How To Improve Your Self-Confidence

To improve your self-confidence, you should first realize that it is just an intangible feature which everyone desires and admires and that real confidence is all about being true to whom you are. So, how do you create, improve or sustain significant levels of assurance in your life?

We may assume that, on different occasions of your existence, you have wondered about your level of self-confidence and desired it to be greater. Many of the choices and decisions you make, both subconsciously and consciously, affect your feeling of security.

To boost your confidence, you should create new opportunities as well as healthy and active experiences entirely new to you, and see challenges through to the end instead of abandon after only trying once or twice.

Let's go over some of the different possibilities. You may or may not recognize yourself in all or some of them, but I am pretty sure that there will be at least one of them.

Believe in Yourself

You must have absolute faith and trust in the fact that you are a confident person because the primary key here to raise self-confidence is to believe in yourself.

You have to imagine yourself at your entire best. The challenge is to value the time that you spend doing this process because you need to embed it within your mind.

Do Not Compare Yourself to Others

The most damaging thing you can do to your self-image is to compare yourself to others. Do not look at your body in contrast to actors, singers, athletes or models.

You could copy some of their attributes, but you should be aware of your beauty and discover your style. Know that you are a wonderful and unique person, and by comparing your appearance or features to others it would make it more difficult for you to develop confidence.

To begin with, you must respect yourself for the person you are right now before wanting to admire who you wish to be in the future.

Pinpoint Your Negative Beliefs

We all start with developing many negative beliefs early in life, but most of them can be adjusted or changed. These beliefs are primarily founded and fabricated through any negative life experiences, undesirable self-evaluations, and unreasonable expectations you had.

Can you identify a link place, event, or a particular person of the past which had any negative influence on your life? Maybe some negative beliefs you have about yourself? If you do, why do you believe it to be the truth based simply on opinions of people, or a negative moment?

OPINIONS ARE NOT REALITY!

Let go of the past and start afresh, and get rid of these beliefs by writing a small letter telling how you feel and by stating that you forgive it all, and you are now letting go. Seal the envelope and burn it. Just watch it burn as you release all feelings and are saying goodbye.

Pay Attention to What You Say or Do

Any confident person would never think or say hurtful things about themselves. Observe your words or thoughts when you think or talk to yourself. Say only nice things to yourself that are positive, safe, fun, and make you feel good.

So to improve your self-assurance, examine the words or negative thoughts you have and make sure that they are remotely positive at all times.

Pay attention to what you read, watch, and listen because it affects your mindset. You should reduce the hours of TV you look at each day.

Read a book instead or something about a subject you are interested in. You should challenge the beliefs you have so you can raise your awareness and self-confidence.

Applaud Your Strengths

In your daily life, it can be so easy to overlook how solid, attractive and talented you are as a person. But remember to take five minutes each day to practice self-awareness of your personal strengths.

In order to improve your self-confidence, you could make a list of your strengths and achievements. Read the list out loud on a regular basis and in front of a mirror as it makes more impact when you look at yourself.

You could even ask a close friend or anyone who cares about you to make a written list of what makes you the unique person that you are, why they care, and what you do better than anyone else.

Keep this list with you all the time and read it whenever you feel like you have little confidence.

Here is a short animated video The six pillars of self-esteem by Nathaniel Branden to improve your self-confidence.

Take Care of Yourself

If you have low self-confidence, it is perhaps because you have not taken the time to care about yourself. We all have physical and emotional needs, and if we do not meet those needs, we have a tendency to feel bad.

You should take at least 10-15 minutes just to meditate or pray about your life. Spend time each day on your personal hygiene. You should also eat a healthy and balanced diet. Make sure you are naturally getting enough vitamins and nutrients from fruits and vegetables.

Find a way to get some exercise, at least every day, like walking instead of driving to go to the store, or aim for a cardio by running twice a week.

Figure out whatever make you feel comfortable and confident, and wear these confidence cloaks as often as you can.

Achieve Your Goals

A significant way to feel more confident and secure about yourself is by achieving your goals. Too many people beat themselves up when they cannot realize their targets, so consider them by accomplishing them.

