Message From the Universe: Fake It Until You Make It

"All you have to do is think about what you want often enough that you start talking about it and moving with it, even if you have to fake it.

Your job is simple. Even if you only "attempt" to do it, you will have done it. The slightest effort on your side is leveraged 10,000 times on my side. A nod, a wink, a whisper are sometimes all I need; a demonstration that breaks the ice, beginning a domino effect of happy "accidents" and "coincidences."

If you do this, I'll do the rest. It is that easy. I am that powerful. Life is that magical.

Thinking of your smile,

The Universe"

If it's OK to bluff in a poker game, why not bluff with everything else in life. As long as you fake and make belief for yourself and your subconscious mind that you are already there, it will send a positive message to the Universe that it should believe as well that wealth and abundance already manifested in your life. The thought in itself that you have made it without the attempt of actually making it will send a negative message to the Universe that you are doubting your potential, hence, will render mediocre results. You are making things happen everyday even when taking small tiny steps. It may seem like nothing is happening, or that you may not see the light at the end of the tunnel and that is because the Universe feels that it is not YET your time to be recognized worldwide. Yes, some may be able to accomplish their goals quicker and get the needed recognition from their hard earned effort, which can be frustrating at times, but everyone has a different story and shouldn't ever be compared with yours.

It is really important to never compare yourself or your capabilities with someone else because you will always end up getting more frustrated and disappointed. Focus on your own goals and ambitions as they most probably different from everyone elses. As long as you demonstrates constant efforts on a daily basis, that you plan your to-do list so you can check the tasks done daily, you are getting closer and closer to the life you always dreamed of. It is true that you will need to sacrifice a lot to reach your goals, but never forget to LIVE your life as well. Never forego family events just for the sake of making an additional 100 dollars. Despite that family will always understand your work ethics and will encourage you to succeed, you want them to remember you for attending important events that are meaningful to them. Your success will just stay YOUR success, even if you share your wealth with every member of your family. What's really important is the connection you keep all throughout your path to success. The Universe will understand and will respect you better for emphasizing on the real important things in life. Money will come and go, but the love you have for your family is very fragile. This is worth more than any amount of money offered to you on a golden platter.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Message-From-the-Universe:-Fake-It-Until-You-Make-It&id=9695901

Self Explanatory

People just keep on hurrying along. From one project to the next, to a new house, a new relationship, a new job, another vacation; to 'something different'. People are forever busy organizing, planning, making sure that everything keeps going well. This juggling act continues day-in, day-out... and again, another season, another year has passed. Many people have long since activated next year's calendar. The next summer vacation has already been booked! People quite often don't talk about their hurried lifestyles. It just keeps piling up and their calendar gets filled to overflowing. The very young are especially prone to having full activity planners. There is definitely a need to express oneself, to just talk, open up to someone and unwind, but there doesn't seem be any time for that.

Do you still have time for a talk? There is always something, an activity, in other words, a reason why that's not possible... busy, busy. Fortunately, it will soon be Christmas again, 'good times'!

People talk to me about their experiences: "When I talk about 'it', I have lost, or will lose, my balance. Then I will no longer be able to control myself and lose my grip."

Or: 'I have given off all kinds of signals but I'm not being heard. I did actually say it, but it wasn't heard. Nobody listens to me. I probably haven't been clear enough. These feelings tend to grow over time and come to control me, which turns these feelings into fixed images and so appear to become exclusive. It's like a barrier is being thrown up and then I don't know how to break through anymore. It is a weird vicious circle that somehow or other I do know, also from experience, can be broken, but right now I don't know how or when. It is becoming a pattern in my life. I really would want to be invited for it, or that someone creates a circumstance, a climate. There should be somebody there who listens to me. Who listens in a way that makes me speak. Because there are always reasons not to express myself, not to approach, call or mail the other person, or (I know, really old-fashioned) to simply write a letter." Many people find it much easier to deliver a positive message, to just casually remark that you have experienced, bought or done something nice, funny, or enjoyable, rather than to give voice to a sad or impressive feeling.

When you are not satisfied about how you experience yourself there is often something that holds you back. Something that throws you back on your individuality, on yourself, into your own environment, into isolation. It would appear like you don't feel the need for other people and you begin to withdraw into yourself. Shutting yourself in, turning inward, while the need to be 'together' is actually quite strong. This need, however, is dismissed as 'Oh well, the seasons are changing, it's a period in which I'm vulnerable and sensitive.' Or: 'Leave me be, this is just the way I am.' Or 'just take me as I am.'

It is precisely the people who say that, who make these statements, who don't want to be left alone. They want to sit quietly together and somebody to 'really' listen to them. They want to think and talk together about their experiences without the need to solve absolutely anything. Just reflection in moments of cherishing, realisation and silence.

Strange, isn't it, to speak in silence! 

Many, many people speak in silence. Just listen to yourself. You hold many, long conversations with yourself in your 'internal language', in your musings. The conversation with yourself is worthy of being shared with others. With people who really and sincerely want to be with you. With those people who want to talk with you without imposing themselves or wanting to shoulder your thoughts. There are people who really take an interest.

These conversations are often moments of insight and growth. Really personal, intimate and precious moments. Experiences that you later look back on and feel warmly about. Those kinds of evenings that seem to fly past; "is it this late already... ?'

