There is an often-told story of swimmer, Florence Chadwick. On her first attempt to swim English Channel she encountered huge waves and chilling temperature. Her trainers were alongside her in a boat. They had greased her body to provide protection from cold and gave her hot soup from a vacuum flask. She had everything going for her to ensure she was successful.

However a heavy fog set in and as fog descended, her vision was limited to only a few feet. The water seemed to get colder, waves higher and she started suffering from cramp in her arms and legs. She eventually gave up her effort and asked her trainers to take her on board boat.

What she didn't realise was that she was only a short distance from shore. When reporters asked her why she'd given up when she was such a short distance form shore. Her answer was quite simple - "I lost sight of what I wanted to achieve. I'm not sure that I had it firmly in my mind."

You need to have a clear mental picture of where you want to go. You need to visualise yourself being successful and work towards it, you then have a far better chance of achieving what you want to achieve.

And case your wondering about Florence Chadwick - she did become first woman to swim English Channel on 8th August 1950. It took her 13 hours 25 minutes and I bet her arms were tired!

On other hand, don't ever put yourself down; challenge and test yourself before deciding whether you can do something or not. I was once in a position to apply for an internal promotion however I didn't do it. I got it into my head that I wouldn't be able to handle financial aspects of this new management position. When one of my colleagues, an accountant, asked me why I hadn't applied, I explained about financial bit. She didn't pull her punches - "You should have applied you idiot, you would've been able to do financial bit it's not that difficult and I would have helped you anyway."

You can imagine how I felt after that, I had allowed some program in my brain to influence me and missed an opportunity for promotion. It's important to listen to that voice in your head which is driven by your programs, but challenge it. When I now hear that voice in my head saying "You couldn't do that" I reply with "Well I'm going to give it a try before I decide."

Successful people have confidence in themselves, they accept their weaknesses but they don't see it as a failure. They speak out when they don't know something and they ask for help when they need it.

Have you ever asked a question at a meeting possibly feeling a bit stupid and thinking everyone else knows answer? At coffee break someone then says, "I'm glad you asked that question because I didn't know either but I didn't like to ask."

Successful people have courage to challenge what they hear in their own mind and also what they hear from other people.

It's vital to run your own mind and think before you speak or take action, however, it's also important not to think too much. Sometimes you need to trust your instincts and your gut feelings. If you're interviewing someone and your gut feeling is that this person isn't right for job, then don't hire them. Too often, business people suppress their gut feeling - they think, "I must be stupid, I'm probably wrong, they'll be okay once they've started working with me." - No they won't!