Your life is an occasion. Live up to it.

As Magorium, the eccentric magician-turned-magic-store-owner in Mr. Margorium's Wonder Emporium, Dustin Hoffman not only attempts to motivate his store manager, Molly Mahoney, but creates one of the most powerful calls-to-action invented.

This single line surrounded by 100's of others, punctuates the dilemma all of us face at one point or another in our lives and businesses - not believing in ourselves.

So what is it that causes such turmoil with belief? It's likely our past. Maybe it's something someone said to us a moment ago. Perhaps we've had a dream, been side tracked by challenges and sit helplessly wishing that dream would come true.

So what is your dream that hasn't come true?

As an entrepreneur and leader, it's likely you've come up against any number of possible dreams... building your business, moving into that new office space, getting hired by that one enormous client... and they're all nothing short of delicious.

So if they are that desirable, what is it that gets us stuck? Consider it's just two things: a) faith, and b) action.

A) Faith = the willingness to move forward without proof or evidence that it will work. Fear is a familiar and powerful partner when it comes to keeping you comfortable and safe. Fear will whisper sweet nothings in your ear about how "you're just fine" or "you don't want to work that hard" or "you can't trust them." On the other side of fear, is simply faith. No proof, no evidence. Just a desired future.

B) Action = what an agent can do. In other words, you're the agent for your business, your communities and your life. Action is what you can do, or specifically, the behaviour you can take to move something forward. Again, fear is a powerful partner. "It's too difficult" or "You don't know enough" or "They're bigger, smarter and faster than you" are all messages from fear. So you have a choice, no action or action. Which will serve you better?

So here's some "fieldwork" you might consider taking on:

1) Make a declaration of what you want - a desired future.
2) Practice eliminating the voice that says anything like "you're not good enough or smart enough"
3) Replace that voice with the following "My life is an occasion and I'm rising to it."
4) Ask "What action can I take right now (this moment) to move this project, situation, person, self forward?"
5) Identify one piece of evidence each day that you are moving forward. (Extra credit: don't judge the evidence - it's either present or not. No big or small conversations here!)

Who you are, what you do and how you contribute to your success and the success of others around you has so little to do with skill or knowledge. It simply has everything to do with knowing that you are an occasion and that you're rising to it.

Celebrate yourself as an occasion.

Happy Partying,

-Coach Preston
http://breakyoursilenceblog.wordpress.com/