harm us and then detach ourselves from that thought and choose to focus on a better thought that will have a more positive impact on our lives. Because the reality is, at any given instant, there are a million different ways to interpret what's happening in the world and a million possible things you could think in that moment. For example, if your spouse often leaves for work in the mornings without remembering the key you goodbye, you could choose to interpret this as a sign they don't care about you, or they aren't attracted to you anymore. Or you could consider the fact that your spouse has been working on a really important project and it's probably tired and preoccupied, and their behavior has nothing to do with you at all. And how you choose to interpret any situation, the thoughts you choose to think about it, the meaning you choose to give it, that's always up to you. And if you choose to believe, for example, that the universe is fundamentally good and that you have the capacity to achieve your goals, guess what? That belief will come true for you. I, for one, have chosen to become an inverse paranoid. I choose to believe the universe is always acting in my favor, that the world is always plotting to do me good, even though it may not be apparent at the moment. For example, while the COVID 19 pandemic was certainly challenging for me and and my business at the beginning, it has shown me that we can reach more people with less travel and less expense through using the Internet and Zoom more effectively. And that has led to a much less demanding lifestyle for me and more time to focus on my health and my family. So how do you learn how to think better thoughts and learn to believe in yourself? Well, the first step is to become more aware of your thoughts so you can gain more clarity into the ideas that are streaming constantly through your head and, and the effect that they're having on your life. And the best way to do that is through meditation. You see, meditation makes it easier for you to notice your thoughts as they arise in your mind, and you become then aware of how they make you feel at that moment. And the more you begin to notice your thoughts and their impact on you, the more that you'll realize that many of your thoughts are causing you stress and that many of them aren't true. Here's how you can test this for yourself. Try paying a close attention to your thoughts for an entire day and notice how many times you find yourself thinking things you know aren't true or that you can't absolutely for sure know are true. Maybe you're imagining yourself having a conversation with someone that has never actually happened in real life. Or maybe you're envisioning a future event that has not happened yet and probably never will. Or maybe a thought spontaneously comes to mind that has absolutely no real basis in reality. Just begin noticing how often that happens and realize this just because you think it, it doesn't mean it's true. And here's the kicker. You know those negative thoughts that you think about yourself? The ones that say I'm not good enough, I'm not attractive enough, I'm not smart enough, or skilled enough or educated enough, I'm not connected enough, I'm never lucky, I'm not worthy enough to get what I want. Well, they're not true either. You can think the exact opposite opposite of almost any thought and find just as much proof to establish that the opposite has just as much truth to it and even more than the original thought. Now, once you realize that, it becomes so much easier for you to detach yourself from the negative thoughts that are causing you suffering and choose to believe in more positive, empowering thoughts instead. And just like that, your life will start to become more beautiful, more loving, more magical and more joyous. And yes, it really is that simple and that challenging. Because to experience the benefits of meditation, you really have to commit to it. Meditation isn't a once in a while thing. To experience the benefits, you need to sit down and do it every day. Consistency is far more important than the length of time you sit in meditation. It's better to do it for 10 minutes every single day than to do it for 30 minutes just a couple times a week. And you have to understand that mindfulness meditation isn't about stopping your thoughts. It's about allowing them to flow as they always have, and simply observing them, but not attaching to them. This is what allows you to remain unmoved and unaffected. When those negative thoughts arise in your head, you can see them bubbling up to the surface and you can think, oh, hey, there's another one of those thoughts that have no basis in reality, and then just allow it to continue flowing on down the stream and without taking you with it. And that's how you detach yourself from negative thoughts. Now let's talk about how you replace them with empowering thoughts about your own capacity to achieve anything you can imagine. The best way to think more empowering thoughts is to pursue more empowering experiences. Start seeking out new challenges that will challenge you to stretch beyond your comfort zone and learn new skills that will help you get a deeper appreciation of what you truly are capable of achieving, which, as I've said, is pretty much anything you can imagine. Now, when you take small risks and succeed at them, you prove to yourself that you are someone who can take risks and not only survive them, but thrive and grow as a result of them. And the more you Understand this, the more you'll be inspired to take even bigger risks and continue to expand your understanding of your own potential. So even when you stumble and fall at times, which is inevitable on your journey through life, you will know that you can easily get back up, shake yourself off, and dive back into it. And this is what creates an unshakable belief in yourself and will help you stay motivated as you work toward your goals and dreams in life. The unyielding belief that if you keep taking steps in the right direction, you will achieve your goals. So the next time you find yourself thinking something like I can't do this or I'm so stupid or I'll probably fail, remember these thoughts aren't true and replace them with positive statements to reflect the truth. Thoughts like I can do this, I can learn anything I set my mind to, and I will succeed no matter what, because any failure I experience is a stepping stone that will bring me closer to my dreams. As Byron Katie says, and I quote, the worst that can happen and the best that can happen are the same event, unquote. Now, how you choose to experience them is up to you. Events can never hurt you. Only your thoughts about events can hurt you. Other people can't hurt you. Only your thoughts about them and their behavior can. And when you have an unshakeable belief in yourself and choose to focus on thinking positive thoughts that empower you and help you stay motivated, you're going to be amazed at how wonderful your life will become and how effortless it will be for you to achieve your goals and experience a deep state of joy, abundance and fulfillment. And here's one last thought, something that I just learned a couple of months ago and have been using in my life. You may have heard me in a previous video talk about using the phrase cancel. Cancel when you hear yourself thinking or speaking a negative thought. Now, as soon as you're aware of it, you just say the words cancel. Cancel. Say it out loud if you can, and then think or speak the opposite positive thought. We call this a pattern interrupt that over time will help you eliminate the negative and replace it with the positive. Now, here's the new part. Take about 10 little post its little sticky notes and stick them in places around your house or office where you'll see them, like on the bathroom mirror, the refrigerator, on a closet door that you open all the time, at the bottom of the landing of your stairs as you go down every day, next to your computer, on the dashboard of your car, maybe opposite the toilet in your bathroom and so on. And every time you see one, just take a second to notice what are you thinking. And if it's negative, replace it with the positive opposite. Better feeling thought. And if you find that you're thinking the same negative thought a lot, create an affirmation for the positive thought and make sure to practice repeating it several times throughout the day or at the end of your affirmations and visualization practice in the morning. Now, if you're willing, please leave a comment below and share one thing you plan to do this week to cultivate a deeper, more unshakable belief in yourself. Maybe you'll challenge yourself to notice your thoughts for a whole day. Maybe it's finally time for you to implement a daily meditation practice. Or maybe you'll take a small, doable risk that will help empower you in some way. And once you've decided what that is, I encourage you to share it in the comments below. And when you write your intentions down and when you make them public, which is what I'm asking you to do, you give them power. Now I can't wait to see how you plan to empower yourself. Now. If you found this video helpful, make sure you like it and share it with a friend who may need it. And for some additional resources on how to believe in yourself and stay motivated, make sure to visit my website@jackcampfield.com thank you for watching. And remember, only you have the power to create the life that you want.