Thoughts words beliefs actions results
The words you consistently select will shape your destiny.
Anthony Robbins
Here’s how it works. Tom has a THOUGHT, such as “I’m not very good when it comes to sales.” Now, let’s remember that he doesn’t have this thought only once. Oh, no. He’s run it through his mind on a regular basis, maybe hundreds or thousands of times in his life! Then, Tom starts to use WORDS that support this thought. He says to his friends and colleagues, “I’m never going to do very well in sales” or “I just hate making sales calls or approaching prospects.” Here again, Tom repeats these phrases over and over… in his self-talk and in his discussions with others.
This, in turn, strengthens his BELIEFS – and it’s at this stage where the rubber really meets the road. You see, everything that you’ll achieve in your life flows from your beliefs. So, in our sales example, Tom develops the belief that he’s not going to be successful in sales and that he won’t earn much money. This becomes embedded in his subconscious mind.
What can possibly flow from that belief? Because Tom doesn’t believe in his sales ability, he takes very little ACTION, or he takes actions that aren’t productive. He doesn’t do the things that would be necessary to succeed in sales.And then, quite predictably, Tom gets very poor RESULTS.
To make matters worse, Tom then starts to think more negative thoughts… repeat more negative words… reinforce negative beliefs… and get even more negative results. It’s a vicious cycle! Of course, this whole process could have had a very happy ending if Tom had selected positive THOUGHTS… and reinforced them with positive WORDS. In turn, he’d reinforce the BELIEF that he’s successful in sales. As a result, Tom would take the ACTIONS consistent with that belief… and wind up with outstanding RESULTS.
My point is doing underestimate the role of your WORDS in this process. People who feed themselves a steady diet of negative words are destined to have a negative attitude. It’s a simple matter of cause and effect. You can’t keep repeating negative words and expect to be a high achiever. And that’s because negative words will always lead to the reinforcement of negative beliefs – and eventually to negative outcomes.