You should dream big! Your goals should challenge you. Measure your progress by your results, not just by what you do. Look at the progress you have made on the journey towards your final goal.

Rejoice in the small victories along your journey. To keep self-confidence at high levels, do not expect results overnight, but do not also procrastinate before putting in some effort. The best way is to hold yourself accountable.

Look for People to Admire

To build more confidence, have a mentor or someone you admire for their skills or their achievements. Observe what they do, the way they handle any conflict, communicate with people and face challenges.

Copy some of the things they do and make it your own. Do not dwell on the past, see what you can do differently now. The current instant is the only thing you can change because the future does not yet exist and the past is already gone.

Focus on being the best version of yourself, and discover ways to make such version a reality and self-confidence will soar.

Be Grateful for What You Have

You should reflect on the people and events that have made your life what it is today. Try to remember that you would not be who you are now if some people had not cared and if it had not been through the circumstances you have been through.

Know that no life is perfect all the time. A mark of improving confidence is to be grateful for what you already have. Many of us struggle in this world, and many would like to have the simplest things you do have.

Your life might be difficult but remember that other people have it worse, and these people probably admire your life. Learn to appreciate the little things in life. Watch the sunrise, listen to the birds sing each day or sit in a park, and realize the fact that you are alive.

There are a lot of people who cannot say the same thing.

Tips to Improve Your Self-Confidence

• Never allow anyone to bring you down.
• Be the best 'YOU' you can be.
• Do not compare yourself to other people.
• Do not bottle it up; let it go in some way.
• Self-care is the first step towards feeling better and more confident in your life.
• You have talents and skills that are waiting to be developed and used.
• Discover ways to include these positive characteristics you admire into your personality.
• Find current mentors, role models and copy the person you admire but do not betray who you are.
• Make changes each day, step by step; it will lead you to great transformation
• Meditate each day.
• Be always grateful.

Hard times come and go, and all things do pass eventually, good or bad. So take comfort in knowing that you can improve your self-confidence at any time, get stronger and believe that things will get better.

https://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Improve-Your-Self-Confidence&id=9724254

What Is Luck?

Luck is considered by many to be a force of nature, coming and going as inevitably as the tide.

A study has found that "lucky" individuals usually posses many intersecting qualities, including extroverted personalities, a lack of anxiety, open-mindedness, and optimism. Each of these plays an important role in one's luck production.

The essence of luck is opportunity, so it follows that the more opportunities one encounters and the more receptive one is to those opportunities, the "luckier" one is. It was found that lucky people smile twice as often as others, and engage in more eye contact than unlucky people do. Such outgoing, extroverted behavior exposes a person to more opportunities due to the increased social interaction. Similarly, open-mindedness allows one to encounter a greater number of unique prospects, and makes one more apt to embrace new opportunities.

Born Lucky

Some birthdays are better bets than others. Scientists don't tend to buy into astrology, yet they've established that certain conditions such as schizophrenia, and even personality traits such as novelty seeking, are linked to birth months. It's not the planets at work per se, but rather subtle influences on fetal brain development due to factors including sleep and wake cycles and the prevalence of viruses that differ from season to season.

Across genders and ages, people born between March and August believe themselves to be luckier, on average, than those born in the colder months of September through February. (Relatedly, summer babies grow up to be more open-minded and less neurotic than winter tots.) May is the luckiest month of all.

Think Lucky

The best opportunities arise when you approach life with a flexible mind-set. See how you can get out of the unlucky column:

If you think this way about: Romantic Relationships

"Here's my checklist. He has to be smart, attractive, and financially secure, subscribe to The New York Times, love to cook, and love dogs."

Try this approach instead: "I don't really have a type. I'm open to anyone as long as he's a good person. I'll know it when I see it."

If you think this way about: Work

"I need to finish this project by 11, team meeting at 12, and lunch at 1, finish that report this afternoon, and I'm home free by 6."

Try this approach instead: "I want to try to accomplish two major things today, but in my downtime, I'm going to explore a few other ideas that could help the company or my career."

