Have Grit — Persistence over the long haul is key
Know Exactly How Far You Have Left to Go — Monitor your progress
Get Specific — Have a crystal-clear idea of exactly what success will look like
Seize the Moment to Act on Your Goals — Know in advance what you will do, and when and where you will do it
Focus on What You Will Do, Not What You Won’t Do — Instead of focusing on bad habits, it’s more effective to replace them with better ones.
Build your Willpower Muscle — If you don’t have enough willpower, you can get more using it.
Focus on Getting Better, Rather than Being Good — Think about your goals as opportunities to improve, rather than to prove yourself
Be a Realistic Optimist — Visualize how you will make success happen by overcoming obstacles
Don’t Tempt Fate — No one has willpower all the time, so don’t push your luck

Read the full blog post here.

Few days back, when I read this quote which is by the way written by a very successful US plastic surgeon, motivational author, and creator of the Psycho-Cybernetics self-help book, Maxwell Maltz, I thought it must be so easy for him to churn out such motivational lines. Obviously, for a guy who has tasted success in multiple roles as a plastic surgeon and then as an author with a bestseller self help book, quoting on success and the power of self-image must be easy. But, isn’t this quote profoundly inspiring? You bet it is.

Have you ever come across a situation when it becomes difficult to keep your bicycle steady due to some problems in the tire? You are trying hard to keep the bicycle steady, but it continues to veer to the left or right. The same thing happens when we try to attain a goal without aligning our self image to the goal. No matter how hard you push, you would not achieve the goal unless you readjust the tire.

This is what Psycho-Cybernetics, a classic self-help book, talks about. According to the author of the book, most of us fail to succeed in our goals due to the mental picture we have of ourselves.  Each of us has a mental image of ourselves that defines our perception of what we think we are. These perceptions are based on our belief that we have developed through our past experiences. May be in your childhood you developed a belief on others reaction to some particular situation. These beliefs of what sort of person we are stays with us forever and we don’t bother to question much on these.

Escaping your self-image is not possible. If you believe that you hate public speaking, you won’t be able to enjoy it and if you think exercising is beyond your capabilities, you will not be able to lose weight and keep yourself fit. Likewise, if you nurture a self-image of being a failure, you would unconsciously find an approach to turn an opportunity into a failure. To achieve your goals, there is no other way but to modify your self- image. According to Maltz,

• Self-image determines your personality and behavior
• It controls your action
• It defines the boundaries of what you can do and cannot do
• Modifying and expanding your self-image means expanding your limits of capability

Once you are able to get rid of your negative self-image, you will be able to hold up an image of the intended target. Your behavior and personality will automatically adjust in a course of time to attain the target.  It is obvious that change of our self-image cannot be done overnight, as stated earlier, experiences has the power to mould your self-image. That means if you consciously picture yourself as a success, your brain as well as nervous system will guide you to the process automatically for all events in the future.

Therefore, if you want to achieve success in your goals, visualize the right self-image.

On stage, he comes off as quite confident. Watching him, you’d think he was loaded with self-esteem.

In fact, the opposite is true. And at a recent presentation, he let his audience in on this personality “flaw” right from the start.

Now I wouldn’t recommend doing this all the time. If, for example, you are delivering a sales presentation to a room full of businessmen, playing the “low self-esteem card” could backfire. Your listeners might think: “Gee, does this guy need a hug or something?”

But in my friend’s case, it helped him bond with his audience immediately.

Why? Because he was giving a speech at a self-improvement seminar. He knew his audience — and he knew what they would respond to.

His eager listeners almost certainly thought, “WOW! This guy has his own image problem. And yet, he’s accomplished all his goals. If he can do it… so can I!”

But though my friend has proven that you don’t need high self-esteem to be an effective speaker (or a successful entrepreneur) — he’s also shown that you need to be able to present your material with aplomb and conviction.

Fact is, your audience starts checking you out the minute you step on stage.

They look at the way you’re dressed and the way you move. But it’s the way you deliver your speech that makes the biggest impression on them.

Telltale signs that you have low self-esteem:

• You stand up there and just read off PowerPoint bullets.
• You don’t make eye contact with your audience.
• You use unnatural hand motions.
• You speak softly, and your voice tends to trail off at the end of a sentence.

Whether your self-esteem is high, low, or somewhere in the middle, you can learn how to turn on the switch when it’s “show time” and put on a splendid performance.

It starts with knowing your subject inside out. When you feel like an expert, you will exude self-confidence from every pore.

That said, here are four tips to help you give one great presentation after another — and keep getting asked back.

1. Deliver One Big Idea

As Michael Masterson often says… every effective communication is based on one BIG IDEA. Create a speech that has one BIG IDEA and it will stand out in the hearts and minds of your audience.

Worried about length? Don’t be! You do not have to deliver a long and exhaustive speech for it to make an impact.

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address — with just 271 words — is one of the most quoted and most powerful speeches ever given. Imagine: In less than 3 minutes, Lincoln not only summarized the Civil War, but redefined it as a struggle for freedom and equality!

