Almost every challenge or hurdle I have come across in my professional lifespan has been overcome by the presence of numerous supports and motivations from people around me, a tinge of luck, and huge efforts. 

These helped a lot, especially in times when I was lost and required helping hands and advice. Yet the essence of succeeding in anything requires one simple ingredient.  

And, that’s belief in self.

There were times when I was unsure of myself yet I still bit the bullet and went ahead with it. There were times when I just gave up without thinking further, even with supportive hands pushing me forth. Then again, there were times when I know I could have done something even when I had no experience or prior knowledge.

It’s an innate sense of belief and confidence in self that only I could feel to understand the push. Some call it faith, some call it intuition.

Perhaps the best way to improve on belief in self is to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations. In my career life, whether official or not, I have achieved considerable milestones by saying yes to many of the little things and some no, but the ones that got me leaping far were the ones that I jumped into without knowing what was in it for me.

That goes for life as well.

The process from when the idea struck, to actually thinking about putting ourselves in situations out of the usual, to deciding to go ahead with it is a nerve-wrecking one. People tend to get stuck in paralysis leading to them thinking things were being done but in fact, nothing was except for the thoughts running through the minds.

Most of what we planned for in life consists of goals to achieve and in them, processes to enjoy. The majority focus on getting there, but forget to be present in the journey of getting there. More often than not, it is these journeys that build us.

Once we have allowed ourselves to walk into uncomfortable situations and come out better, we tend to become dissatisfied with the norm because we have unlocked potentials in us that we never realized we had in the first place. Just like when we experience quality, it becomes the standard, everything else just falls short.

Contentment, therefore, is not an acceptable state any more.

_{This post was originally published on Medium blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.}

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