How To Boost Your Self-Image Fast

In his bestselling book <The Psycho-Cybernetics>, Maxwell Maltz once said that, "The self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self-image and you change the personality and the behavior."

When you develop a positive self-image, your confidence will soar and so as your ability to handle new situations.

The best thing is that the world tends to accept the self-image you place on yourself.

When you have a strong, positive, self-believing self-image, others are going to accept that frame of mind and behave differently for you.

The first step to increasing your self-image is to know yourself.

Know thyself, Socrates intelligently said.

Not only do you need to understand your current skill levels, strengths and abilities, you also want to determine your weaknesses, disadvantages, trigger points so you can improve upon.

Never beat yourself up for discovering the ugly side of yourself. Flaws can always be turned into gifts if you work on them long enough.

Also, determine what parts about you are most crucial and urgent to change and focus all your energy on those areas.

There probably are aspects you don't concern that much and won't have significant effect on your self-image. Ignore those.

You want to concentrate all your power to change those with most leverage and impact.

And frankly, sometimes you should just accept those insignificant parts of your personality and move on to greater things.

Change is a constant. Success is change.

If you don't feel good about the current version of yourself, you must be willing to overcome the inertia of staying in the status quo and step up to take the tough challenges of changing your identity.

It's NOT going to be easy I guarantee. Our brain will do everything to sabotage your intention to change because of homeostasis. It always wants to make things as stable as possible.

But you do want to boost your self-image right? Then you must commit to taking consistent small imperfect actions to slowly shift your set point. It totally worth it.

One of the fastest ways to boost your self-image is to upgrade your style.

Yes, I am talking about upgrading how you look, how you dress and how you present yourself even BEFORE you speak and meet any people.

Upgrading your looks and outfits is a huge challenge to most of us because we are not used to seeing our sexy, handsome, beautiful selves.

So if you can afford an image consultant, hire them and let them design a better style for you.

Want to know the secrets why most celebrities are so confident?

It's because those image consultants are trained to make people look good, feel good and develop massive self-love and confidence.

It's an uncomfortable process when you dress differently, but it's the fastest way to embrace a new identity and boost your self-esteem.

Remember that elevating your self-image is a process of change.

Stop living your life based on what others believe, like or think.

Stop comparing your back stage with successful people's front stage.

Stop pleasing others and sacrificing your own happiness.

You are the only person who knows what's best for you.

It's up to you to uplift your self-image and raise the standards of the game you're playing at.

When you change, everything changes. When you improve, every aspect of your life will improve.

I look forward to a newer, better, greater version of you soon.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9524418

Are you Suffering the Effects of a Difficult Childhood?

by fatima-abdelghani      emaze

Are you one of the millions of people in the western world that would consider their childhood to have been particularly tough? Maybe you were abused physically or emotionally when you were very young and feel that this has been holding you back from living a “normal” life.

Well that’s my story. If you’re like me, on the surface you may feel that there are children in war zones or starving around the world that would have willingly swapped what we went through for a few slices of bread and a jug of clean water. Consciously we may understand that we live in a privileged society but it doesn’t seem to help does it? At some level we feel wounded; even emotionally disabled in some way!

 About 10 years ago (in my mid 40’s) I decided that I’d had enough of that feeling and that I wanted to explore the anger and fear that I had carried around with me for so many years. I started to read self-help books (again) that I hoped might help me and eventually came across the number one best selling book ‘The Dark Side of the Light Chasers’ by the late Debbie Ford (RIP my friend and mentor).

That book was to change my life… well that’s not strictly true; I changed my life but that book was the catalyst for change. It helped me take responsibility for my present feelings and actions and which gave me the power to finally make a few changes. That may not be what you want to hear but until we accept responsibility for the choices that we’re making in the present we have no power to alter the way things are. No one else can do it for you. This ultimately led me to become a certified life coach. I wanted to help people overcome the debilitating effects of low self-esteem. That was my mission and at first I failed miserably.

