As I’ve watched or coached people who successfully start a self storage business, I’ve seen four traits or habits they have in common.
These habits are what they have in common, not what they know – knowledge of rates of return or how to spot a good opportunity.
To review, knowing what to do, technical knowledge, is at most, 20% of what it takes to be successful in starting a self storage business, or in life. The other 80% is your mindset, your habits and the internal conversations you have with yourself.
In the last three weeks we’ve discussed the habits in general and the first two habits specifically. If you haven’t read those post, you can start them HERE.
The third habit, or way of being, I see successful people I have worked with have is Authentic Self Confidence.
As I approach this third habit, I realize I have written about it before in a few episodes. One approach on it was Episode 140.
In this episode, we discussed step by step approach of how to eliminate a disempowering belief that holds you back from achieving what your goals are in life.
Review or read this episode if you haven’t read or watched it. It is very powerful.
Putting it into action
Now let’s take a different approach to this habit.
The step by step process discussed in Episode 140 is fantastic, and I use it a lot. It does disappear thoughts, ideas, and even long-held beliefs if I can determine they are holding me back.
Unfortunately, most people don’t even realize they have underlying beliefs that are determining how they live their lives much less holding them back.
We just aren’t taught to spend much time looking at our beliefs or thought systems, much less questioning them.
This is one of the main benefits of being an entrepreneur. Living a life of presence and self-awareness, so that we can continually break ourselves up and take ourselves to the next level.
But I realize most entrepreneurs don’t think this way.
Most people don’t think this way.
Most people have thoughts, then believe what their thoughts are telling them.
Most people think their thoughts they have about themselves and the world are describing “what’s so” about “what’s out there” or “about themselves”.
Consider that this is not the case. Consider your thoughts, whatever they are, create what you see out there or about yourself.
This has even become a known “fact” in the scientific world. It arose out of the Quantum Mechanics side of physics.
Scientist realized that the mere act of measuring phenomena altered it. Whenever particles they were trying to predict being at a certain place or point in time changed their behavior just by the fact that they were having attention focused on.
Whatever you put your attention on, no matter if it is a thought or a particle, your attention alters what shows up in the world for you.
My training has been to use this fact to create what I want in my life and in my professional career.
But I realize that is not most peoples training.
One of my spiritual teachers has said: “Enlightened people never believe their own thoughts”.
Most of us do, however.
So let’s use that fact.
Most of the people I work with who get in the self storage business are not running around discussing what belief system they are going to put in place to support their success (some do though).
What I have seen about these people is most have a belief about themselves that generates Authentic Self Confidence.
It usually takes a while to distinguish that belief when we dive into it together, but for all of them it comes out something like “Well, if someone else has gotten in the self storage business” or “if you have gotten in the self storage business, then I should be able to as well.”
If someone else did it, then I should be able to do it.
That is a fantastic belief to have.
It is true if you allow it to be successful.
You can make it true by believing it.
If you notice now that you resist this belief, that would be a great time to go through the steps in Episode 140.
What is so interesting to me is the power of the human mind. Think about it. What we create in our minds, is reflected out into the world and shapes and directs the experience we have while alive.
Most of what we believe was formed in us as children.
The reality is for most people, they are living in a world they created as children and had no idea that child is running the show. They just get their thoughts validated over and over again to the point that what they think appears real and true to them.
As a business owner, I suggest we undertake a task to wake up and take control of how the world occurs to us.
For me, this is the best part of being an entrepreneur. It is really the best part of being alive. We get to create reality, or if you are spiritual and/or religious, we get to co-create reality.
Or at the very least, the reality we live into.
That is what I think is at the core of the third habit or way of being we are discussing here. The ability to create or believe that if someone else can do something, I can too.
How would that look on the court as you create your business or get in the self storage business?
It could show up like:
I don’t know how to set up the credit card system, but I know I can learn it.
I am not sure yet how to get investors, but I bet I will be able to when the time comes. All I need is some training.
There must be a way to buy self storage today with these weird prices I am not aware of yet. I have just got to figure it out.
I know there must be a way to get a loan, I’ve just got to learn how.
These are the type of statements I hear as I work with individuals who now are in the business. It represents a deep underlying belief in their ability to figure out stuff and win.
All of these generate an Authentic Self Confidence that serves them well as they undertake the new activities necessary to get in self storage today.
Yes, it is true most of them perhaps did not consciously create this belief system, but some did. It doesn’t matter really if you consciously or unconsciously create it, the results are the same.
So if you are thinking that you wish this was how you think instead of something like “I’ll probably screw this up like I have most other things”, the good news is you can change that by consciously creating a new belief to love into.
Every time you hear yourself saying something to yourself that does not serve you, replace it with something that does and/or go through the steps in Episode 140.
That’s what I do.
That’s what I was taught to do.
And remember, if they can do it (the people who taught it to me), you can too.
