The most important success factor after defining your goals

Several weeks ago, I was attending an event about entrepreneurship and young start-ups, where some aspiring founders had the chance to speak and tell us about their success stories and how did they establish their companies step by step.

One of those young founders took the stage, and he started telling us about his story and how he; and his other 3 co-founders survived three years without any notable revenue until the breakthrough took place during the fourth year.

The best thing that I liked about his speech or story is that it was direct from the heart and without any preparations. But what attracted me the most, was that within 25 minutes-which was the duration of his speech-he mentioned the words ‘’we believed’’ not less than three times.

”Believe”!! What an underestimated word in our lives. But what does the word ‘’believe’’ truly mean?

It means that you are fully convinced of something to the extent that you can visualize it happening in front of you, or to be more specific, to the extent that you live it.

And even though the 2 words ‘’I believe’’ are very simple to say, they are seriously very hard to feel.

Have you ever said that you believe in something while deep inside of you; you were not sure, or you did not truly feel it?

If you ask most people ‘’do you want to be successful?'' or ''do you want to be rich?'', I bet a lot of them will say yes.

But if you ask them in an open, honest discussion if they truly believe that they can be successful or rich - based on their current status, education & knowledge, skills, circumstances..etc.- most of them will probably say ‘’No’’.

There is a huge difference between wishing and believing. And one of the major differences is in the ‘’attitude’’. When someone does not believe in something 100%, you can immediately figure it out if you observed his attitude.

When I heard the speech of this founder, I remembered how truly ‘’believing’’ in something played a major role in my life.

When I was a teenager, I used to be a competitive handball player and my dream was to join our national handball first team and participate in the Olympics.

But honestly said, when I look back now, I discovered that I never truly believed deep inside of me that this could happen.

One of the reasons I did not believe it could happen was because, deep inside me, I knew that in the history of the club that I was representing, nobody played for the national team or participated in the Olympics previously.

I also used to look at the other ''A-clubs'' players, who are the usual members of our national teams, and think that I will never have priority or be selected over them.

And even though, against all odds, I succeeded in reaching the youth national team, my handball career ended at the end of my teenage years because I was never able to see the ‘’light at the end of the tunnel’’ and I never participated in the Olympics.

After several years, the same story repeated itself when I opened my first export company at the age of 22.

I seriously wanted to succeed and become a great businessman. But deep inside of me, and when I look back now, I see that I never really believed that I could keep this company running forever.

I was always bounded by the way other business owners looked at me because of my age until I truly believed that, only because of my young age and lack of expertise, I can not succeed.

Finally, I had to close the company after several years, even though it was successful in the beginning, and it had the potential to grow.

But the day I truly believed in something, my attitude was different, and this difference led me to the change that I wanted in my life.

In 2010, my dream was to relocate to another country and interact with other cultures. So I decided to leave Egypt and immigrate to Germany to pursue an MBA degree, find a job, and continue my life in Europe.

And even though I came to a country with:

• A different culture.

• A different language that I did not speak during that time.

• And with only a 1-year chance to stay in Germany to search for a job after the MBA graduation or else, I am forced to leave and go back to my country.

But because I truly believed that I can do it and because I believed that even though it was really hard but still possible, I made my decision to immigrate.

Even more, I burned the bridge that can return me back, or in other words, my possible ‘’Plan B’’ by selling all my belongings before coming over here. As if it was a sign that I was giving to myself that there is ‘’no other options’’ or no way back. And as if I told myself in a silent language ‘’you have to find a way, or you are done.’’- (attitude based on belief)

Later on, during my studies, the road was not easy. I met other fellow students who used to travel to different cities all over Europe and were trying to enjoy their time during studying by traveling as much as they can.

Those colleagues used to ask me to join them, and I used to reject politely, and I always told them ‘’Later, when I finish my MBA degree and get hired, I will have plenty of time and stability to do all that I want. Now it’s time for work to reach my target as fast as possible.’’ – (attitude based on belief)

And just before I started my Internship during my MBA program, I applied for a German driving license. All my colleagues were surprised, and they started saying ‘’How is he investing this amount of money (which was high for me as a student) to get a driving license? He is still a student, and he is not even sure if he will live here’’, and when I used to hear those sentences I used to say ‘’I applied for a German license and invested time to prepare for the license exams because when I ‘will be’ hired later after graduation, I will not find enough time to finish it’’. – (attitude based on belief)

When I look back at those simple examples, I can now see the connection between ‘’believing’’ and ‘’attitude’’. And I am also able to see the difference in my confidence level, attitude, and finally the results; between when I truly believed in something, and the other cases when I did not.

Now, when I speak about the ‘’fundamentals of success’’ or about ‘’goal-setting’’ with my clients, I always say that ‘’believing’’ is the second most important factor or step, directly after the first main step which is knowing your goal, vision, and purpose.

Now, what about you?

Do you realize the difference between ‘’wishing’’ and ‘’believing’’?

Do you remember a situation in your life where ‘’believing’’ affected your ‘’attitude’’?

What were the actions that you took when you truly believed in something?

So whenever you are facing crossroads in your life, remember that all you need to do is to define your goal or target according to your vision, then believe with your heart and mind that you can do it.

 And if you forgot this sentence, maybe it’s enough to remember the quote of Theodore Roosevelt, the famous author, and the former United States president when he said “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.’’