Dare to Succeed
In my years as a motivational speaker, I’ve discovered how enterprising and ambitious we women are. When I ask women what their professional goals are, the vast majority say: “I’d love to have my own business,” “I want to be my own boss,” “I wish I were independent.”
Even though we have a great entrepreneurial spirit, we’re terrified of starting anything new. We think we need more formal training and preparation before launching a new project. Highly educated women and high-school dropouts alike share this feeling of insecurity. This shows that no matter how much education we have, we’re always afraid of totally new experiences.
Maybe you have a dream, but you think: “I don’t have any experience…if I try, I’ll fail… I should be more prepared!” If you doubt yourself, you should know about a study Harvard University conducted, showing that 85% of a person’s career success can be attributed to their attitude, while only 15% has to do with technical knowledge in their field.
Find your own path
Don’t wait until you feel like an expert to start something new. If you do, you’ll spend your whole life waiting! Find someone who’s successful in your field of interest. Ask them how much experience they had before they started, and you’ll be surprised how many will tell you they had very little, but they were ready and willing to learn and make mistakes.
I’m an example of this. I remember years ago when I first had the opportunity to write a column for a newspaper, and I thought: “But I don’t have any experience! I’m not ready to write about a different topic every single week.” But I took the challenge anyway, and the editor never knew just how little experience I had, and I certainly didn’t tell him about how nervous I was every time I picked up a pen to write! Now, my column is read in dozens of papers across the country.
Follow your dreams
And when I decided to be a motivational speaker, I had no idea how to talk in front of an audience. But I took a chance on pursuing my dream, and ever since then I’ve given seminars to thousands of people around the world. Even though I didn’t really meet the exact requirements for those jobs, I had something even more important: I was ready to try!
Don’t let your entrepreneurial spirit die because you think you don’t have enough training. Your success in life isn’t determined by your academic credentials or experience, but it depends on your confidence in yourself and your burning desire to succeed!
Maria Marin is an international motivational speaker and the author of Mujer sin limite. She hosts the radio show “Tu vida es mi vida.” Visit: www.MariaMarin.com
This post is also available in: Spanish