If you think this way about: Friendships

"I already have a handful of really wonderful friends. I don't need or have time for anymore."

Try this approach instead: "I love to make new friends, even if it never goes farther than a conversation and being friends on Facebook."

If you think this way about: Errands

"I need to hit the dry cleaner, the bank, and the grocery store. I should be home in time for the game."

Try this approach instead: "I have to get these things done, but I'm not going to rush because I don't really know what to expect or whom I'll meet. It will be interesting to see how it works out."

If you think this way about: Business Meetings

"I'm meeting up with this person to do a deal, not thinking of them as a friend or a potential partner."

Try this approach instead: "I'll accept a meeting with anyone, anytime, because you never know where it might lead-even if its five years down the road."

Lucky and Unlucky people- A comparison

Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell - a reason to consider a decision carefully.

Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a color before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that color. This kind of behavior boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.

Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

Four principles to help one increase their good fortune:

Principle One: Maximize Chance Opportunities Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, including networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life and by being open to new experiences.

Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. In addition, they take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities by, for example, meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.

Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune Lucky people are certain that the future is going to be full of good fortune. These expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies by helping lucky people persist in the face of failure, and shape their interactions with others in a positive way.

Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and often even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, do not dwell on the ill fortune, and take control of the situation.

Unsurprisingly, optimism plays a key role in luckiness, since it strongly affects luck production and luck perception. A study shows that a lucky, optimistic person is far more satisfied with all areas of their lives than an unlucky, pessimistic person. An optimist feels lucky for spotting a silver lining, however gray the cloud... yet a pessimist will curse their luck even in the face of good fortune, because they can't see past the green grass on the other side of the fence.

Fortunately, one's mindset is entirely within one's control. An unlucky person who resolves to change their luck can become more social; they can make a conscious effort to be optimistic and make the best of any situation; and they can be more open to new ideas and experiences.

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Is-Luck?&id=9460234

Why Change Is Important in Your Life

You have heard it said many times, the only thing constant in life is change. Change applies to every area in our lives. Moving into a new apartment or home, happy or sad occasions within the family, economic changes in career or business, and so on. We cannot avoid change in life. We can dig in our heels, or we can cope with change, or better yet, adopt a more optimistic outlook. Let's see how we can make change work for us in positive ways, and why change is important in our life!

Change leads to opportunities

You will realize that each change in your life is actually an invitation for new experiences. You should take advantage of each new opportunity. Remember, every new experience has its own benefits. You can be tempted to dismiss these chances, whenever they come, but it is always advisable to consider the benefits that those new opportunities will bring. If you accept change in your life, you will profit from each new opportunity.

Change ensures excitement in your life

Change is one thing that makes our lives interesting. If you are used to doing the same thing over and over again, for years on end, you may get bored, and lose the excitement in your life. Change ensures that your experiences differ from day to day, month to month. Remember that the world is always in a continuous motion. Technologies, trends, and politics keep on changing. This makes life exciting. Another reason you should remain positive about change.

Change means progress

If you look at your life ten years ago, you were a very different person, from the person you are today. There are many things that have happened in your life, that made you grow as a human being. This is called progress. And these growth experiences are the reason you should appreciate changes in your life. George Bernard Shaw said, "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. If you come this far reading this, and you are still having a bad day, let me tell you that you have the power to make every day a good day, by just changing your mind.

Today, many people find themselves trapped in chains of various types. It could be that of an unreasonable employer, toxic relationships, mountains of debts, bad habits, or addictions, you name it.

Worse, all of these require too much energy to maintain. The most awesome thing is, that you can set yourself free, and achieve personal independence, by making hard and uncomfortable choices, by severing your ties with those traps, you find yourself in. That's how you declare your freedom, and personal independence.

Pride, will then be a byproduct of your success, that is achieving personal independence. It will, in turn, strengthen you to become even more successful in other areas of your life. In fact, the right type of pride in who you really are, and what you represent, will certainly assist you to achieve mastery in your life.

