One Rule to Make it to the Top

One Rule to Make it to the Top.

The power of self-belief and consistency.

There is a distinct difference in those who ‘make it’ and those who don’t.

It’s a magical quality we all envy, secretly or publicly.

Some say they were born with it; others are closer to the truth.

Often disregarded as arrogance or even foolishness — self-belief is vital to performing in the top 1%. Regardless of whether you’re in the top 1% or want to make it there, the rule remains applicable.

There is simply no room to act without complete conviction in your ability. To do so would be to cripple your chances of success. High-level skills require daring moves that suffer greatly from hesitation or faltering.

Sometimes self-belief shines more brightly. We less likely to witness the quiet confidence of a mathematician experimenting with revolutionary formulae than a boxing world champion publically prophetizing a first-round knockout.

All astounding feats require mental completion before physical completion.

We have to visualize and believe we can perform such actions before they come to being.

We know from science that the brain makes no distinction between visualization and actual performance.

You have to believe that you can make it every time even though you probably won’t. Otherwise, you set yourself up for mediocre performance each time.

You’re shooting your own leg before every game.

Given the likelihood of success and the often high-stakes circumstances, the belief may seem blind. Even so, it is founded on a deeper confidence built by practice and experience. The statue of conviction rests on a hidden foundation of knowledge and expertise.

Self-belief is either formed during your childhood or self-made.

Here’s the cold, hard truth. You can’t fake it.

You can certainly try to, and it may help you perform the actions necessary to gain that belief. But actions are what’s required.

Confidence comes from competence.

If you’ve never been down for the count and gotten up, you don’t know that it’s possible and so you fear the uncertainty.

How do people accomplish things which have never been done before? They take their measure of self-belief and stretch it.

They get close enough that even though they haven’t touched their goal, they can see it.

Confidence is fickle because it can be forgotten easily. One loss can shatter your picture of your ultimate self. But self-belief is deeper; it is accepting loses and knowing that they don’t define you because you are capable of better.

Loses begin to serve as motivation, and failures inspire you. Because when you know that you’re better, failure is just a challenge. When you don’t, failure defines you.