Do you find that your level of self confidence tends to go up and down like the stock market? Or perhaps it even goes up and down along with the stock market! Here is a story about a Japanese businessman that might give you a new perspective.

The man in my story initially had numerous bankruptcies. After his first bankruptcy he said, "Even though my business had failed, I did not feel like I had failed. I still had confidence in myself. I still knew that I could do something good. I didn't try to figure out all the details of what I had done right or wrong, I didn't try to understand whether I was a good business man or a bad business man. I just continued to believe in myself, and the vision that I had."

After this first bankruptcy he borrowed some more capital, and started a new business which he also ran into bankruptcy in a fairly short amount of time. Afterwards he said, "Even more so now, I still had confidence in myself. I had seen some flashes of brilliance, and I knew that I could do something good. Once again, I didn't focus on right or wrong, good or bad. I focused on what had worked and I concentrated on how I could borrow more money with the hope of finally fulfilling my dream."

He manages to borrow some more money and he also manages to go bankrupt again. After his third bankruptcy he said "At this point I had gotten the beginning taste of victory. I knew I was getting closer to getting it right." What a fantastic spirit this guy has! He has huge confidence in the face of big time short term failure.

Back out on the streets, he only managed to borrow a small sum of money. Not being able to start a "real" business with such a limited amount of cash, he rented a small Japanese pick-up truck. He shopped around in various wholesale markets and wound up deciding to only buy reasonable quality items that he could sell cheaply. He loaded his goods into the back of his tiny pick-up truck and parked illegally on a busy street where he hawked his wares to the passersby, and the launch of a new retail phenomena had begun. Over time he parleyed the success he had with his one tiny truck, into a chain of highly successful stores.

When asked to what he attributed his success, he replied "Believing in myself, and not picking apart all of my pluses and minuses." He said, "Right from the beginning I knew that I could be successful. I knew that dissecting what I had done right and what I had done wrong would eat up a lot of time and energy, and most likely not give me the formula for success. I knew that the formula for success was already inside of me, and that my job was to find a way to allow this formula to be expressed. I didn't try to understand what to do, I tried to get myself to the point where I was already doing what I needed to do."

To me this story offers a great deal of inspiration. The faith this man has in himself can be a gift to all of us. This story also reminds me of an article I read in a business magazine. The reporter interviewed a number of highly successful business people, all of whom had "failed" at least three or four times along the way. Each person in their own words said the following "I could not be the success I am today, had it not been for all of my previous failures!"

Do you have some "failures" in your life that possess the seeds of future success? I am guessing that we all do.
 

© Charlie Badenhop, 2003. You have permission to publish this article electronically free of charge, as long as the bylines below with active links are included and the article is not sold to others. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

About the author:
Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido instructor, NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit from his thought-provoking ideas and various self help Practices by subscribing to his complimentary newsletter for individuals and professionals. Charlie's Self Hypnosis and Mindfulness Practices can help you to dramatically slow down and experience your life from a heartfelt timeless perspective. Familiarize yourself with the Seishindo approach to Self Hypnosis or try Seishindo Self Hypnosis Practices right now!