When you are independent, you will not allow yourself to be controlled, or limited by other people, since you are already the master of your own destiny. You are a person of great accomplishments and qualities. And that's something you should really feel proud of.

Remember, pride is like being completely aware of yourself, and accepting the power of your mind and body. And personal independence unchains you from intolerable and vain pursuits enabling you to experience this terrific feeling that is personal pride.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Change-Is-Important-in-Your-Life&id=9318842

5 Jedi Mind Tricks to Dramatically Improve Your Performance

In order to perform at the highest level, it's more important than ever to focus on living in the present.

Andy Puddicombe spent 10 years studying to become an ordained Tibetan monk and is now the successful co-founder of the meditation app, Headspace. In his TED talk, he says:

"I think the present moment is so underrated. It sounds so ordinary, but we spend so little time in the present that it is anything but ordinary. Our mind is our most precious and valuable resource that we depend upon to be creative, focused, spontaneous, and perform at our very best in everything that we do, and yet we don't take any time to look after it. We spend more time looking after our clothes, cars, and hair than our mind."

This got me thinking about the importance of being fully present during my whirlwind days of back-to-back calls and meetings, and how much bigger and impact I can have when I'm fully focused, and not distracted by other thoughts or tech devices.

Below, I've outlined five keys to maintaining focused attention and spending more time in the moment.

1. Provide thoughtful and constructive input.

Technology devices present a tempting distraction to many people who live in the digital fire hose. However, not being focused or fully present can work against you. Misreading the issue being raised or question being asked, or making short-sighted assumptions about a problem or solution -- these are common unproductive outcomes  of not paying attention to the big picture. 

The most thoughtful investors and board members I've seen in action always make it apparent that they are fully present. They listen deeply and ask for missing information. They try to understand the interests and concerns that are driving an entrepreneur in what they are trying to accomplish. They guide the conversation by acknowledging (not necessarily agreeing with) what others have said, and they push toward some kind of clear and constructive resolution to whatever issue is being addressed. In these situations, I've found there is a lot of power in using the word "and" instead of "but" to build a bridge from one person's perspective to your own.

2. Remember the power of preparation in problem solving.

Most people take time to prepare for a talk or presentation, but it amazes me how few people take the time to prepare in a calm, thoughtful way, for problem solving (or negotiation -- just another form of problem solving). Most people aren't at their most creative in the midst of an intense discussion, and they end up looking like a deer in headlights when they have to make a decision on the spot. Spending time in advance thinking creatively about the key issues and how to address the interests of the other parties can be incredibly valuable.

In my prior work as a negotiator, we'd recommend that our clients spend focused, thoughtful time in advance of any discussion where big issues had be to solved or negotiated. The amount of preparation time required was interpreted in different ways by our clients, however. For example, one time a client called, and we had the following conversation:

Client: "I need your help preparing for my negotiation."

Me: "OK. When do you want to schedule that call?"

Client: "Oh, the negotiation starts in 10 minutes. I'm circling the block!"

Conversely, a woman walked up to me at a conference recently and said that she had approached me after a negotiation talk I had given a few years ago for advice on a job that she was considering. She thanked me for helping to clarify her decision and the approach she should take to negotiating her comp for this new position. A key part of the advice I'd given her was on taking the time to prepare effectively, considering all the relevant data and thinking creatively about her options . It turns out the company she joined was Wildfire, which was acquired by Google for $350M (plus earn-outs)! I said, "Sounds like that worked out well for you!" She beamed, "It changed everything."

3. Increase creativity.

Sophie Lebrecht, brilliant founder and CEO of the company Neon (which organizes and optimizes the display of digital content leveraging neuroscience), points out that Jonah Lehrer's research on the topic of insight and aha moments has shown that we are more likely to come up with and accept new concepts in unfamiliar settings.

Similarly, in her book Thrive, Arianna Huffington mentions a quote by Gregory Berns, author of Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently: "Only when the brain is confronted with stimuli that it has not encountered before does it start to reorganize perception. The surest way to provoke the imagination, then, is to seek out environments you have no experience with."

