Believe - part 1

Success in business, success in life – our definitions may be different but most of us strive for our personal version of success. It gets us out of bed in the morning and guides us through our days. Day in and day out we follow our routines and strive for our successes but is there something holding us back? Something that is so apparent and, dare I say, basic that we don’t even recognize the hold it has on us? I say there is and that something is the belief we have in ourselves, our abilities and our businesses.

Just like the trinkets in the card stores that show angels with the message of “believe,” in business we need to remind ourselves to believe. Believe in our company. Believe in our products. Believe in our abilities. I’d like you to think of the person you consider to be a success and then imagine how far they would have gotten if they didn’t believe. Think about an underdog sports team. The pundits announce with a sort of glee that they have no chance to win. So why do they even take the field? They believe there is a chance to win. No matter how small, the chance exists and they take it. And, sometimes they actually win.

As an owner, executive, supervisor, or employee can your business really succeed if you don’t believe that it will? Worse yet, what happens if you become the negative force that keeps someone else from believing? If a business owner says “we can’t compete” won’t the employees believe that? How far will that get any of them? This circle of negativity takes root and grows. It inhibits progress, saps our energy and many of us are not even aware it exists!

This is certainly an area that I have a strong personal attachment to because I didn’t believe in myself and it held me back for far too long. For years and years, I always talked about going back to school to get my MBA. My undergraduate work wasn’t in business and I felt it always held me back. I would bemoan that I wouldn’t be accepted into a graduate program or that I certainly wouldn’t be able to handle the math courses. The funny thing is, for most of this time I was working in a direct marketing company managing the marketing communications team. Most of my work was statistical analysis! I was a perfect MBA candidate and yet I refused to believe it.

Over time, I finally came to the conclusion that I really needed and wanted to try for the MBA. The excitement of being accepted into a program quickly turned into fear and dread of the financial and statistical courses. After receiving “A’s” in my first few course, I still refused to believe that I could handle the dreaded classes that I had yet to take. How was I ever going to pass them? The dread overshadowed my successes. The time came for the financial courses and to my surprise I easily kept my 4.0 average! Instead of rejoicing, I continued to focus on the dread. Qualitative Analysis was still lurking out there – how was I ever going to pass it?! I was certain that I was doomed. Gradually, the program progressed and I had three classes to go. It was time to face the music.

I barely slept the night before the class started. The next morning I anxiously logged on to pull the syllabus. Ok. Didn’t seem so bad but I was still sure the other shoe would drop. I refused to believe that I could manage this. Week 1 passed and hey – I aced all the assignments but I wouldn’t allow myself to enjoy the success. The weeks flew by and to my udder dismay – I loved the work! The experiences I had from my direct marketing past provided and excellent foundation for my coursework. I finally could believe that I could and would earn my MBA. And, I did with a perfect score. 100% in Qualitative Analysis! Something which the professor thought had never been accomplished before. I couldn’t believe it!

“I couldn’t believe it.” How many times have we said that to ourselves? I couldn’t believe I made that sale. I couldn’t believe my boss liked my presentation. I couldn’t believe….how many times have we held ourselves back by saying those words? Personally, I am done saying those words. I believe that I can make a difference and this blog is my way to start.

In the coming weeks and months and even years, I want to talk about making businesses better. From change management to customer service to marketing to strategic planning, I believe that I can make a difference in your company. I am asking you to believe in me. Start by posting a response to this entry and share a story about how believing or not believing has affected you. Send me an email with topic ideas you would like me to explore. Let’s break the negative hold and believe that we can help each other find our successes!