2. Speak in the Moment

Practice, practice, practice… so the words, as Shakespeare said (when he was alive of, course) are spoken “trippingly on the tongue.” Do not give a canned speech or read your presentation. Outline your important points, know them, and then speak to your audience as if it is one person sitting across from you and hanging on every word you say.

3. Tell Stories

Don’t quote boring industry facts and figures. Any “B” speaker can do that. Be an “A” speaker. Capture your audience’s attention with a story. If you are giving a speech on customer service, for example, tell them a customer service horror story. They will LOVE it!

Tell the truth… but embellish the anecdote a bit (using dramatic license, and adding humor if you can). The idea is to eventually lead your audience to the conclusion that you (or the product/service you are selling) have the solutions to their problems.

4. Fake It ‘Til You Make It

That’s what most top-gun speakers did in the beginning. With enough stage time, you’ll internalize what you need to know to overcome your self-confidence “issues.” And then, it will be second nature to come across as cool, collected, and in control.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to creating wealth and success through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.By Peter Fogel.

If you have been brought up in a happy and positive atmosphere, where people value success and self-improvement, then it will be easier for you to think positively and expect success. If you have been brought up under poor or difficult situations, you will probably go on expecting difficulties and failure.

We all view everything through our predominant mental attitude. If our thoughts are positive, that is fine, but if they are negative, our lives and circumstances will probably mirror these thoughts.

If you believe that you are going to fail, you will unconsciously sabotage every opportunity to succeed. If you are afraid of meeting new people or having close relationships, you will do everything to avoid people and relationships, and then complain that you are lonely and nobody loves you.

Do you often think about difficulties, failure and disasters? Do you keep thinking about the negative news you have seen on the TV or read in the newspapers?

Do you see yourself stuck and unable to improve your life or your health? Do you frequently think that you do not deserve happiness or money, or that it is too difficult to get them? If you do, then you will close your mind, see no opportunities, and behave and react in such ways, as to repel people and opportunities.

The mind does not usually judge or examine thoughts and opinions before accepting them. If what it hears, sees and reads is always negative, it accepts this as the standard way of thinking and behavior.

The media constantly bombards the mind with a lot of information about disasters, catastrophes, wars and other unhappy events. This information sinks into the subconscious mind, and then manifests as your habitual manner of thinking. By occupying the mind with depressing and pessimistic thoughts you radiate negative energy into the surrounding world, thus creating and recreating more negativity, failures and disasters.

The mind is neutral energy. The way you think determines whether the results are positive and beneficial or negative and harmful. It is the same of energy acting in different ways.

The good news are that persistent inner work can change habits of thinking. You must be willing to put energy and time to pursue positive thinking, in order to change your mental attitude.

A few Tips:

- Each time you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, reject the thought, and think a positive one instead.

- If you catch yourself visualizing failure, visualize success instead.

- If you hear yourself uttering negative words, change to positive words instead.

- When you say, “I cannot”, say, “I can”.

- Do you repeat negative words and phrases in your mind? Change them to positive ones.

- Open your mind to positive attitude and expect positive results.

- Decide that from today, from this very moment, you are leaving negative thinking behind, and starting on the way toward positive thinking and behavior.

It is never too late to change your attitude and your life.

© Copyright Remez Sasson

Website: http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com
Books: http://www.successconsciousness.com/ebooks_and_books.htm

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Life’s Little Treasure Book on Success

In this article, I will make you understand on why and how to develop strong leadership skills.

Why?
Successful management is not just about assigning tasks to the team but, to achieve them as well. It’s more about inspiring your team members and help them achieve their potential. And you can only inspire them if they respect you. And to be respected, you must develop good leadership skills.

How?

1. Ask for feedback: don’t just blindly think that you’re a good leader. At all intervals, ask for feedback. Doing so will help you in a big way. Based on feedback from others, you can understand your skills better and you will know what changes to be made.

2. Pay attention: there is a vast difference between hearing and listening. Always listen carefully to what your team members are saying. Whether it’s their problems or suggestions think of them as your own and listen. And then accordingly give your empathies or suggestions to them.

3. Communicate: a good leader must know to communicate well. Make sure that you are heard well. It is important that you’re tone of speaking is positive and motivating.

4. Respect your team members: a fundamental part of developing leadership skills is to learn to respect your team’s potential. Give them a chance to take decisions on certain issues. And when you trust them, do it completely.

5. Mean what you say: here’s a simple example; if you stress a lot on punctuality to your team members, then make sure that you’re punctual yourself first, when it comes to deadines or any other important thing. Don’t just preach, rather practice it as well.

6. Allocate leadership: leadership should not be all about you. Make sure that you distribute tasks evenly among your team members. Give them also a chance to explore and learn by themselves. There is no way better than involving more people in the leadership process.

7. Evaluate your success with that of the team: when in a team, success is not all about you. You should be responsible enough to ensure that along with you, your team is also developing. Help them in building their skills as this will enhance motivation and team performance.

Article contributed by Namrata More.