Believe In Yourself

I love the saying – Believe In Yourself.  I believe all of us need to hear it – I know I do.  I even have a bracelet and a ring that is engraved with “Believe In Yourself” that is my favorite.  To me, it is more than a saying.  It is a practice, a way of life and a way of being with myself.  If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?

To Believe In Yourself 101:

To believe in yourself means believing in yourself always, in all times, having confidence in you and who you are.  That means whether it comes to a difficult project at work, raising your children, or losing weight.  In weight loss, we must, must, must believe in ourselves.  Our past attempts at dieting have only brought us closer and provided lessons to get us to the point where we lose weight and keep it off.

Unfortunately, it has happened many times when I talk with subscribers of my blog and my clients.  Someone will tell me that he or she can’t lose weight.  They go on to tell me how many times they’ve failed or aren’t disciplined enough.  Their life is unmanageable and they just don’t have what it takes to lose weight.  I hear “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t” many times – too many times.  After they’ve told me all about their things they can’t do, I ask them to describe to me the successes they’ve experienced and challenges they have overcome.  I guarantee you that you have successes and you have overcome challenges.  See where I’m going?  Weight loss is no different – you can have success and can overcome challenges.  You need to change your vocabulary and eliminate the reasons and times that you tell yourself that you can’t to the pure and simple fact that YOU CAN.

As that person has told me how many times they can’t, I have to give it to them that, at the time they are telling me, they are right.  There is no way that someone will make long-lasting changes in their lifestyle to support a weight loss with the ‘I can’t’ attitude.

If you tell yourself you can’t learn another language, you won’t learn another language.

Tell yourself you can’t play golf, you’ll never play golf.

Say ‘I can’t’ get organized. You won’t get organized.

Now, this is not saying that anyone in the world can do anything he or she wants to do. Not everyone could be an opera singer. Not everyone could be an Olympic gold medal winner.  But, how will you know that you can’t do something you truly want to do, if you don’t give yourself a fighting chance?  Past attempts that have not been successful in losing weight mean nothing to your future.  Actually, they provide lessons to help you move forward and reach your weight loss goals.  You’ll know what didn’t work and why it didn’t work only to take the action to discover what does work for you.  Past attempts that haven’t proven successful only mean you are closing to determining what will work for you.

Change your self-talk:

It’s inevitable — saying, ‘You can’t’ GUARANTEES that ‘You won’t.’

Now that you know why saying ‘I can’t’, eliminates any chance of success, there’s a very simple way of achieving more of what you set out to do.  All you have to do is drop the letter “t” from ‘I can’t’ and suddenly you’ll begin to see that everything changes.

Tell yourself ‘I can learn another language’, you’ll get a few language books, and you’ll begin learning a whole new vocabulary.

Tell yourself ‘I can play golf’, you’ll get on the green with a golf instructor who can give you the instruction
you need, and you’ll begin playing golf.

Tell yourself  ‘I can get organized’, you’ll begin applying some simple organizing concepts, and you WILL begin to get organized.

You need to give yourself a fighting chance, and that fighting chance begins in your own mind by telling yourself that YOU CAN.  Remember the story of the little train that could.  As he went up the hill, he didn’t tell himself that he “can’t” but actually said “I think I can” and then at the top, exclaimed that “I know I can.”  To tell yourself that you know you can is a first huge step toward your weight loss success.  If you start out saying that you can’t based on past attempts, you’ll add another past attempt rather than a success.  So, repeat after me, “I KNOW I CAN.”

The bottom line is, you have to believe in yourself and see yourself succeeding, before you ever will.  Once you do, success is virtually guaranteed and yours!

I read this and love it.  I wanted to share it with you on my Blog.  Remember, the best investment you’ll ever make is in yourself.

Believe In Yourself

by Jillian K. Hunt
from Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul

Set your standards high.
You deserve the best.
Try for what you want.
And never settle for less.

Believe in yourself.
No matter what you choose.
Keep a winning attitude.
And you can never lose.

Think about your destination.
But don’t worry if you stray.
Because the most important thing
is what you learned along the way.

Take all that you’ve become.
To be all that you can be.
Soar above the clouds
and let your dreams set you free.