Everyone has a belief or set of beliefs that guide the course of their lives and which at the long run determine their fate and destiny. Indeed, every form of human emotions are triggered and controlled by beliefs. Fulani women and part of Kanuri tribes (Fulani is a tribe in the northern part of Nigeria) are known to deliver babies through natural birth with utmost silence because it is their customary belief that it is beneath a Fulani woman to cry, scream or lose control due to child birth. There is yet to be found any research result that proves that these women suffer less labor pain than other women the world over, however, unlike many others, they would not  just not cry, scream or act wildly even at the face of excruciating pain, all because of their belief.  Such is the far reaching power of belief. 

Decisions are made within the ambit of beliefs and to a very large extent no one nurses ambitions that extend beyond the frame of his belief. There are people with great leadership potentials who would not even consider voting, much less contesting an elective office because of their belief. Every human being can only go as far as their beliefs will allow. Each individual’s actions and reactions are largely affected by their belief system. There is nothing that drives a man more effectively than his beliefs and nothing can accurately define a man (and his values) than what he believes in.

Your beliefs will not only determine your fate this year but your fate in life. However, since the success and fulfillment in each year adds up to determine success in life, we will try to focus on how your beliefs this year may affect your prospects in the year and by logical extension, your prospect in life.

What are your beliefs about yourself? Can you write at least 10 strong beliefs you have about yourself (both negative and positive inclusive) and reflect briefly on how you came about those beliefs? As I have always reiterated on this page, ‘you know you best’. What are your beliefs about your personality, your intelligence, your physical attractiveness, your masculinity or femininity, your natural gifting and competitive edges, your time-tested winning strategies, your reaction to adversities, your endurance, your virtues, sense of discipline etc? You are the most important factor that will determine your lot in life and you are mostly defined by your beliefs about who you are. Your limit in life is defined by your belief about yourself.  Your future in the US depends on what you can see yourself becoming. If you believe that you are good enough to attend an ivy-league school, and have courage to apply to one and submit a personal statement that reflects that belief. If you believe that you cannot make it in America without cutting corners, you will never have the resilience to make it legitimately and even if you try, at all, you will not put be able to put enough effort to prove yourself wrong. If there is something some immigrants may need to do to make headway in the US, it is  the need to change the beliefs they have about themselves, especially where those beliefs are rooted in past failure experience, opinions formed based on unreasonable comparison of self with others,  verbal communication challenge (accent), age and level of education. If you belief you are a failure personified, it would be really impossible for life to disagree with you. One rarely succeeds in fighting against his belief. You are who you sincerely belief you are.

A lot of people lose all their enthusiasm about making it in the US as soon as they arrive in the country and discover that the picture of the US as painted by Hollywood is different from the reality on ground. They consider where they have to start off from and out rightly lose faith in their vigorously pursued mission to the US. We humans have an amazing capability to see what we believe in every situation. More and more Korean, Indians and Lebanese companies and even South African chain stores keep coming to open businesses in Nigeria because they can see a vast growing market for products and services in the country while promising Nigerian entrepreneurs who hold the belief that nothing ever works in the country would rather close down their businesses to relocate to the US or open shops in Dubai or move their factory to the neighboring Ghana.

We see opportunities based on our beliefs. What are your beliefs about your prospects in the US? Your beliefs will determine what you look out for and what you will ultimately find. If you believe Corporate America discriminates against the minorities, you will never see reason to apply for any advertised big job opening on the Wall Street even if you are well qualified. If you believe you cannot find true love here, you will not be able to respond when true love beckons. If you belief immigrants’ businesses cannot grow as fast as any other business you will never see the real problems with your business. Your beliefs frame your mind for possibilities and impossibilities. Do not just seek to adjust your status, ensure that your beliefs are altered accordingly. The beliefs you held as an undocumented alien could not have changed just because you now have the green card unless you readdress your mind on those beliefs.  It is very possible to be an American citizen with an illegal immigrant’s mindset. Freed but still bound.

Our beliefs are centered on the facts or ideas we hold to be true. It is very unfortunate how some people would choose to sacrifice their lives and even go ahead to hurt other people in the process, all on the basis of a wrong belief. There are so many great people who have been made to belief they cannot amount to much just because they did not fit the norm. It is very fatal to believe in lies and for one to build his or her life on a wrong belief or wrong set of beliefs. It is therefore very important to subject every belief to test before allowing them to become strong and life altering.

Beliefs are often times planted in our minds by voices that we consider credible and people whose authority we ordinarily submit to but there is a danger and possibility that those voices even though credible may be feeding our minds with lies they have been fed themselves which has kept them stagnant or as under achievers.  Most men with degrees from the native country got their belief about the kind of jobs they are qualified for, from the uncles who came into the US without a secondary school certificate and they have never been able to transcend that belief. Some young ladies also got their beliefs about men from their mothers, friends and other women people who do not have a clue as to what it takes to keep a man and because of those beliefs they only see in men those attributes they have been made to belief all men have.  Little wonder they enter into marriage battle-ready, keeping their eyes on their belief even when all the man wants and is willing to give is love and commitment to making things work. When you fail to reason for yourself and test the reasoning or voice behind every belief sold to you, you will end up living life through other people’s negative experience.

The greater danger is building a belief based on comparison. The fact that someone you consider to be better than you has failed at something does not mean you must also suffer the same fate.  The fact that one man’s marriage failed when he brought his wife into the country does not mean yours is bound to fail if you bring the woman you love to come and live where you live. And by the way, believing that bringing your wife into the country is one great good you did for her for which she should be eternally grateful is one sure way to ensure that your marriage fails eventually.

The best way to test a belief is to get informed about it, learn from other people’s experience but test if those are applicable to your life, learn to distinguish between different scenarios, think and ask questions, ask people from different backgrounds and just generally convince yourself that you are not basing your belief on the opinion of an ignorant individual. Check your beliefs and be sure they are solid; they are the foundation for your victories and failures. We have a solid belief in your ability to make it in the US but there is just so much we can do to help you believe in yourself and adopt the right outlook. You can make it here. Yes you can.

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