EmploymentScape Chief Executive Officer, Harrison Barnes discusses how it is important to perceive yourself positively in order to succeed.

In your career and personal life you are going to come across both– people who believe in you and those who do not. Harrison believes that it is important to surround yourself with people who believe in you and what you can achieve. It is equally important that you distance yourself from people who do not believe that. Beliefs others hold about you often have a lot to do with what is going to end up happening to you.

The problem with us being the subject of other peoples’ negative beliefs is that we will generally act in a manner consistent with this. A lot of how we act in the world is an effort to be consistent with how we see ourselves. We expect people to be consistent with what we believe they are. We also want to be consistent with how we see ourselves. Most of us define ourselves based on what other people tell us we are like.

You need to decide right now how you want to be. Then you need to believe you are that person and capable of being the person you really want to be. Describe yourself as the person you want to be and then start acting like that person. You need to surround yourself with people who also share that vision for you and who you are. Start behaving and being like the person you want to be right now. Your life is defined by your beliefs and the perception of who you are.

What you are going to feel and what you are going to become in the future is not based on what has happened to you in the past and what others have said about you, but on your interpretation of that information. You need to interpret your life in a positive way that empowers you–and not the other way around.