A can-do attitude and a healthy dose of self-confidence is all you need to succeed. You, too, can be one of those go-getters who achieve great things.

A little positive reinforcement can go a long way in boosting your self-assurance. Self-talk that supports your goals will have a greater impact on boosting your overall self image than the opinions of others.

You are the Master of your Fate

Do you feel that your life is lacking in some area? If you’re experiencing challenges romantically, professionally, or in any other area of life, know that you are the key to changing it. Instead of placing blame on yourself and feeling defeated, realize that you are your greatest chance to effect change that leads to success in any aspect of your life.

You Can Do It

Are you plagued with self-doubt? Do you feel like you’re not up to the challenges that life throws your way? In reality, your spirit is capable of achieving greatness when you exercise your willpower and back it up with positive, encouraging reinforcement. If you believe that you can succeed, and put in the effort, you will succeed.

One of the problems with doubt in your own abilities is that it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. You think you’re going to fail and so your mind sets out to reinforce that idea. Your thoughts lead to actions that produce detrimental results.

But this can work the other way, too. By telling yourself that you can succeed, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy that supports your success.

Positive Reinforcement is Optimistic

When you believe that you can succeed, you’ll feel more confident to take the steps that are required to overcome the challenges you face. With positive reinforcement, even failures become opportunities to learn and grow.

You can replace the voice in your head that causes you fear with one that pushes you forward by focusing on the good within yourself.

Convince yourself that you’re capable of greatness by replacing negative thoughts with more productive self-talk. Then, when you do achieve your goal or overcome that challenge, you’ll have an additional dose of confidence that will spur you on to greater success.

Cue the Music!

For big challenges, support yourself as much as possible. In addition to speaking words of encouragement to yourself, consider playing some music to pump you up. Whether it’s the theme to Rocky or Europe’s The Final Countdown, music can boost your self-belief and ease your worries.

If you don’t have an MP3 or CD player handy, hum your favorite songs while you prepare. Inspirational tunes can make you feel like you can take on any challenge.

Your mind plays a large part determining the level of success you experience. Tell yourself that you can do it. Positive self-talk will increase your confidence in your own abilities. When you add the drive and willpower, you can achieve anything you want in life!

]]> http://beingpositive.net/686/how-to-boost-your-self-confidence-with-positive-self-talk/feed/ 0 http://beingpositive.net/617/6-ways-take-action/ http://beingpositive.net/617/6-ways-take-action/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 23:50:19 +0000 Franck Pasquet http://beingpositive.net/?p=617
photo credit: Ashutosh Khandha

Taking action towards your dreams and goals is clearly vital, but it’s not always easy to stay consistent and build momentum. However, taking action is one of those important pieces to the puzzle along with proper planning and the drive to succeed. Those that take action are the ones that see results.

How do you motivate yourself to continue working toward your goals, especially when you face challenges? Although some strategies will motivate you more than others, it’s good to experiment with several different ways of finding your motivation. Then, when the chips are down, you can depend on one of these strategies to get back on track.

Try these techniques to motivate yourself to take action:

1. Break your goals into smaller, attainable steps. Especially if you’re working toward a bigger goal, break it up into a series of small steps that you know you can achieve. After each step, celebrate and reward yourself for a job well done. With small steps, you’ll be more likely to stay on task because your rewards come often.
2. Know your limits. You know yourself best and only you can identify your personal limits. If you move too slowly, you’ll know deep down that you could be taking more action. However, when you try to do too much, you risk burnout. Figure out that magic point where you can achieve success without much stress, and you’ll remain motivated to keep taking action.
3. Take away your distractions. There are some things that might be more likely to distract you than others. Remove yourself from these situations when you know that you need to be taking action.
   • For example, if you’re a social person, perhaps you’ll need to stay away from friends and family during the times you want to work. Also, avoid surfing the net, video games, and television when it’s time to work.
4. Ask for the help you need. Don’t be afraid to get help from others. There’s only so much you can accomplish in one day all by yourself. It’s true that sometimes you’ll have to accomplish certain things on your own, but if there’s any way at all that someone else can help, consider that possibility and ask them.
5. Find an activity that energizes you. Sometimes you’ll find that there’s a period in the day where you go into a slump. Maybe you have trouble starting your engines in the morning, or perhaps it’s the afternoon that causes you to feel sluggish.
   • In these times, find some activity to re-motivate and energize you. One thing that can energize you is a good exercise routine. It’ll get your heart rate up and send fresh oxygen to your brain. This will refresh you, help you think more clearly, and make you feel more like doing your work.
6. Keep a tight schedule. A good schedule and organized plan will help keep you motivated and on track. In the beginning phases of planning your goals, be very specific when deciding what you need to do and when. This way, when you complete a step, you won’t have to spend time figuring out what you’re supposed to do next.

