Are you struggling with fitting in at work? Do your tasks feel enormous, causing you to wonder if you would cut it at your new firm? Do you constantly deal with the anxiety and fear of underperforming? If yes, you are not alone.
It is common for entry-level workers to feel anxious at the early stages of their careers. Feelings of incompetence, sometimes even culminating in impostor syndrome, are common. But as surely as cream rises to the top, it is possible to become the best in your field, regardless of the lies your mind tells you.
We have here the right tools to arm yourself for battle in the business field. We will be gleaning insight from The Magic of Believing: Unlock Your Potentials by Claude M. Bristol, a masterful book on channelling the potentials of your mind to change your world. We will distill five powerful nuggets to break through the shackles of your mind. That is not all. Bristol actually has 9 chapters in his book. Reading through them all will give you a clearer picture of the path to take.
This might be hard, seeing as you are currently juggling an intensive career. Thus, you can head over to the Headway App to read a 15-minute succinct summary of this book, as well as others on the subject. You can read the entire thing over lunch on a random Monday.
Interested? Read on as we continue on this journey.
Tap into your subconscious
“Believe that you have it, and you have it”
Latin Proverb
The subconscious is a vast realm of possibilities. It has a limitless power that men have channelled over the years. Basically, the idea is that if you visualize whatever you want, you can and will achieve it. Well, it is not just as open and shut like that. You still have to work to turn your thoughts into reality. However, you must launch from the springboard of belief and clear thinking.
So, where do you want to be in ten years? Consciously think about it. Imagine yourself being there, taking the strides. Perhaps you want to pass the bar, imagine yourself being enrolled as a barrister. Do you want to become a medical doctor? Engage the power of your mind to get it done. The more you visualize and channel positive energies towards the vision you have in mind, the easier it will be for the universe to cause it to align for you.
You may dismiss this as hogwash. As an educated, enlightened twenty-first-century individual, it is okay if you are not quick to subscribe to the ideas here. However, you will clearly be remiss if you dismiss the idea espoused here without engaging with it at all.
Suggestion is power
Have you seen someone hypnotized before? That may be a little out there. Surely, though, you have seen a movie where someone came under a spell or control of another? Did you notice that the hypnotizer had to repeat a chant several times until it caught on? Such is the power of suggestion.
Repetition is such a strong tool that is used in almost all the religions of the world. Also, dictators and subjugators often employ it, too. From Hitler to Stalin to Mussolini, each leader found a chink in the desire of their people. They latched onto this, creating a mirage that the subjects could buy into. Then with the aid of repetition, the idea fully burrowed into the consciousness of their followers — the result: a world war as in the case of Hitler.
The more you say something, the easier it is to believe it. This is because your subconscious may lack the means to distinguish between reality and fiction, unlike the conscious state. Hence, when you repeat something often enough, your brain interprets it as the truth. This blurs the line between what is possible and what isn’t.
You can apply this to your life whenever you are faced with any challenge. Repeat what you want to see, even if it is not immediately obvious. Plod through the doubt in your mind and chant your affirmations until they take hold in your mind. The rest will fall into place.
The art of mental pictures
You could be the reason why you are not making progress in your career. More appropriately, fear could be the real culprit in this case. Perhaps you have an idea you need to pitch to your superior, but you can’t because of fear? Or maybe you hardly meet your monthly target because you are afraid of asking questions?
All of these are understandable. But as Bristol says, they are inexcusable. One trick you can apply is imagining that fearsome people are simply harmless. Replace the image you have of them in your head with the picture of something genial and nonthreatening. Say, for instance, Santa Claus. You will certainly find it easier to approach them afterwards. In The Magic of Believing, Bristol says, “when you picture them (your superior, etc.) as they are rather than as they appear to be, the mental hazard immediately disappears.”
Always be on to something
Everybody knows that fellow who is up to something. They are the first to proffer suggestions at work meetings and forever seem to have a new idea in the works. While you may look at such a fellow with derision, they are often unforgettable.
You have to be someone who constantly develops ideas. In the seventh chapter of the book, “The Magic of Believing”, Bristol talks about effective thinking. He states that it is important always to put your mind to work from the get-go. The universe abhors idleness. This is the reason your car breaks down if you leave it without use for an extended period. Consider your mind to be a car’s engine. Keep firing it up with ideas at every turn. Of course, you may hit roadblocks or irrelevant ideas at some point. But soon, you’ll strike gold. This idea could be the single ticket you need to break into the big leagues in your career.
Women and the science of belief
Here, Bristol’s The Magic of Believing makes a detour to address women. He rightly asserts that women are akin to a dynamo. This opinion does not come from a place of benign sexism wrapped as faux praise. In fact, in a bid to evade an accusation such as this, Bristol enlists scientific evidence to back up his claims. Hence, he states that something in women’s genetic makeup makes them more resolute and determined than their male counterparts. Hence, if a woman can locate and tap into this hidden resource, they would be virtually unstoppable.
The difference between where you are and where you want to be might just be your thinking. Once you change it, you change your life. The suggestions here are indispensable in this quest for development. If you want further guidance, the Headway library has other awesome materials to help you further your career. Your career is about to take off. Buckle up!
