If you Believe it, you can Achieve it!

It seems quite surreal to me that this coming Monday I am flying to Switzerland with my wife Julie to speak at an event organised by the Department of International Trade. The event is on Tuesday in Geneva and I will be speaking to a number of businesses some of which are large organisations based in Geneva.

The reason that this is somewhat surreal is that just three short years ago I was running JD Mindcoach with zero clients and was decorating to pay the bills. I remember hiring cars to go to meetings or hiding my car before walking to meetings. I started my business 6 years ago and I had to decorate for the first 3 years where I managed to earn enough to pay all my bills and never missed a mortgage payment! I hated it but I kept going.

A tough time

The first three years were tough and there were many times I wanted to pack it all up but I had made a decision that there was no plan B. Every time I wanted to jack it all in I realised that there was no plan B so I simply used all the techniques I now share in my Masterclasses and executive coaching sessions.

I discovered that there is always a seed of positivity in every negative situation. I learned to be grateful for the little things in my life and these techniques helped me get through those first few tough years. Then out of the blue I received a shoulder injury which meant I couldn’t decorate anymore and I was devastated.

Slowly things started to improve

My dream to run a business where I can help people improve their mindsets and their energy levels appeared to be in tatters. I thought that without the decorating I couldn’t possibly survive, but I was wrong. I had been forced to concentrate 100% on my business and that is when it all changed.

Not overnight, but slowly and surely the extra effort I was now putting into my business was starting to reap rewards. I was spending all day on my business for the first time and it was paying off. I worked on my website, my programmes, my marketing and networking. My focus was now 100% on my business and I was enjoying the rewards of this effort.

Amazing turnaround

This year I have been to Dubai twice to speak and also to Poland where we had a meal with a wonderful couple who I had originally met in Dubai. Next week we are in Switzerland and in November we are already booked for 12 nights in Dubai where I am speaking on behalf of the Department of International Trade again. I’ve also been booked by a large bank to speak at their conferences in London, Manchester and Edinburgh later this year.

Last week I had my first talk to students at a school in Birmingham and the three talks went very well. Later this month I am speaking to a sixth form of an Academy which I am really looking forward to. I believe my Mental Resilience techniques are perfect for the young minds to help them as they prepare to enter the big world of work.

Playing for the England Basketball Team

The reason that things are working out is that I have always believed that they will no matter what the situation looked like. It reminds me very much of my early basketball days when my talent was limited but I made up for it by putting the hours in. Slowly but surely I improved and eventually made it to the England U19 team. But you know what, I failed my first England trial.

I could have given up but I didn’t and the following year I came back stronger and this time I made it into the team. Because I didn’t give up and believed in myself I ended up playing all over Europe and playing in the Commonwealth games. I used the same mental conviction to eventually play professionally for Sunderland; where my final game was playing in front of 10,000 people in London and the whole game was covered live on BBC TV. What a way to finish!!

Challenges ahead will be met

There are still plenty of challenges ahead and I am ready for them. I want to continue to improve and be the best that I can be. I want to improve the mindsets of as many people as I can in the future and to do this I need to believe that there is more to come and that I am able to achieve more. I have a dream to be speaking on stage at 80 years of age so let’s see what happens with that dream.

Everyone in life goes through ups and downs no matter where you are in your career. When you are up, you are cruising and the world is great. This is when you rest and recover and this time is very important. When you are down you need to use techniques to keep you going until things turn around again.

Some of the techniques I recommend are:

1. Reframing – look for the positive seeds in every negative situation
2. Visualise the outcome you are looking for – this helps you to keep going towards that picture
3. Find the ‘Why’ in what you are doing – it’s really important to know why you are doing what you are doing
4. Think of what you are grateful for – list these off for 30 seconds and see how much better you start to feel.
5. Understand that feelings change. No matter how you are feeling now, these feelings will change so hang in there
6. Believe, believe, believe
7. Never give up

Three thoughts for the week.

1. You have to believe it to achieve it – do you believe you can achieve what you are going for? If not either develop that belief, or change what you are going for.
2. It may look like nothing is happening but like the seeds in the ground, you can’t see them but they are germinating and growing and will eventually break through – it’s just that you can’t see them!
3. Remember that pain comes first and the pleasure follows – it’s worth the wait!

Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
https://www.jdmindcoach.com/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special free delivery offer currently available)