I came across an interesting quote at the weekend which I thought I would share with you all. Whilst browsing through the Premiere League final scores and reports my eyes were drawn to the perhaps unlikely score of Man Utd 2 – 2 Sunderland.

The fact that Sunderland had drawn with Man Utd was a feat in itself. True, Sunderland have been playing well so far this season, bit this was an away game for Sunderland at Old Trafford, making the achievement even more remarkable. Reading through the match report, I then learned that Sunderland had actually taken the lead, which certainly warranted reading through the match report with more attention that my usual skimming of anything that doesn’t involved Liverpool FC.

Anyway, before the search engines mistake this as another match report, I’ll get to the point I’m trying to make.

In the match report, Sunderland’s goal scorer, Sunderland’s Darren Bent was quoted: “The goal at the end came from Anton deflecting it into his own net, but until then the back four had played brilliantly, we did really well the entire match. The main thing is that we didn’t lose, we’ve been in good form recently and we took it into this game. We worked hard and never stopped believing.”

Now aside from my obvious interest in Man Utd nearly losing the game, my ultimate obsession drew me towards the last sentence in that quote: “We worked hard and never stopped believing.”

There are a lot of analogies to be drawn from both sport and business, and in many cases, the same principles apply if you want success. I recently watched a documentary on boxers, where scientists were studying the effect that belief has on the body. Don’t quote me on the figures, but the endorphins flowing around the body as a result of this absolute belief made the boxers twice as strong as they would otherwise be, and less likely to feel pain. As a result, the biggest factor on whether the boxers loses, is his belief in himself, because from the moment that belief is doubted, the boxer begins to feel the pain, becomes weaker, slower and unless he regains that belief will inevitably lose the match.

Your mind is a very powerful thing that can determine your future success or failure. Belief in your success is paramount, and can only come through a focus on your goals. You should never stop believing, never quit, and keep working hard to achieve your goals because with belief you will absolutely achieve them.

To finish off I’m going to quote, Tony Robbins: “Focus equals reality to the individual, even though it may not be reality in actuality”. I didn’t quote that just to be gratuitous with my quotes, but because this is a very powerful thing to keep in mind. To your mind, there is no difference between a vivid goal that you focus on, and something you remember. How many times have you run some imaginary scenario through in your head and got caught up in the emotion? That’s because to your mind, they are both the same at the moment you’re either imagining a scenario or remembering an occasion. Knowing this can be a very potent tool for you, because if you really focus on your goals in this way, your goals will become a reality to your mind, which is key to having the belief that you will achieve them.

I would love to read your comments below and anything else you feel is relevant.

Don’t worry, I won’t spam you, and you will be able to UNSUBSCRIBE at any time!

Privacy Assured: Your email address is never shared with anyone.