Do you realize that what we believe about ourselves, affects us so much more than what is actually true about ourselves? Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Let's say you attend a music concert and are completely blown away by someone's piano playing. You walk out of the concert and say to yourself, "I would love to play the piano like that, and move people in the way I was moved". Now, does the fact that you cannot currently play the piano mean you can never accomplish that desire?

The current truth about yourself is, you cannot play the piano. But, what you believe about yourself will determine if that will remain your reality or if you will become an excellent pianist.

Do you know what people like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziggler, Og Mandino and Napoleon Hill have in common? They are all people from humble beginnings, they all had many set backs in life, and they all later became very successful. How did they do this? They learned to believe in themselves.

If you find in your current state that you are over weight, deep in debt, lonely, or unsuccessful in any area of your life, does that mean you are stuck in that reality? I don't think so. I'm sure you've heard the saying birds of a feather flock together. Well, negative people tend to hang out with other negative people, religious people tend to hang out with other religious people, and entrepreneurs tend to hang out with other entrepreneurs. Who do you hang out with? We all tend to gravitate toward people or groups of people that we believe to be like us, or people we would like to be like.

There are people who were born into great privilege, yet they threw their lives away and died miserable and alone. Then there have been many people born into this world dirt poor, yet went on to accomplish many great things for themselves and society in general. Why such different outcomes? Much of it has to do with their beliefs. You see we all get thrown curve balls in life; we all hit the wall from time to time, and circumstances are sometimes beyond our control. But what we believe about ourselves has a great deal to do with how we respond to, or deal with these situations.

If you have a poor self image and never do anything to change it, you will have exiled yourself to a life of mediocrity at best, no matter what advantages you may have been born with. Yet, if you will just believe in yourself, and realize the God given abilities that lie in each one of us, you can aspire to great heights in your life no matter what adversity may come your way.

We're not all dealt the same cards in life, but unless we are stricken with a handicap beyond our control, we have the ability to achieve just about anything we wish. In fact, many people with great disabilities go on to do amazing things in their lives.

It all begins with believing in ourselves, and visualizing our lives the way we want them to be. That is why setting goals, as well as, writing down and reviewing affirmations are so important. We need a road map to follow, and a vision to keep us heading in the right direction on that map.

If we will only believe in ourselves, and keep visualizing ourselves the way we want to be, it is only a matter of time before we achieve that which we most desire.

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Mike Shanta is a student of success who resides in Branson, Missouri. He is editor and publisher of a Free Newsletter "All-Round Success" which you can receive by going to his website http://www.on-lineopportunities.com, He also publishes a Success Blog called "All-Round Success" http://www.all-roundsuccess.blogspot.com.