It's much more important to spend time developing our own self-image than it is to worry about what others think of us, for nothing controls our own personal success or failure in life more than our level of self-esteem.
Recent studies have revealed that the vast majority of us suffer from a lack of self-worth. For many who were raised hearing and believing that they are a failure, chances are they've probably grown into that image. Most likely their future looks like a repeat of an unhappy past. Life lacks excitement and passion and often, without the self-confidence to try new things, life becomes predictable and boring.
Conversely, if we believe in our own self worth, we are more likely to live a successful and fulfilled life. Learning to develop our self-esteem is one of the most important skills we can master, because it is such a significant factor in nearly all aspects of life.
By believing in our own self worth, we can create our future as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
More than a year ago I first heard of Twitter and was also in need of a personal title for me as the founder of our new website, InspireMeToday.com. After much thought about how I wanted to grow this company, I dubbed myself the Ambassador of Inspiration. Was it true at that time? No way. This was a brand new business and I had no idea whether or not we would succeed. But, was it a title that I hoped to grow into? Absolutely.
Although some may have seen it as arrogance, I felt strongly that if this title was what I wanted to be, I had to first claim it for myself. I saw the title as nothing more than a goal, following the advice of one of my mentors, Tom Watson of IBM:
IBM is what it is today for three special reasons. The first reason is that, at the very beginning, I had a very clear picture of what the company would look like when it was finally done. You might say I had a model in my mind of what it would look like when the dream - my vision - was in place.The second reason was that once I had that picture, I then asked myself how a company which looked like that would have to act. I then created a picture of how IBM would act when it was finally done.
The third reason IBM has been so successful was that once I had a picture of how IBM would look like when the dream was in place and how such a company would have to act, I then realized that, unless we began to act that way from the very beginning, we would never get there.
In other words, I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one.
I took this to mean I should choose the title for myself that I wanted to become, and hence, I became the Ambassador of Inspiration. I must have done something right, for this past week Mashable published their list of 25 of the Most Inspirational People on Twitter and I was honored as #15. Would it have happened without the title, maybe. Would it have happened without the self-esteem that created the mindset? I highly doubt it.
The point is, if we can't believe in ourselves, how can we expect others to believe in us?
Self esteem allows you to determine how you want the world to perceive you, and then show up as that person. It's the only way we get anything in life- by first believing it for ourselves.
According to today's Inspirational Luminary and self-esteem guru, Joe Rubino,
"If we feel good about ourselves and expect to live happy, fulfilled, and successful lives, we will take the actions consistent with realizing that expectation. We will therefore generate the opportunities that will result in rich relationships, abundance, and joy being attracted to our lives - because we believe we deserve it and act on this belief.We get what we expect and attract prosperity or lack, joy or sorrow, rewarding relationships or angry, frustrating ones all as a result of whether or not we feel worthy. Just as we can doubt our abilities to succeed and our worthiness of attracting rewarding friends and intimate relationships, we can also instead choose to take full responsibility for expecting all aspects of our lives to be the way we want them to turn out. When we come from this positive mindset and commit to manifesting our dream lives, we put forth an energy that attracts all the things we desire to us."
It all starts with the concept called self-esteem. With it, you have the power to transform your world and improve the quality of your life, just by improving your image and your vision of YOU.
Follow Gail Lynne Goodwin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/inspiremetoday
Robert Pagliarini: 3 Steps to Create a More Powerful Self-Image
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