The True Believers: The Power Of Belief, Conviction And Commitment To Create Your Own Success Masterpiece!

By Christina Guidotti

True Believers know that anything is possible and that to bridge the gap between the life you have and the life you want you need to create your own success masterpiece. It’s your frame, you can own it and true belief is how you create it.

True Believers have so much confidence, courage, conviction, resilience and so much commitment to aligning with their values that they almost don’t waver. These people know their true north. They are the ones that turn cultures, companies and communities around.

Full of tips to create your own success masterpiece, The True Believers will show you how to:
* Live a life that matters – the difference between those who search for and those who arrive at success.
* Ignite the superpowers within – how to live with greater belief, conviction and commitment.
* Master the success qualities – learn 5 qualities to reach extraordinary success.
* Limit your exposure to non-believers – the non-believer in you and others.
* Find your True Believers tribe – experience the power and real change that  comes when true believers come together.

"Belief, commitment and confidence! Three qualities that separate the dreamers from the doers, the good from the great, and those who do from those who don’t.”
Matt Church - Founder, Thought Leaders Global

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christina Guidotti
• Release date: Sep 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533774859

Book preview

About the author

Christina Guidotti is one of Australia’s leading experts on belief, conviction and commitment. She is unique in the way she is able to apply these concepts not only to the business of sales, leadership and productivity but importantly to personal achievement and fulfilment. As a powerful speaker and author Christina is able to influence many. And as an authentic and trusted mentor and professional advisor she partners with individuals, businesses and organisations to create life-changing and sustainable outcomes.

Christina has walked her own extraordinarily successful path as a mum, wife and a business leader. As an Australian and New Zealand Thought Leaders Partner, Christina is passionate about raising consciousness on the planet and is inspired by the opportunity to help clever thought leaders be commercially smart. She maintains a thriving Black Belt practice sharing her thought leadership around proven and powerful methods — teaching, supporting and holding others accountable. Christina holds an International Coaching Federation Certificate and is a role model to many, helping them to make every minute count. She knows that once individuals have mastered their own success, this in turn will have a rippling effect — improving quality of life, team culture, results, incomes and long-term profitability in business. In 2012 Christina was the author of How To Have It All. This was followed by her second book, The True Believers, in 2014 and her third book on conviction selling in 2015.

What’s unique about Christina is her stamina to maintain energy, enthusiasm and optimism for a sustained period — she is certainly living proof that her methods work. With her blend of compassion and conviction Christina engages and inspires. She is most commonly described as a powerhouse of energy and a true expert in achieving success in both business and life.

You can get in touch with Christina at www.christinaguidotti.com

Acknowledgements

I have so much gratitude for the people who have walked alongside me. The right people and the appreciation I have every day is a huge part of my personal fulfilment.

My greatest thank you is to Alberto, for walking calmly alongside me. Thank you for always supporting and loving me. Twenty-eight years together has been surprisingly easy. To my two children, Elliott and Isabella, every day you bring richness, sunshine and purpose to my life.

My greatest strengths — personal responsibility, optimism, enthusiasm and conviction — have come from years of emulating my father, Arthur Conias. Your own legacy has inspired me to create my own personal masterpiece. To my mother, Carol Conias, you have given me the greatest gift of unconditional love: you are the most patient, the kindest and most giving person I know. Thanks to my brother Anthony, whose high academic achievement was an inspiration to me from a young age. Thanks also to my little sister, Makaella, whose gentle, giving, loving nature always brings me peace.

To my best friend Lynette Allison, thank you for being there every step of the way. You are possibly the greatest True Believer I have ever met. Your unwavering belief and constant inspiration are so important to me. Thank you to all my friends and family who have shown understanding, kindness and patience.

Every day I get to work with awesome people who have a strong desire to live a life that rocks and I am so grateful for the trust you have all put in me to guide you on this journey. I often feel overwhelmed at how fulfilled I am watching your journey of progress.

To everyone who helped and supported me in writing this book — to my fellow thought leaders, my team, and to Neville Cook and Anna Hebron for helping me make this book be the best it could be.

To Matt Church and Peter Cook, two of my business partners at Thought Leaders Global. You are brilliant mentors and friends. Thank you for being there as True Believers during the great tipping points in my life. You have shown me what it really means to live by the Thought Leaders mantra: to work with people you love, doing the work you love, the way you love. Meeting you and experiencing your expertise has been truly transformational.