If you want to succeed, you can do it through purposeful action. Just think about what you’ve done to accomplish goals in the past. Chances are you had a plan and followed through. It might not always be easy, but when you remain motivated, you’ll reach whatever goal you set out to accomplish!

photo credit: emmett.hume

Life has many challenges, but do you think you can get past them? Of course you can!

Avoid letting other people – or your own thoughts – tell you that you can’t do whatever you have in mind. A challenge isn’t a problem, it’s an opportunity to excel and move forward. But you must see your challenge in a positive light or it may not offer you the forward movement you’re really looking for.

Do you tackle challenges by getting stressed out and aggravated? If so, it’s time to learn how to avoid that conflict and deal with stress effectively. Anyone can learn to do it, but the mindset is very important. Most of the struggles you face come from not looking at things through an optimist’s eye.

Seeing your challenges as opportunities will help you make it through with flying colors.

The way a challenge is presented to you might be uncomfortable, but you can take that and turn it around to your advantage. Then, things that try to take you down can actually build you up and be used for your good, instead. You may even begin to look forward to your challenges to move ahead in life and accomplish even more.

The Size of the Challenge Is Irrelevant

Whether the challenge is a serious health issue, a job loss, or something else entirely, you can remain positive about it. No matter what happens in life, there is always joy and beauty that can be found, as well. If you look for the good things, you’re going to find them; they’re hiding in plain sight, just waiting to be discovered!

It can be more of a challenge to stay positive when big things come against you, but step back and give yourself permission to grieve for a little while. Once that’s done, set it aside and move on to something else. Avoid looking backward, because you can’t possibly move forward if you’re fixated on what’s behind you.

See yourself as healthy, employed, happy, and whatever it is you need. There are baby-steps you can take to move in the direction of having what you want. It may seem like it’s taking a long time, but it’ll take even longer if you don’t get started. Make a plan for your challenge, even if you start out slow, and avoid letting setbacks get you down. Everyone has them.

The Critical Key to Conquering Your Challenges

Just as you can get through any size challenge, you can also get through any type of challenge. That’s the key that successful people use to unlock their goals and dreams. They avoid looking at how big or difficult their challenge is. Instead, they look at how big their faith is, and that can be faith in God, or simply faith in themselves and their abilities.

If you look at what you can do, instead of what’s coming against you, you can accomplish great things with what you have available. Take a look at what’s challenging you today. There may be more than one thing, but you only need to work on conquering one of them at a time.

Make a list of your challenges. Choose the challenge that appears to be the easiest, the one you feel best about, or the one you most need to address. Whichever one you choose is fine. The point is that you can get started and be successful, no matter what you’re facing, if you come up with a plan and stick with it. Then use your plan to conquer those challenges one at a time.

Challenges are something you’ll face all your life, just like everyone else. Whether they get you down or build you up will be determined by how you see them. You can’t choose your challenges, in most cases, but you can always choose how you react to them, and that can make all the difference in the world.

photo credit: OakleyOriginals

When you equip your children a positive outlook, you’re setting them up for a happy and successful life.

Don’t believe me?

Well, who do you think would be most successful?

a)      The person who believes he can achieve anything, become whomever he wants, and follows up with swift action, or:

b)     The person who complains about anything, is indifferent about everything, and gets nothing done out of feelings of hopelessness.

Obvious, huh?

You see, children have such an amazing ability to learn. They’re babies one day, and the next they’re learning language and life skills at a rate much faster than any adult can. This gives us, as parents, a very important and sometimes overwhelming duty: to teach our children every day.

There are many things you can do each day to foster a positive outlook in your kids, but having a positive outlook yourself is the most important thing you can do to help your children grow. Let them know they make a positive difference in your life and love them unconditionally.

