The Only Thing Stopping You From Reaching The Top Is You

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How many times have you sat on a bus or a train, or on the sofa at home, and seen in the news somebody who has achieved greatness? And if you are anything like me you thought, I could do that.

It could be in business, sports, entertainment or even politics. And maybe, just like me, you got to wonder what is it he or she has got that I haven’t. It might be more to the point to think about what these people have not got that you have.

Successful people do not have three things that the rest of us are lumbered with — worry, fear and a lack of self-belief.

Worry will sap your energy. Let me tell you 100 per cent of what we worry about is not worth worrying about. Either it never happens or it is so inconsequential you wonder why you ever worried about it in the first place.

Fear will hold you back. A fear of failure will guarantee that you fail. A fear of success will equally make it certain that you will fail. Yes, there are people who have failed because they were afraid to succeed. Can you believe that? Well, I am one for a start. I was afraid to succeed because of all that it might bring, too much money, and too much unwanted attention from the wrong sort of people....

This is not about failure or success per se, it is about fear and the way in which we allow it to control us. And it is not that we have to control our fear, we have to eliminate it altogether. In short, we have to be fearless.

A lack of self-belief is so negative it will stop you even thinking about the wonderful possibilities that there are waiting for you to enjoy. And if you don’t believe in yourself why would anybody else believe in you? What you have to do is cultivate a can-do attitude.

Many years ago I sold a new car to the captain of an English Premier League football team. As we sat at my desk in the showroom he told me a little of his story. He was a Dutch guy who used to play in what the English call a Sunday League football team, in Holland.

This guy told me that in terms of ability and talent, he was the worst of the whole team. And yet all of his more talented teammates ended up as average-salary pen pushers in some obscure company office in Amsterdam. And somehow he ended up earning megabucks at the top of the game in what is widely considered to be the best league football in the world. He lived in a million-pound mansion, in the best part of town, and he drove a brand-new Ferrari.

Now I know I’m talking about a very successful sportsman, but people who are successful in business or any other sphere of life have the same mindset.

Of course, it occurred to me that maybe my footballer friend was displaying a degree of false modesty, but I think not.

What he was trying to tell me was that by not worrying, by dispelling any fears of not making it, by having total self-belief in himself, he made it to the top where others failed.

And that is the only difference between you and the guys who make it big. To repeat, it is not what they have got that you haven’t, it is what you have got that they haven’t.

So remember, it is not what they have got that you haven't, it is what you have got that they haven't.