And to all my True Believer tribe — you know who you are! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Keep going with your belief, conviction and commitment to a life that matters. You keep me inspired every day.

And finally to my readers, thank you for your interest and for seeing the possibility of a better life. I am very grateful.

Manifesto: It starts with you

There is so much advice out there about how to be more successful — thousands of pieces of advice, books, programs and events on how to reach success. There are so many stories of tremendous success — stories that inspire us to be like those who have made it. But in this search for success many put their fulfilment on hold. It doesn’t have to be that way. When it comes to success, we need to ask a more important question before we ask how. We need to ask why we want success before we tackle the many, often complex, often ineffective and confusing choices around how. When we get our why — what’s really important to us — clear, it provides a picture of our success. Only then can we begin to work on how to make the picture a reality. When we ask these deeper personal questions first and work on our own internal environment, we can take the best and the right step forward to create a successful life with fulfilment. And that life can start now. And it starts with you.

Those who master their own internal environment — what goes on inside their own mind — are less likely to be stressed navigating their constantly changing environment. And those who do this can become True Believers who learn to create their own life masterpieces — their own success story. True Believers get to choose their own frame to create a picture of success the way they see it — to live the life they want.

True Believers are those with so much confidence, courage, conviction and resilience — so much commitment to aligning to their values — that they almost don’t waver. True Believers know their true north and use the powers of belief, conviction and commitment to drive them to success and fulfilment.

As we set out to create the life we want as a True Believer there are often changes to be made. Why does change sometimes seem so difficult? Given that there are no guarantees that change will be positive (or even possible!), self-doubt and fear can creep in and convince us to bury our ideas. A decision to avoid change is a decision to impede our growth.

To be a leader of change takes belief, conviction and commitment. We can also sometimes face loneliness as we disrupt the status quo. We recognise that we have invested our time and resources in habits that do not now support us. But often the hard and painful changes — the growing pains — are the link to our greatest rewards.

We may think a change is necessary when we are no longer satisfied with the returns that were once present. However, before we leap in and toss out our routines, job, partner, house, friends and family, we need to stop and be clear about what to change. Before we change our external environment, it’s best to look at the internal environment, as that may be all that needs a tweak or a shift in focus. Ignore the internal environment and there may be a lifetime of time and energy spent struggling with the external changes without growth. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Change can be uncomfortable, but it precedes growth. Change creates growing pains, but it is all part of the success journey. True Believers create the changes within — the changes they want to see in the world.

And being a True Believer is a choice. It is a way of thinking, a way of acting and a way of being that not only helps you but those around you. True Believers expand consciousness on the planet. True Believers are those individuals in our communities, businesses and organisations who transform cultures. True Believers feel strongly about their own freedom of choice. In your current situation you may not feel like you have choices, but we can all choose either to take responsibility and action or to remain in fear, be passive and settle for the way things are. For True Believers, deciding to settle is not a choice.

Like planting seeds, you choose what you want to nurture and grow until it’s time to harvest. The seeds are your choices and what you do with those choices determines the quality of your life. As the late Zig Ziglar said, "Every choice you make has an end result." Consider the impact of your choices on where you are now and where you would like to be.

Living in the Western World, there are so many choices that the desire to have it all — success and fulfilment — can mean making a decision that may be confusing, stressful and time consuming. With the potential for being overwhelmed, more than ever we have to make a careful choice and a quick choice. Careful and quick may seem conflicting, but too often we take too long to decide. The longer we take to choose, the longer we remain in our current situation.

We are faced with choices every day. Here’s one to consider. Will you repeat old stories and follow the old patterns or will you choose to begin each day taking full responsibility for your end results? I believe choosing not to repeat old stories has a huge effect on your achievements throughout your life. It’s up to you. A True Believer knows that the way you live each day, from the moment you wake up, depends on making the right choices.

No matter what your age or experience, it’s never too late to be a True Believer — to find a way to spend your days the way you want to. You’ve got to admire those who see something they want and put aside all constraints to go for it. We must give ourselves permission to go for the life we want. Every minute really does count and you can live the life of your dreams. With a decision, some action and often a bit of courage, it’s never too late.

This book will make a case for greater success and fulfilment in every area of your life — by becoming a True Believe in your own life and then seeing a tribe form around you. Imagine a world of happy and fulfilled people. It starts with you.

