The Hundred Simple Secrets of Happy People [16 of 100]

16.....Believe in yourself.

Don't write yourself off. If you don't believe in yourself, you won't be able to function.
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Steve Blass was a great major league pitcher in 1972. In fact, he was one of the very best. One year later, he was on his way out of baseball. Did he get hurt? No. Did anything change?
One thing changed: Steve Blass lost his confidence. As Blass said, "When it was gone, it was gone for good." He started thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and suddenly they did.
Steve Blass no longer believed he could be a major league pitcher, and before he knew it, he no longer was a major league pitcher.
The ability to do anything must be accompanied by the belief that we can do it. As important as learning how is learning that you know how. There is an old saying, "Whether you believe you
can or you believe you can't, either way you're right."

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Across all ages and all groups, a solid belief in one's own abilities increases life satisfaction by about 30 percent, and makes us happier both in our home lives and in our work lives.

Myers and Diener 1995