When people say positive things about you, write them down immediately.

When someone says something positive about you, simply smile and say ‘Thank you, that’s very nice to hear’, or smile and say ’Thank you - how kind of you to say so’. We understand that your normal reaction would be to say: ‘Oh no, my work’s not really that good’, or ‘I’m really not that clever’, or something equally negative. Start today by smiling and saying ‘thank you’ when you receive a compliment.

Keep a Written Record of Your Success

When people say positive things about you or your translation skills, write them down immediately. This might be in a Word document on your computer titled ‘My Inspiration’ or a similar title that makes you feel successful and positive. You’ll be surprised at how long this list will become, and you’ll also be surprised at how handy this same list will be for when you’re having those down moments in life. If you’re struggling with self-doubt, or simply having a bad day, go to your list and recall all the wonderful things people have said about you. If you’re doubting your skills as a translator, refer to this list and read all the positive comments from past clients, colleagues, and so on.

Determine What’s Really Holding You Back

Perhaps you’re holding yourself back because you believe you don’t have great marketing skills, or perhaps you don’t speak a certain language as well as you wish you did. Maybe you believe your writing skills are not adequate, or could it simply be that you don’t have great typing or computer skills? Whatever it is you believe you’re not proficient in, take immediate steps to fix it. Take a marketing course, a computer skills or typing course, or hire someone to bring you up to speed with your language skills. It could well be that all you’re really lacking is confidence, and simply taking a course or getting help is all that’s required to reassure you that you actually do have the skills to achieve your goals.

Remind Yourself of Your Achievements

Go back to the very beginning of your freelance career when your dream was to become self-employed and ultimately work for well-paying direct clients. How much have you achieved since that time? All too often we conveniently forget our past successes; but realistically, if you were able to create your own freelance business and, due to your own marketing efforts and translation knowledge and skills, start attracting your own direct clients, don’t you think you have already achieved a lot? Don’t make excuses for your past successes – your achievements are due solely to your own hard work and dedication, and the only thing stopping you from achieving further success is your limiting beliefs.

Don’t Keep Waiting for That Big Chunk of Spare Time

This is possibly one of the biggest stumbling blocks to success, and we’re all guilty of this one. We decide to wait until we have nothing on our calendar in order to start that marketing campaign, organise our office, or make a start on writing that e-book; but then time simply passes by and we’ve still achieved nothing. It’s vitally important that we understand that goals are only achievable when we work on them a little bit every single day. Start working on that e-book, purchase some storage files and start organising your office, and more importantly, start today on your marketing campaign. Just think about this: If, over a period of three months, you were to send out one résumé every work day, you’ve just contacted a minimum of 60 potential clients! Start working on your goals right now – don’t put it off ‘till another day.