Keep the following tips in mind to help your children develop a positive outlook:

1. Lead by example. From a young age, your children pick up on more than you know. While you may live by the notion that you should always put your kids first, you also have to concentrate on your own self-development. Because, when you think positively, so will your kids.
2. Watch your reactions. Just as with leading by example, you must watch your reactions, especially when things go awry. If someone gets hurt or you learn some bad news, fight the urge to have a negative reaction. If you yell or outwardly worry, you’ll affect your children.
   • Teach your children that sometimes things don’t go our way, but eventually the tides will turn.
3. Find the silver lining in challenges. As your children learn and develop, they’ll be faced with all sorts of challenges. Some of them will be easy, while others are more challenging. Be sure to point out the silver lining in any challenge your child may be facing. It’ll help them to see your point of view when they’re facing challenges alone.
4. Help them change their thinking. When you’re child is in the midst of a tough challenge, he may bring up the idea of giving up. Do your best to bring wisdom to the situation to know when your child simply needs to be pushed further. Perhaps there’s an angle to the problem that your child hasn’t tried yet
   • Nudge them in the right direction until they find the success they seek.
5. Promote laughter. Laughter breeds happiness and positive feelings. Your children will each have a unique sense of humor. Play into your child’s humorous side by promoting situations that your child finds funny.
   • You can play games, go to shows, or simply have a good time together as a family.

A Happy Healthy Home

When you remember to treat your children in a calm and loving manner, they’ll be more likely to do the same. If your child tends to panic, don’t scold them for this behavior. Put them at ease as best as you can and show them that there’s a solution to their problem. If you panic, the situation may spiral into an unhealthy cycle.

In the end, there’s no right or wrong way to raise your kids. Do what’s best for your family in the way you know how. When you maintain a happy and healthy home, your children will learn to have hope and think positively!

photo credit: Michael Brownlee

How you think about yourself makes a big difference in how you feel. You can avoid feeling down or upset if you know what to say to yourself and how to say it. Even during difficult times, you can find moments of joy and blessings to talk to yourself about.

No matter what you want to do in life, self-talk can help you accomplish your dreams, goals, and desires. Believing in yourself is a strong component of moving forward into the life you really want and deserve. Positive self-talk can bring you this belief and instill within you the confidence to succeed.

Discover the Beauty in Your Life

When you face serious challenges in your life, being unhappy and speaking negatively to yourself won’t change anything for the better. Instead, seek out joy in positive affirmations of your continued worth.

The problems you may be facing have absolutely nothing to do with your value as a human being. Remind yourself of your great value!

Positive self-talk is not about being unrealistic or lying to yourself. It’s about seeing the beauty and value in yourself and others. Each one of us has something we can give and we each have a purpose and a reason to be here.

Using Positive Self-Talk Each Day

How do you take advantage of positive self-talk? When it comes to talking to yourself, there are no specific rules. You can focus on anything about you or your surroundings that’s positive.

Avoid letting negative or upsetting thoughts creep in. Things might not be going your way at any particular moment, but there are better days ahead, and the fact that you’re alive is something to be positive about!

Here are some tips to help you get started using positive self-talk to bring about a joyful, fulfilled life:

1. Remember something others like about you. Recall a positive comment someone made about you in the past. Even if you don’t see the reason for the compliment, someone else obviously did. Use that to your advantage to remind yourself of your great qualities and talents.
2. What do you like about yourself? Start small, if you prefer. You don’t have to think or feel (or say) that you’re perfect, but pick one thing that you like about yourself, or that you can accept about yourself, and be pleased with that.
3. Speak out loud. Sure, you might feel a little silly at first. You don’t have to do it when anyone else is around, but say your affirmations aloud whenever you can. That way you hear the good things about you, too.
4. Set aside time to practice your positive self-talk. If you don’t put it into your schedule, it’s easy to forget about it or decide that you’ll get to it later. Make it a priority, so it becomes a part of your daily routine.

The Benefits of Positive Self-Talk

The benefits you’ll get from positive self-talk will depend on your commitment to it. If you practice it each day, it’ll become second nature to you. When others say negative things, it’ll be less likely to take root in your mind, since you’ll already be filled with positive information about your worth.

Regardless of what stage of life you’re in, there’s always room for more happiness. Even in the face of despair, there are opportunities for great joy and growth. Avoid missing out on those opportunities because you don’t see your worth as a person. Instead, you can expect the best because of your positive self-talk.

Positive self-talk can help you rise higher in your career, family life, spiritual life, and any other area that matters to you. Friends and family members will notice your new-found confidence, and so will your co-workers, boss, and others. You just may find that positive self-talk leads you to some amazing new opportunities!