People can often read your self-image….

Imagine for a moment that you walk into a room full of people you’re about to meet for the first time. Now image there’s an I-phone on your forehead displaying a mental picture of how you feel about yourself as you walk into that room. If you’re feeling confident and comfortable this picture will carry. However, if you’re feeling intimidated, weak, and uncomfortable or you don’t belong here, that message will equally come across.

Your mental picture of yourself – the image you would like to project to others, your character, your personality – greatly affects your performance because your self-image controls how you manage yourself. You act like the kind of person you think you are. No matter how hard you try it is impossible to act otherwise for any length of time. People who think of themselves as average or weak will remain average or worse throughout their lives regardless of the amount of time they spend working. What appears to “being really busy” may in fact be unproductive work that reinforces a negative self-image and produces little.

Conversely, people who expect to succeed focus their attention and efforts on constructive activities that produce results.

A positive self-image is healthy….

A positive self-image is not the same as conceit or an over-inflated ego. Instead, it is a genuine self-respect, a positive mental picture of yourself that grows out of firstly recognising your current talents combined with your untapped potential. Unless you develop a strong self-image you greatly diminish your chances of developing your personal leadership and personal potential.

If your self-image is negative, every decision you make is filtered through a network of unconscious fears and doubts. If you think you are worth very little, consider yourself weak, or perhaps even suffering from imposter syndrome you will unconsciously refuse to achieve very much.

A low self-image produces negative attitudes that hamper your development and potential by forcing you to forever grapple with your internal fears and doubts. Simply put, if you cannot respect yourself, you cannot, in turn respect others; and if you cannot respect yourself, neither can others respect you.

You can develop a new positive self-image…

The good news is we can all develop a more positive self-image. Developing this more positive self-image is not the same as wearing a new mask of the positive thinking person. No, the new self-image is built from within. You must alter your attitude about yourself. You must learn to appreciate and respect your own importance. This takes time but like every goal you set for yourself, if practiced on a daily basis, it becomes part of the new more productive you.

Exercise on self-image…

As self-awareness is the starting point of any programme of development, I often ask clients, from a self-image perspective, to describe themselves in one word.

How would you describe yourself in one word? _____________

If you’re happy with your response that’s great.

If you’re not happy and would like to work on changing it why not make contact directly and see if I can help?