Believe In Yourself: 7 Core Principles to Internalize in Your Brain

As the old wisdom goes, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right.” This is due to the overwhelming power of self-fulfilling beliefs, which play a huge role in so many areas of our lives whether it be education, work, relationships, or personal goals.

What you believe about yourself matters. Because our BELIEFS influence how we ACT, and how we ACT ultimately influences the RESULTS we get out of life.

This doesn’t mean your beliefs will automatically lead to happiness or success. But they are the first step toward making a real change in your life.

In this article, I’ll describe 7 core principles behind “believing in yourself.” Then I’ll share how to take these principles and begin integrating them into your natural way of thinking.

Let’s get started!

Believe in Yourself: 7 Core Principles to Internalize

First let me illustrate all 7 core principles and elaborate more on each one.

• “I have the power to create my own happiness in life.” The most fundamental truth is to recognize that it’s in your own power to achieve happiness or not. No one can do it for you. It won’t magically fall into your lap. It’s completely up to you. And until you take that responsibility and power, you’ll always be one step away from happiness.
• “I know and follow my values on a daily basis.” Your core values in life are the things that ultimately drive you and make you want to get up in the morning. Do you know what matters most to you? Family? Work? Religion? If you don’t know your core values, it’ll be difficult to build any type of happiness or success in your life. You can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where you want to go.
• “I am learning and improving with every new experience.” Believing in yourself doesn’t mean you think you are always right – it means you believe in your ability to learn and adapt in the face of new information and new experiences. Keep a continuous growth mindset and recognize that self-improvement is a never-ending process, not an end-goal where you finally cross the line and it’s “done.” Keep going.
• “I am capable of overcoming any obstacle in my life.” To truly believe in yourself, you have to recognize that you are capable of overcoming any obstacle in the long-term. Yes, obstacles can be devastating and painful, but have faith that you will make it through…even if it takes months or years. Remember the famous Marcus Aurelius quote “what stands in the way becomes the way.” Everything that happens is a part of your journey. Everything feeds growth, improvement, and transformation.
• “My attitude permeates all external conditions.” While you can’t always control your external circumstances (your environment, the people around you, or unfortunate events), you can always control your perspective and attitude. Knowing how to reframe your experiences is an essential tool for maintaining your self-confidence and self-worth no matter where you find yourself in life.
• “I am willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term rewards.” One underestimated factor to success is foresight or our ability to see into the future and plan accordingly. This often requires that we ignore short-term pleasures and pains, and keep in mind the long-term results we are working towards. Sometimes temporary pleasures can lead to long-term pains, and sometimes temporary pains can lead to long-term pleasures.
• “I am a source of motivation and inspiration for others.” Truly happy and successful people want to see other people be happy and successful too. Try to set a positive examples for others, encourage them to pursue their goals and values, celebrate their accomplishments, and give them support when they are going through a rough patch in their lives. You need people like this in your life to reach your full potential, and other people need you to reach their full potential. Success grows exponentially when it’s shared.
  

Building These Beliefs Into Your Natural Way of Thinking

Of course, to truly “believe in yourself” is always easier said than done.

Keep in mind that it’s a process that requires continuous effort before it becomes a part of your natural way of thinking.

Reading this article is a good start, but it won’t magically change your thinking over-night.

Here are a few suggestions…

• Create a collection of positive thoughts, quotes, or affirmations that resonate with you. This is a great resource that you can continuously add to and revisit whenever you need a boost in positivity (I currently have a collection of well over 1,000 positive thoughts that I’ve discovered over the years). Many of these are now a natural part of how I think on a daily basis.
• Make positive thoughts a part of your daily environment. Simply writing down a few positive thoughts on index cards and posting them around your home (on fridge, mirror, etc.) is one easy way of nudging your mind in a more positive direction. Another tiny hack is to create passwords that are positive thoughts, such as “IGrowEveryday!” or “PositivityNow!” Check out my article on “unconscious positivity” for more suggestions.
• Write about your strengths and values. Writing is a great way to dig deeper into your thinking and begin to change it more on an unconscious level. Consider dedicating just 5 minutes everyday to write about something positive in your life, such as a strength of yours, a core value you have about life, a positive memory from your past, or an ambition for the future. Positive writing will lead to more positive thinking.

Ultimately, you’ll have to dedicate yourself to small and gradual change to change your mindset in a significant way. It is however something that is very possible to do with practice and dedication.

What could you do today to make “believe in yourself” a closer reality?

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