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How to improve your self image

By Eileen Edwards

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 16Jul2009 Word count: 671 Viewed: 232 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

People fall short of achieving their goals for three-reasons.1/ unclear goals 2/ineffective pursuit of goals and 3/ a combination of both Why you may ask do most people not clearly define their goals or pursue them effectively. You may say its simply because they are not aware that they need to have crystal clear goals and to pursue them constantly in order to succeed. Whilst this is true at one level the real answer relates to the self-image.

Each one of us has a self-image, a mental picture of ourselves, which we carry around containing not just details of our physical looks but also our abilities, skills and personality traits.

You need to know two things about the self-image. Firstly, that every individual always acts in accordance with his/her self-image. Secondly, that 99% of people have an inadequate self-image. Lets look at both those statements in turn.

Firstly we always act in accordance with our self-image. So if an individual believes himself to be brave, persistent, friendly or a fast learner this is how he will behave. That's great you may say for the lucky individual who believes himself to have the above listed good qualities but what about someone who doesn't. Or even sees himself as the possessor of negative qualities.

The person who does not currently believe himself to have the good qualities he desires can change that situation; it can be done simply by changing his thoughts and ideas in the right way.

Here is an example- the person who tells himself I must stop smoking but continues to smoke. Thinking that I must stop smoking causes our smoker to reinforce his mental image of himself as just that a smoker, the very thing that he does not want to be. Our thoughts are creative and the smoker mentioned above has unwittingly used his to reinforce the very situation that he wanted to change.

So what did he need to do? To think of and mentally picture himself as the happy non-smoker that he wanted to become. Why? Although we are consciously aware of our self-image to change it we must contact and instruct our unconscious level of mind. Two rules must be followed in communicating with the unconscious mind. These are that all communications most be positive and in the present tense.

The unconscious mind does not understand and cannot respond to negatives. Therefore given the instruction stop smoking it hears only smoking. To the smokers dismay smoking continues or may even increase. A correct form of words could be " I enjoy being a non-smoker" which is positive and in the present tense.

The same applies with positive qualities that you might like to acquire to make your journey towards your goals smooth and enjoyable. For example, if your goal relates to making more sales you could communicate a suggestion to your unconscious mind to the effect that you enjoy interacting with people and helping them make buying decisions. Or if you are learning a new skill you could suggest to yourself that you have the qualities of patience and perseverance.

You would choose the quality that is most useful to you currently. Work on acquiring this quality until you have succeeded then move on to the next one on your wish list and so on.

To be successful in life we need to be to do and to have in that order. In other words acquire the qualities that allow you to behave in the way that you want to, to be persistent or outgoing for example to have the house, car, lifestyle that we want. Many people try to acquire the outward signs of success without first working on the necessary qualities and behaviours. This is always a mistake.

Finally you have probably heard the expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" this is doubly true when it comes dealing with your unconscious mind and creating a positive self image.Use mental pictures to speed up the rate at which you acquire your desired qualities.

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