Beliving comes from knowing

I was 14 the first time I heard a motivational audiotape. I was curiously sifting through my dad’s audiotape collection and found a set of 4 audio cassettes. Can’t remember the title but I sure do remember the first words out of that speaker’s mouth — BELEIVE! (Yeah, he screamed!) I was startled and in nervousness (would you dig through your dad’s collection when he’s right there?) turned off the player.

Here’s what I learned that day:

1. Some people pay money to buy audiotapes that don’t have songs.
2. The word ‘Believe’ has to be important… why else would anyone scream at the top of the lungs?

Thankfully, my conclusions were proved to be pretty valid. But there’s a catch — everyone speaker (motivational or otherwise) talks about ‘believing’ in themselves (or others), their dreams and aspiration but nobody explains how to. Ain’t that strange?

If you think that’s easy, well, you must be lucky! You know why? Because thousands among us go through depression and have nervous breakdowns because they don’t know how to ‘believe’ in themselves! I wish I had an antidote to help people with this, but I don’t have one.

There’s more to just ‘believing’ in ourselves. And it all starts with knowing your strengths. No, not the ones that people (particularly your mom, dad, spouse, friend or even your boss) tell you about but the kind that helps you closely assess and evaluate your personality, traits, thought patterns and talents. It’s scientific and gives you a solid base to work off of (and believe in).

I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating — self-awareness is your superpower. Everything else is just a sham that people make you believe in. You have to take the effort to get to know yourself and leverage your strengths (upon findings) to become a better version of whoever you want to become.

The possibilities are endless. If you only believe in yourself. But then, you have to know what to believe in.