So, being fully present in a different environment -- out of your office -- can actually help you to be more creative in your work.

4. Notice new opportunities.

Sophie also notes that being present helps to avoid missed opportunities. There are often subtle hints that markets are going to move or change in particular ways, which can be learned by paying close attention to customers, partners, and investors. The information can be fragmented, indirect, and couched in orthogonal conversations, but if you are present and listening carefully, you can piece together clues to be ahead of the curve. If you are only half-present in meetings or on calls, checking your phone, and thinking about your overflowing email inbox, you will either miss critical information, or not fully digest the significance of something you only partially heard.

She says that when she started to hear about connected devices such as smart TV's and watches, she realized that images were going to become important, not just to relay visual content, but also as a touch point for navigation and a fertile bed to develop image personalization. Nobody sat her down and told her this directly, she just pieced it together from a variety of related conversations.

There is a reason that the tagline on my work bio reads: "We invest in entrepreneurs who see a path to disrupting large markets that most of the rest of the world doesn't see." The entrepreneurs that I like to back pay close attention and are fully absorbed in leveraging as much relevant data as possible while pursuing innovation.

5. Appreciate the life-changing impact of taking time to just be.

"When did you last take any time to do nothing?" asks Andy Puddicombe. We fill our hours with back-to-back frenetic activity, but sometimes the right answer is to just be for a bit, giving your brain a break.

One of my favorite quotes is by Ursula K. Le Guin, part of which is: "Very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be." Taking the time to simply be -- in whatever form works best for you -- is important for a number of reasons, some of which I outline below.

Maintaining perspective. When stuff hits the fan, maintaining perspective is critical, especially for entrepreneurs. As Andy says, "We can't change everything that happens to us in life, but we can change the way we experience it."

Clarity of thought. Taking some time to clear your mind is also invaluable. Sophie notes that being in the moment and creating space for a clear and relaxed mind can help you to see beyond what people are saying to what is really going on. For example, she says, some of the Neon team were really apprehensive about moving into a relatively small office space and felt that it would be a waste of time to move the company twice in one year. She took a step back from the situation and realized that they might actually be concerned about two new large pilots that were to be worked on during the time of the move -- not about the move itself. She was able to see beyond the stated problem in order to address the core issue that was really bothering her team. She made it a priority to maintain a temporary office space for them to work out of during the move, thus limiting their downtime.

Sophie says, "In startups, we need to be present and calm to be able to make decisions quickly with limited information. Being overwhelmed with the little things in life, you can become distracted, burnt out, and unable to make insightful decisions. Using time off the grid when you're not flooded with responsibilities allows you to approach critical challenges with a fresh perspective. A key chapter in Scaling Excellence, by Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao, called 'Lightening the Cognitive Load,' highlights the serious dangers and missed opportunities that result from constantly having too much on your mind."

Health and productivity. Our health, stamina, and ability to sustain the grueling work schedule that many of us deal with are, in fact, threatened if we don't take breaks or vacation time. Arianna Huffington notes in Thrive that having our minds constantly racing on worries or tasks makes the human fight-or-flight systems go into overdrive and never switch off, which can ultimately lead to a whole host of physical maladies, as well as reduced mental cognition capabilities, all of which translates to less productivity and creativity.

No regrets. Finally, something that is easy to forget in our harried lives is that never taking down time increases the potential for regrets. Andy says, "We are so distracted that we are no longer present in the world within which we live. We miss out on the things that are most important to us." This is also one of the key tenets behind Randi Zuckerberg's work via Zuckerberg Media: technology should be leveraged to help us in our lives, but should not take over our lives.

Connections with those we care about, new experiences and adventure -- all of the things that are the very essence of being human -- can fall by the wayside if we don't take time away from our work to raise our heads, step out of the fire hose for just a bit, and clear our minds.

The days are short but life is long, and I truly believe -- based on more than 20 years of observation and experience in the world of venture and technology companies -- that those who keep the long game in mind will win.

http://www.inc.com/katherine-barr/jedi-mind-tricks-to-dramatically-improve-your-performance.html