You would have seen some employees in Government Service. When you ask them a question, they will never give a definite answer of ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Their replies are either vague or incomplete.
If an issue is to be resolved, they will listen to the whole narration, only to say at the end, ‘Well, why don’t you go directly to the higher official and tell everything?’ This behavior is dubbed as ‘cautiousness.’ They would pat themselves with pride for having such a sense of ‘cautiousness’! This is definitely not cautiousness...it is just passing the buck! Passing on the responsibility to someone else. It is a very disgusting thing to do.
Persons with self-confidence would take responsibility on themselves. Look at the history of successful people. There are many who have succeeded in life, without education, money and why, even arms or legs! There are many such achievers; but no person has succeeded without self-confidence.
In Olympics, why do only a few countries win gold medals repeatedly? Many reasons can be given for this - availability of training facilities, professional coaching, basic infrastructure… but there is one very important reason. This is known as sports psychology.
The Russians discovered it, but it has been well understood and developed by the Americans. Sports psychology indicates that heightened physical activity alone is not sufficient to win any competition; but mental toughness is also required.
That is to say, when an athlete is participating in a race, even if he thinks just for a moment that he might lose, it is enough to make him lose. He would not be able to perform with his full strength in the race after such a thought has entered his mind.
So, not only while participating, but also while practicing, he must tell himself repeatedly with a strong belief - ‘I am going to win!’ Go on playing the mental video of you winning and position yourself powerfully. This is known as ‘Mental Rehearsal’.
Recently one of my students asked, ‘Swamiji! I am not like others. I did not depend on a government job; I invested all my money in business. I faced a huge loss and now I am broke. Tell me how I can fill myself with self-confidence?’ There were umpteen failures in the life of Abraham Lincoln. When he was 7 years old, his family was forced out of home on a legal dispute.
_ At 9, his mother died.
_ At 22, he lost his job as a clerk.
_ At 25, he was defeated in a legislature election.
_ At 27, he had nervous breakdown.
_ At 28, he lost his beloved.
_ At 30, he lost the election for the post of a speaker.
_ At 35, he lost the Congress election.
_ At 46, he lost the Senatorial elections - around the same time he lost his son.
_ At 47, he lost the Vice- Presidential elections.
These failures could not shake his self-confidence! _ At 52, he became the President of USA.
So, please do not allow the past to damage your selfconfidence!
Swami Sukhabodhananda is the founder and chairman of Prasanna Trust.He is a respected spiritual leader who is often referred to as the ‘Corporate Guru.’