subject: A Sense of Entitlement – The Secret of The World's Movers and Shakers [print this page] A Sense of Entitlement The Secret of The World's Movers and Shakers
From Alexander The Great to Donald Trump and from Napoleon Bonaparte to Arnold Schwarzenegger all great Movers and Shakers had one belief in common. They believed that they were born to be great. They believed that they had been blessed by the gods and entitled with a special gift.
Were they born with that belief? Certainly not. We are born with instincts but beliefs are acquired. Beliefs are the results of teachings, observations and autosuggestions. People can get themselves to believe almost anything that they want. It is done by the constant repetitions of a specific theme. A technique called affirmations.
Those of us who are old enough to remember Muhammad Ali in his younger days have had a perfect example of how a belief can be created. Mr. Ali kept on repeating, "I am the greatest." He said it so many times that, not only did he get to believe it, soon the entire world believed it also.
Before they ever got to be great, all the great men and women had to believe that they were entitled. They had to believe that they were born to be great. That's what gave them the energy, the drive and the wherewithal to become great. They had certainty, the winner's edge, working for them.
That sense of entitlement and certainty is not a special gift reserved to the chosen few. It is a tool that is available to anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort to create it for themselves.
Anyone who has read a biography of Sylvester Stallone has seen what belief in self can do. Stallone had infallible faith in his capacity to become a premier movie actor when nobody gave him the shadow of a chance to seriously get into the movies business in the first place.
Lately, we have seen Barack Obama do the same thing. A very unlikely candidate for the Presidency. Could Mr. Obama have done it if he ever had one doubt that he could not do it? Very unlikely. He felt destined to break through the color barrier and reach to highest office in the world. And he did it.
Faith in ourselves and a sense of certainty are the corner stones upon which personal success is founded. Unfortunately there is no place in the arena of achievement for the timid or wavering soul. Life is either an act of courage or one of desperation. Either we surf the waves or struggle to stay afloat.
We were all born with a clean slate upon which we were given dominion. Who and what we believe to be is inscribed on that slate. Most of it was written for us by family and peers. It was originally accepted through suggestions from others. We were told that we possessed certain characteristics and we accepted that.
That slate is not cast in bronze. We are free to change or remove whatever does not serve us as it should. As we expand and grow, this slate must be updated to conform to today's reality. The beliefs about our personal identity must change as we do. Yesterday's truth has to be changed to conform to today's reality.
We were all conceived to fulfill a special mission. A mission for which we were entitled special gifts. Both the mission and the gifts are encompassed in the dream life that we have imagined for ourselves. Our primal task is to find that mission and fully exploit those gifts. We have already been divinely entitled. Now it's our job to turn the gifts and dream into reality.
