Harness the Power of Your Mind to Ensure Business Success

By Marian Kerr

Did you know that your mind can focus on only one thing at a time? Are you aware that there are two main motives that determine your actions? They are moving away from pain, and moving towards pleasure.

Knowing this, you too can use the incredible power of your mind to help overcome your fear of failure and achieve greater success in your business.

Focusing on Avoiding Failure

Fear of failure can rob you of energy and the ability to act in ways that lead you towards your success goals. It can even completely paralyse you and keep you stuck in confusion and indecision. If you put your focus on avoiding the pain of failure then all you will think about is the possibility of failure.

You might convince yourself that you are working hard towards achieving a viable and thriving business, but in reality this type of focus is likely to make you evade even trying. You are liable to end up filling your time with all sorts of distractions and responding to "urgent" (but unimportant) calls on your time and energy.

All that busy work will leave you feeling exhausted and frustrated because you just don't seem to be getting anywhere, despite all that effort.

Focusing on Achieving Success

On the other hand, focusing on the benefits of succeeding will give you a new motivation for action: it will help you move towards the pleasure of success and help build your determination and resolve to act in ways that will bring it about. Use your imagination to your advantage and make the power of your mind work for you.

Stop trying to move away from the distressing consequences you imagine that failure will bring about and start moving towards the rewards and satisfaction that you now begin to imagine success will provide for you. Begin by clearly envisioning your goals. What do you want to achieve in your life and in your business? Become really clear and really specific about this. Imagine yourself attaining success and let yourself feel what that will be like.

Next, imagine all the benefits that you will experience as a result of success - whether it is the successful completion of this week’s project, or the success of your business as a whole. What will you gain? How will you feel about yourself; your business; your future?

Get a clear idea of what success means to you.

• How will you know you have achieved it?

• What will success provide for you?

• Will it be the satisfaction of a job well done, financial security, or the contribution that your product or service has made to your customer?

• How will you measure your success - by your own standards; by the satisfaction of your client; or by the impossibility of complete and utter perfection?

• Are you holding yourself back by trying to meet the unrealistic demands of the messages you carry around in your head?

Make sure that your goal of success is aligned with your own core values and that it truly reflects your dreams and sense of purpose and is what YOU want to achieve in your life and in your business.

Using the Power of Your Mind to Achieve Success

Remember, your mind can only hold one thought at a time. If that thought is success, then fear of failure has lost its power over you. It's as simple as that! Start focusing on your desire for success instead of your fear of failure.

As you practice this new way of thinking, allow yourself to feel more energised and positive. Go with that feeling. Use the energy that focusing on your success gives you and start to take positive action to move you towards success.

Break the actions down into achievable small steps and keep going, one little step at a time. Enjoy the feeling of moving towards success rather than running away and hiding from failure.

Congratulate yourself on each tiny achievement along the way. Build on each of the small successes as you lay the foundations for the larger ones. It will take commitment and determination to practice this different way of thinking, but the effort will pay off.

It takes between 21 and 30 days to establish a new habit, so persevere and the results will be worth it.

By harnessing the amazing power of your mind and making it work for you, you can move towards success, confident in the knowledge that success is what you will achieve.

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© Copyright 2009: Marian Kerr, Contemplate Life Coaching. All Rights Reserved. Marian Kerr is a life coach, author and editor who believes in possibilities and positive choices. She delights in working with people to help them learn to enjoy being who they are; live from their strengths and build resilience; and tap into their motivation to achieve their own goals. To read her award-winning blog or to sign up for her newsletter and receive the free e-book 'Make 2009 a Powerful Year' visit http://mariankerr.co.nz

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