Believe In Yourself
Believe In Yourself
When life deals with unexpected disappointments, difficulties, hardships, and other sufferings, it can be discouraging. When dreams are shattered, it can be a devastating blow if you let it. Everyone has bad things happen that they didn’t expect it. it may be the loss of a job, an accident, an illness, divorce or any of a thousand other unfortunate occurrences that disrupt their lives. It’s up to each person. based upon his character, to decide whether that disruption will be temporary or permanent.
Some people have a run of bad luck and use it as an excuse to give up on life. They’re easy to spot by their haggard looks and lack of enthusiasm. The problem is, these people become focused on looking backward that they run on into new problems and disappointments that could easily have been avoided had they been looking forward. What has happened in the past cannot be changed. No matter how much you focus on past events, they will still be the same. The past is of no value unless you learn from it. Then its value only arises if you apply what you learn to make better decisions today because it is today’s success that buries past disappointments and brings brighter futures. It’s important to use these past events in your life to develop and strengthen your mindset instead of letting them destroy you.
Take for example Yusof, his first year in the signboard business was really difficult. He has expended far more time, energy, and effort than he had ever done. After 12 exhausting months, he had earned only $3500, considerably less than his annual salary when he was working in a factory. He was struggling just to keep food on the table. At this point, it would be easy for him to give up and quit but Yusof didn’t think that way. Sure his income was down, but his knowledge was up and his spirits were high: he decided to believe in himself and cancel the pity party. Unlike his factory job, he was in control of this one. He didn’t have to worry about being fired or being laid off, what he has to guard against was succumbing to the negative influence of other people. Had he been focussing on the past, he might be tempted to quit, but instead of being discouraged, he viewed the first year in business himself as an investment, one that would pay dividends in the future.
The biggest lesson he learned was also one of the simplest: Investing requires sacrifice. Whether it’s time or money, investing means setting it aside for future benefits. If you invest time in learning a skill, that same time can’t be used to go fishing, watch a movie or do some other fun activities. If you invest money in equipment to start a business, that money can’t be used to buy a boat, a car, or go for a holiday. What you spend today pays for today, but what you invest today pays for tomorrow.
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Yusof would look back at this first year as an investment because his time was spent learning the business. He learned that there was a special type of paint used for signs, special brushes made specifically for lettering, a special type of plywood with a smooth coating made especially for signs, and that using these resulted in much higher quality signs. He spent hours practicing lettering techniques and styles, learning how to lay out designs with balance so the letterings could easily be read. He learned that quality was key when it came to signs. They were to a business as clothes are to people — providing the look from which customers formed first impressions and often made decisions on whether to patronize an establishment. Imagine how you would feel eating in a restaurant if its signs looked amateurishly made, were dirty, and the paint was peeling. It wouldn’t present a very appetizing appearance, would it?
Yusof even paid a visit to one of the established sign shops around his area, where he met the owner, Hashim. When he explained that he was trying to get started in business, Hashim welcomed him into his shop and spent hours helping and encouraging him. He showed Yusof the right materials to use, explained how to lay the signs out for good balance, and taught him the best color combinations to use for good readability. There was never a hint that he viewed Yusof as a competitive threat to his business.
The time Yusof spent learning and practicing the technique Hashim taught him was time he wasn’t earning any income. It was time invested. The new brushes and paints and other supplies he bought cost money, but it was money invested. The time Hashim spent helping Yusof to get his business going was also time invested, but not an investment for which he ever expected to receive monetary compensation. As Yusof would discover later, Hashim was one of those rare individuals who placed helping others above helping himself. Hashim must have subscribed to the idea that success stops when you do, because today, even in his late 70’s, Hashim still goes to work each day at the sign shop where he first taught Yusof.
Yusof was a little different, his idea of success was spelled out in his written goal: that is to make enough money to be a millionaire and to retire at age 45. He was quickly learning that accomplishing that goal would be impossible without investing a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money. That’s why he wasn’t discouraged by the meager $3500 he earned during his first year in business. He had made a substantial investment and was looking forward to the coming year, a year that would prove to pay big dividends and from which he could both earn and learn more on his journey to becoming a millionaire.
Bad things happen to everyone. It’s your character that determines whether this will be a brief setback or a permanent disruption to your life. Investing in your future means using some of your time and your assets to make your future better even if it reduces what you can do today.
That’s all for now, my friends. See you all in my next article.
Here are tools to help your online business get back on track.
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