Believe in Your Ability to Succeed. Nothing contributes to a positive self-image quite like competence. One who seems uncertain of information, skills, or self quickly experiences an erosion of self-image. To become more competent, do your homework. Learn more about your job and your organisation. When you know what you are talking about, it is easier to be self-confident and courageous. Your positive self-image is a natural consequence of your competence.
The image you portray to others is often initially determined by appearance. In fact, so many people function primarily in the visual zone (social media!) that how you look can be the deciding factor in whether or not you, your position, and your authority are accepted or rejected. How you look and what you wear often have more impact initially than what you say no matter how logical, well organised, or reliable your ideas are.
Integrity is one of the most important traits you can cultivate to reinforce your positive self-image. Work hard to earn a trustworthy reputation for honesty, reliability, and high moral character. In this way, you bring closer to reality your image of what you want to become. Others see in you what you see in yourself. When these images match, you have achieved full integrity.
Your self-image is the key to your future. Develop it and use it to help you capture your dreams and to achieve your goals. Crystallise your vision of what you want to be. Work hard to fulfill the positive self-image that you were created to enjoy. Make use of your unique strengths instead of merely conforming to circumstances. Encourage yourself to bring them out and act upon them. A previously unrecognised strength put to work is imagination. It is resourcefulness. It is energy. It is insight. What is more important, it is distinctly your unique gift to others and to your organisation.
When you set and achieve goals to improve your self-image, to commit yourself to their attainment, and to take action to bring those goals into reality, you begin to develop a more positive self-image than you ever dreamed possible. A positive self-image, in turn, reinforces your courage and confidence. You are then capable of undertaking even more lofty and challenging goals. Each of us is the product of what we think and what we believe about our abilities. The only practical world is the one within ourselves—the world in which we develop courage and self-confidence and a more positive self-image. Your unique quality of self-confidence will generate many benefits, including the following:
- A contagious enthusiasm for life
- Genuine concern for others
- A positive personality that people enjoy being around
- Enhanced people skills
- Clarity of purpose
- Firm commitment to worthwhile goals
- Increased productivity
- An aura of power and authority which enables you to inspire and lead others