Tightrope: This season the best gift is the gift of believing in yourself

ByABC News
December 10, 2008, 3:48 AM

— -- This is the time of year when our thoughts turn to gift giving. Buying gifts for our friends and loved ones take on significant meaning and requires time and attention. This week we will take a look at the most wonderful gift of all. What is most special and precious about this gift is that we give it to ourselves. It is the gift of believing in yourself.

When you believe in yourself, you can trust your instincts and feelings. It helps you to gain and sustain strength. Believing in yourself can take you and your business to a whole new level of fulfillment.

But, you have to be on the lookout for the folks who try to change who you are or attempt make you over into their image.

These are the times when the people who love us and want the best for us contribute to our lack of belief and trust in ourselves. An example can be seen in a conversation that I had with a friend about his young son:

From the time little Michael was born, his father, Henry, had visions of his son parading through life as a baseball star who would eventually find his way into the Hall of Fame. Michael, on the other hand, was interested in music and excelled in it. However, when Michael turned seven years old, Henry thought he would get things moving, and enrolled his son in the community Little League baseball team.

Michael wasn't the least bit interested in his father's choice, and his poor game showed it. Frustrated, Henry told me the story and said. "The boy has not one ounce of trust or belief in himself. I don't know where he gets it from." Henry said he had tried to get his son to follow the example of the other children who were better players. "Why can't you catch like little Leon," Henry would say to Michael, "If he can do it, so can you."

Little Michael spent most of his free time practicing pitching and catching with his father and still continued to fail miserably at baseball. In addition, he became irritable and difficult to handle at home. After the first semester in school, Michael's teachers said he wasn't applying himself and was failing.