Does Self Belief Help Breed Success? The Real World Says Yes!

A recent article for the BBC News, entitled “Does confidence really breed success?” reports on a study conducted by Psychologist Jean Twenge which suggests, “…a 30% tilt towards narcissistic attitudes in US students since 1979.”

Narcissism is defined in the article as “Excessive self-love or vanity; self-admiration, self-centredness.”

Twinge is quoted as saying, “What's really become prevalent over the last two decades is the idea that being highly self-confident - loving yourself, believing in yourself - is the key to success. Now the interesting thing about that belief is it's widely held, it's very deeply held, and it's also untrue.”

Really?

Dr. Twinge elaborates, “You need to believe that you can go out and do something but that's not the same as thinking that you're great," says Twenge. She gives the example of a swimmer attempting to learn a turn – “this person needs to believe that they can acquire that skill, but a belief that they are already a great swimmer does not help.”

The BBC article goes on to say, “Despite a library's worth of self-help books promoting the idea we can achieve anything if we believe we can, there's very little evidence that raising self-esteem produces positive, real-world outcomes.”

Hogwash.

I am not sure how these studies were conducted and what protocols were used, but my guess is they have very little to do with those that have excelled and achieved “real-world” success.

Over 50 years ago, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale declared, “Believe in yourself. Believe in your abilities.” Others in the self-improvement and human potential movement have continued to hammer the point home to this day.

Regardless of Dr. Twinge’s suggestion that a strong belief in oneself is an indicator of narcissism and has little or nothing to do with success, there is a mountain of “real-world” evidence to suggest that Dr. Peale and the other self-improvement experts are correct.

As for Dr. Twinge’s example, I can say from personal experience as a former swimmer, she is wrong. You not only need to believe you can learn the skill of turning, but you need to believe you will be great at executing the turn quickly and flawlessly. You need to believe you will be great at performing those turns and visualize turning over and over again. By doing so, it will help you become a great swimmer. Great of course is a relative term…not everybody will achieve an Olympic gold medal, but when you believe and achieve to the best of your ability, you are indeed ‘great” and it does not make you a narcissist.

 

Indeed, almost every successful entrepreneur, business person, athlete or entertainer will tell you having a strong belief in their abilities and an idea, visualizing achieving goals, was an essential ingredient of their success. Many of them have used their success to give back to their communities and worthy causes, not exactly narcissistic.

Listen to what legendary entertainer Carol Burnett, said is this video. As a young girl she believed she would go to UCLA, but her family could not afford it. Burnet says, “I knew I would go. I visualized being on campus. It was a known fact, I was not wishing.” 

Sure enough Burnett’s dream cam true, a mysterious envelope appeared at her home with a  50 dollar bill in it, enough for the first semester’s tuition. To this day, Burnett does not know who gave her the money.

Now that is belief! 

Note how she visualized being on campus.

Entrepreneur Sara Blakely, the creator of Spanx, says in the video below, “The advice that I tell people who are just starting out or have an idea is to differentiate yourself. You've got to trust your gut, you have to believe in yourself.”

Sara wrote in her journal that she would be a millionaire by the time she was 30, She made it. By 41, Sarah is now the youngest woman to ever appear on Forbes Billionaires List. In another video interview with Forbes, Sara talks about visualization, saying “visualize where you are headed. Take a polaroid of where you are going to be.” Elsewhere, she is on record as saying she bought a watch she could not afford early on in her venture as a signal of where she was headed.

With all due respect to Dr. Twinge and her colleagues, a healthy self-belief, confidence and the ability to visualize accomplishing your objective is essential to success for most people and does not necessarily mean you are unrealistic or a narcissist. I wonder, at age 29, when Sara Blakely first hatched her idea for Spanx, if Dr. Twinge would have labeled her unrealistic and narcissistic? After all she wrote in her journal she would be a millionaire by 30.  

Belief and visualization works and there are hundreds of real-world examples like Carol Burnett and Sara Blakely out there to prove the point.

But is belief enough?

No.

In the same BBC News article, Florida State University self-esteem expert, Roy Baumeister says 'Self-control is much more powerful and well-supported as a cause of personal success…” “An intervention that encourages [students] to feel good about themselves, regardless of work, may remove the reason to work hard.”

Dr. Baumeister has a point, belief in and of itself is not enough. Belief must be combined with discipline, hard work, and perseverance.

Believe, work hard, and as Winston Churchill once said, ‘Never, Nerver, Never, Never Give Up!

Do you have a story where believing in yourself and or a crazy idea has helped you accomplish your mission? Comment and share below.

Be Great!

MB