Just like a recovering alcoholic that lack of self-esteem is always likely to be with me at some level. That’s the bad news. The good news is that lack of self-esteem will always be with me at some level. An over inflated ego can be just as damaging as one that’s under inflated so looking to strike a healthy balance should take some of the pressure off. A recovering alcoholic will always admit to being one even though he may never touch another drop. Even the most seemingly confident people lack self-esteem at times.

If you feel like you’re failing miserably don’t give up. You can find another perspective. I know that’s true because I did. How we can embrace a difficult past and use it to our advantage is the subject of  my next topic starting in a few days time, so do sign up and we can explore it together. Why not ask a question or leave a comment and return here to find some tips and tricks that just may help.

Authenticity or 'Act as if?'

So should I be authentic or should I act as if? Which is best for my self-esteem.... and does one compromise the other?

A few years ago I had a 'light bulb moment' about my self-esteem whilst taking part in doing some 'Shadow ' work (which I'll talk about in later blog posts). I was reminded of this recently whilst reading Robert Kelsy's book 'What's Stopping You?'

I realised that I can't change my chemistry and the things I learned as a kid are set. They are a large part of my mind which was set by the time I was around 7 years old and they're going to be with me for as long as I'm human. I have no control over my reptilian 'fight, flight or freeze' brain so why baulk it? That was such a great relief because now after all these years I no longer have to fight my 'knee jerk' reactions. Accepting them as a part of my make up allows me the presence of mind to overcome their effects more quickly and often times create better outcomes.

I've spent so much of my time trying to prove myself to others as someone I'm really not and it cost me dear. It cost me self-respect, loads of nervous energy, and for so long the ability to like myself for who I am. I spent loads of time thinking something was wrong with me and that if I was to be loved or even liked I'd have to pretend to be someone else; stronger, braver, far more in control, you get the idea. I also learned that there are areas in which I have high self esteem. Everyone's really good at some things.

I now feel that self-esteem is a little overrated. If you can take the necessary actions however you're feeling. you're onto a winner; which often results in raising your level of self-esteem, at least temporarily. It's not easy I know but at least now I don't have to be superhuman; what a relief!  It's not the thought that counts, it's the actions that count.

I've learned that trying to do things on my own wasn't working for me so I got help. You can get help to take the pressure off, and it doesn't necessarily need to be professional help. Just reading more of the stuff that moves you and confiding in someone you really trust can start you on a road to a better life.

Authenticity or 'act as if?' What works best for you and when? I'm so interested to know so please leave a comment.

Low Self Esteem. That's good!

Did you know that Elephants have a more developed hippocampus, a brain region responsible for emotion and spatial awareness, than any other animal including human beings?

I know what most of the Guru’s say, I’ve read so many of their books, but have you ever tried to give up a truly debilitating bad habit? You can go to AA meetings and work on your alcoholism but you’ll always be a self-confessed alcoholic and recovering alcoholics use this knowledge to their advantage. 

Just take a look at the word “Mindset”. Doesn’t the very word suggest that the mind is actually set? To change concrete once it’s set (our beliefs once we become adults) can feel like an almost impossible task! Maybe we don’t have complete control over our minds. Isn’t that what the evidence suggests?

I wondered how it would be if in the same way I just went ahead and admitted that I have low self-esteem and made changes to my life despite this knowledge, just like a recovering alcoholic or drug addict. That way I could use the tools for change but it would sure take off some of the pressure. For the rest of his life a recovering alcoholic will tell you he’s an alcoholic even if he never touches another drop. One of the features of low self-worth is that we spend so much time beating ourselves up for our shortcomings. The negative mindset of someone who’s depressed and feels inadequate or unworthy doesn’t lend itself to making positive changes.

So if nothing so far has worked to your satisfaction, stick around and let’s see what can be done. This blog is as much an inquiry as a solution, and what works for Peter may not work for Jane but there’s always someone out there who feels the same way you do. Why not leave a comment and see?