Goldsmith has found that successful people have great difficulty in accepting input from others regarding their behavior. Goldsmith has worked with hundreds of executives in Fortune 100 companies and has found that successful people have four key beliefs that drive their success and, often, limit their growth. These beliefs are:
I choose to succeed. Successful people believe that they are doing what they choose to do, because they choose to do it. The “I choose to succeed” belief is highly correlated with achievement. The more we believe that our behavior is a result of our own choices and commitments, the less likely we are to want to change our behavior.
Successful people’s personal commitment can make it hard for them to change.
I can succeed. Successful people believe that they have the internal capacity to make desirable things happen. Successful people often confuse correlation with causality. Because they get positive reinforcement for results, they may not have an accurate perception of what behaviors drove those results. This can result in “superstitious behavior” where the successful person repeats behavior that they believe was a factor in their success. Successful people have difficulty realizing that they are successful “in spite” of certain behaviors, not “because of” them.
I will succeed. A contagious sense of optimism is one of the most important characteristics of successful people. Some successful people drown in a sea of opportunity and burn out their staff trying to complete what they have promised.
I have succeeded. Successful people tend to have a positive interpretation of their past performance. They consistently over-rate their performance relative to their professional peers. When positive outcomes occur, they believe that their efforts were instrumental to the success. Successful people’s positive view of their performance can make it difficult to hear negative feedback from others.