The focus of this book is to learn to be a True Believer in your own life using the powers of belief, conviction and commitment, to create your own success, your own life masterpiece. In doing so you will make the right choices and be a change maker — influencing others around you. You begin a ripple effect to increase consciousness on the planet — that’s what True Believers do.

But there is work to be done to make this happen. High achievers can make success look easy. But we know that success is not always easy to come by and takes discipline and commitment. There is often an interesting back story to someone’s success that involves a lot of hard work! While it may look easy to the onlooker, there is rarely an easy road to success.

Ask anyone who has reached a high level of success in their personal or work life and you will hear their stories of effort, courage, persistence and resilience. Their cool, calm and collected exterior may make it all look like it’s been easy but once you hear the back story you know that their journey has had its fair share of bumps in the road.

So how do True Believers make success look easy?

They get on with it rather than talking about it.

They get the things done that matter.

They take responsibility for their life.

They are focused on a clear path ahead.

They use their power of belief, conviction and commitment.

There are high achievers who work hard, stay focused and get on with it, but are still not happy — fulfilment escapes them. Getting things done is one thing but getting the things done that really matter is where fulfilment lies. One road to success is ‘achievement’ but the road less travelled is the one of ‘achievement and fulfilment’. It’s not always an easy road but it does lead to a life that rocks! Those who live with achievement and fulfilment have a success mindset — the mindset of the True Believer.

This book is divided into five parts:

Part I: A Life That Matters

We will look at what’s really going on and what the difference is

between those who search for success and those who arrive at success.

Part II: The Superpowers

Here we will learn the three superpowers of True Believers — how

to live with greater belief, conviction and commitment.

Part III: The Qualities

Learn the five qualities of True Believers — how simple it really is

to reach extraordinary success. We will look at successful people, particularly their back stories and how they have used the superpowers to reach extraordinary success.

Part IV: The Non-believers

Find out how to limit your exposure to the non-believers — the non-believer in you and in others.

Part V: True Believer Tribes

Experience the power and satisfaction that comes with living life surrounded by other True Believers and the power to create real change when True Believers come together.

Ok, now let’s get to work — on you first. Let’s make a True Believer out of you — your own success and fulfilment story. Your own life masterpiece!

Part I

A Life That Matters

True Believers know that their dreams will come true,

They wake grateful each day knowing how starts with you.

It’s Your Choice! The way you live each day from the moment you wake up is your choice. You have freedom of choice. You may not always feel like you have choices but we can all choose to either take responsibility and action or to remain in fear, being passive and settling for the way things are.

How to have it all

In 2012 I devoted a few months and 60,000 words to the subject of delivering on the promises you make to yourself in How To Have It All. Is having it all really possible? Absolutely, but there are many challenges if that is the choice you make. It is interesting to consider exactly what each individual decides having it all is. Having it all may sound like a ridiculously high aim. At times in our lives this possibility could appear close, but at other times it may seem unreachable. Often it’s not something we even think of wishing for. Having it all is about finding achievement and fulfilment in life. Personally I see having it all more about self-promise and less about external factors — while of course external factors are the greatest challenge preventing most from having all that they choose. The key factor in having it all is choosing to get the things done that really matter — which in turn allows you to live a life that matters. Living a life that matters is a choice!

Essentially, in How To Have It All I shared that achievement and fulfilment is about:

the who: taking responsibility

the why: finding clarity

the what: making the right choices

the how: driving productivity

the bigger why:discovering purpose.

Are you living a life that matters?

It’s important to take time to review your life — before launching ahead. When we regularly review our life it helps determine our future success. It is like coats on a canvas — we keep adding fresh layers to create our masterpiece.

Here are some things we need to review regularly:

What’s working well?

What am I proud of?

What isn’t going to plan and why?

What can I do differently?

What does living a life that matters look like?

Choose a fresh canvas

Equipped with these answers we have an opportunity to work on our canvas and create a new picture. You must ask yourself, Am I going to be active or passive about my life? If you are active about your decision-making and purposeful about where you are going you will have momentum and a clear direction. You will arrive at your destination on purpose rather than by accident.

Take the time to create your own work of art — your own life masterpiece — a life that really matters. This book will help you move in that direction.

Chapter 1

What’s really going on?

I’m a believer that anything’s possible. I actually think that your life is like a blank canvas and if you want to