You Create Your Own Destiny: How to Believe In Yourself

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Be Your Future Self Now" by Benjamin Hardy. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Are you in charge of your fate? How do you create your own destiny?

Be Your Future Self Now by Benjamin Hardy walks you through the many steps of connecting with your higher self to become the best person you can be. His last step is to believe that you create your own destiny, which is imperative in trusting yourself and your gut.

Discover how believing you’re in charge of your future can do wonders for your self-esteem.

Believe That You’re the Creator of Your Own Fate

Many people believe a higher power controls our fate; therefore, no matter what we do, our outcome will always be the same. Others believe that a higher power created us and that we’re inferior beings with no true purpose. Hardy explains that both of these perspectives take autonomy away from us and prevent us from reaching our full potential.

Instead, Hardy suggests you create your own destiny and think of yourself as a child of a higher power—you’re just a less advanced version of your creator. As such, our purpose as humans is to learn and grow over time and across generations until we reach the level of this higher power. Hardy asserts that our purpose under this framework is to achieve fulfillment—to do what we most desire and become the highest version of ourselves. With this belief, we can feel empowered to take control of our lives and choose our fate.

Create Your Own God Concept

In Seeking Wisdom, Julia Cameron agrees that many people have a disempowering view of God or a higher power and that this reduces their ability to reach their full potential. However, rather than recommending that people take on a specific belief, as Hardy does, Cameron says that the most effective higher power to believe in is one that’s created by you, for you. Cameron calls this your “God concept.”

To create your God concept, Cameron recommends first envisioning what your ideal God looks like—for example, maybe it’s the face of your great-grandmother, or maybe it’s an amorphous blob. Choose an image of God that seems the most empowering and supportive to you.

Next, brainstorm the characteristics a caring, supportive, and benevolent God would have. For example, maybe this God loves to dance to disco music, has endless love and understanding, and is always listening.

Finally, envision your God as your best friend—someone who’s always there to listen to you, encourage you, and provide you with help and support when you need it.

Finally, Hardy says to adopt a firm belief that you will become your higher self—that this is your fate—and express gratitude for being this person. When you know that becoming your higher self is a definite outcome (your fate), your actions will match that perceived reality—you’ll be more confident and more likely to do what’s necessary to achieve your goals without fear of failure. Further, expressing gratitude for things you don’t yet have as if you already have them reinforces your belief in yourself.

(Shortform note: In The Secret, Rhonda Byrne agrees that expressing positive belief and gratitude are two of the best actions you can take to achieve your goals. This is because, in addition to altering your actions, expressing positive belief and gratitude also attracts positivity through The Law of Attraction. Byrne also adds to Hardy’s argument, explaining that avoiding negative feelings like ingratitude, lack, envy, resentment, and so on is just as important. If you express negative emotions alongside positive belief and gratitude, they’ll overpower your positive expression and attract negativity into your life.)

You Create Your Own Destiny: How to Believe In Yourself