Ellen Keane won Ireland’s first medal of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, claiming gold in the SB8 100m breaststroke with the best performance of her life.

Competing in her favoured event, in her fourth Olympic games, Keane had set expectations high when she blazed through her heat, winning the race in a personal best time of 1:21.71. However, she obliterated that mark in the final, going nearly two seconds quicker to take gold in 1:19.93.

Her performance got me thinking around the subjects of belief, self-belief, backing yourself and your attitude.

Believe it is possible….. Develop positive expectancy

Napoleon Hill once said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Truth is, the mind is such a powerful instrument. It can deliver to you literally everything you want. However, you have to believe that what you want is possible. Further, you need to underpin this belief with actions.

According to neuropsychologists, historically our brains were programme to expect certain results and that is usually what we achieved. This is why it’s so important to hold positive expectations in your mind. By replacing your old negative expectations with more positive ones – your brain will actually expect to achieve that new outcome.

Learn to Back yourself

Patrick, a client of mine, recently shared with me his self-limiting belief in his own ability. While highly qualified, with buckets of talent and a strong EQ set, he still struggled when it came to reaching some of his professional and personal goals. When we explored his challenges he suggested that his lack of self-belief was all that was holding him back.

Most people fail to reach their potential not because they lack the skills or attitude to reach goals, but because they simply don’t believe they can reach it. They don’t back themselves. Elaine Keane backed herself. She won the gold medal.

Believe in yourself

Believing in yourself is a choice. It is an attitude you develop over time. While it helps to have a supporting set of parents, most of us had busy parents who did their best for us and inadvertently passed on to us the same often limiting beliefs and negative conditioning with which they grew up. And there are numerous others forces that often conditioned us to not believe in ourselves.

However, the past is just that. There is no point in blaming the past for your current level of self-confidence and your self-limiting beliefs. It is now your responsibility to take charge of your own self-concept and beliefs. You can choose to believe that you can do anything you set your mind to – anything at all – because, in fact, you can. Elaine Keane believed in herself. She’s now an Olympic gold medallist.

Change your attitude

Patrick, my client, realised that if he was to change his results, he needed to change his attitude. The choice was his. Unless he changed his attitude he would never back himself. He would never truly believe that he could reach his potential.

This changed attitude is work-in-progress. Patrick is working on the new attitude and underpinning this with new daily actions. The process is working. He takes the changes one day at a time. Every day. He’ll get there. He knows he will.

What will you do…

What one small thing could you change in your attitude, right now, that would have the greatest impact on your results?

Write it down.

Then identify some actions you can take to underpin that change. Apply them every day, without excuses, and you’ll start to self-believe and back yourself and move forward.