Then you will find the words, know why and when, and it will make no difference what is being said. Then it will come from within and it will feel just right. Everything that comes spontaneously from within yourself is good, is of value. Then it will come naturally. To not yet fully know but still, somehow, know inside. The other person fosters that knowledge through listening and the conversation, which gives you space. Space to speak and be heard at multiple levels. Then you will automatically speak your own language. This also applies to entrepreneurs, managers and executives. But also to doctors and relief workers. That is the language that many others would also like to hear from you. Real words are self-explanatory.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9511225

http://ezinearticles.com/?Self-Explanatory&id=9511225

17 Simple Habits That Make You Look More Professional

Unprofessional? Here are the behaviors that send the opposite, more positive message.

Here's a story from about 15 years ago. I was traveling from Seattle to Yakima for work, flying in a tiny commercial turboprop. There were only 10 or 12 passengers, and the cockpit was separated by a curtain rather than a door. We flew through the Cascade mountains in really rough weather, and the captain -- a pilot in his early 20s -- pulled the curtain aside.

"The tower is saying it's our choice to continue to Yakima or turn around," he yelled over the din of the engines, "But I think we're gonna give it a try."

What’s wrong with this picture, right? "I think" and "Give it a try" are pretty much the last things you want to hear a commercial airline pilot say, especially in a bad storm. My fellow passengers nearly revolted. The pilot quickly changed course (both literally and figuratively), and we flew back to Seattle.

I've told that story a few times over the years, usually for laughs. But remember: It wasn't the storm or the tiny plane or the air traffic control's apparent laissez-fair attitude that freaked us passengers out. It's that the pilot's attitude made him seem totally unprofessional -- and we all lost confidence in him.

Here are a few of the attributes you can demonstrate to make yourself seem more professional. I’m not saying they’re easy, but they are pretty simple. (Keep in mind, nobody demonstrates them all constantly. You’re only human. Just try to be the best human you can.)

1. Confidence

This was the biggest problem with the pilot's performance that day. Confidence without the ability to back it up is useless, but if you’re truly competent, own it.

2. Candor

Truly professional people are forthright. They assess the situation, calculate the risks, and offer a truthful opinion.

3. Self-awareness

This is a part of displaying confidence -- knowing who you are and where you fit in the world, and owning your strengths and weaknesses. If you do that, you can work to buttress the things you don't do as well.

4. Strategic thinking

One of the basic tenets of success is to start with the end in mind. Truly professional people identify their goals, then work backward to achieve them.

5. Anticipation

Be like Radar O'Reilly. Wait, you probably don't get that reference, because most people reading this probably weren't watching the television show M*A*S*H in the 1980s. (See? Self-awareness.) No problem. Just know that focusing on others' needs to the point that you can anticipate their challenges and solutions breeds confidence.

6. Caring

Related to anticipation: You can't truly help others if you can't bother to learn about their goals and fears.

7. Realism

"Promise me the world," the song goes. That may be a way to get the boy or girl of your dreams to pay attention, but it does nothing to make you look professional. Instead, promise the most you can, consistent with your ability to deliver.

8. Follow-through

See what I mean? These attributes are simple but not necessarily easy. Say you'll do something, then do it.

9. Enthusiasm

This one is inspired by reader comments, when I said Pollyannaishness was unprofessional. Smart enthusiasm, on the other hand, is a very positive quality. Colin Powell put it best: Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

10. Diligence

This is related to follow-through, but it's not exactly the same thing. Be persistent, demonstrate worth ethic, and "check small things." (That’s another Powellism, come to think of it.)

11. Performance

Nothing says "professional" like accomplishments, especially repeated accomplishments over time.

12. Discretion

Caring and self-awareness, combined with good communications ability, leads to prudence and the ability to be candid without giving offense.

13. Curiosity

No professional is ever finished learning. ‘Nuff said.

14. Risk-taking

I hesitated to put this on here, out of fear of giving the wrong impression. Risk-taking doesn't mean being risky in the negative sense. Instead it’s about the realization that all courses of action involve some risk, and balancing that realization against the paralyzation of inaction.

15. Humor

You don’t need to be hilarious, but you need a sense of humor; it demonstrates perspective.

16. Fitness

This is unfortunate but true. If someone looks as if he or she doesn’t care about their health, it’s a lot harder to project professionalism -- and with it, the notion that they care about other things.

17. Authenticity

It’s good entrepreneurial advice to “fake it till you make it,” but your performance needs to be grounded in truth. Otherwise, no matter your skills, your deficits, your interests -- or frankly, even the things you aren’t interested in -- people can tell.

http://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/17-simple-habits-that-make-you-look-more-professional.html

How To Get Your Confidence Back

It happens to everyone eventually – something deeply rattles your confidence. You lose a job, mess up at work, receive tough feedback, or are otherwise set back on your heels. If it’s bad enough, then your very vision of yourself gets cracked, and you can even begin to wonder what your strengths really are.

Given the importance of confidence, if we lose it, how then can we get it back?

In their online book, Catalyst, the founders of G5 Learning explain how confidence and competence are intertwined to create success.

However, without confidence, competence will only get you so far. Authors Smith and Marcum write: “Why do people with deep, distinct strengths, unfaltering motivation, and who dedicate themselves tirelessly to reaching their potential, fall short of their own expectations? In a word, confidence.”

According to research, women suffer from a lack of confidence more than men. A 2011 study by the Institute of Leadership and Management surveyed British managers about how confident they feel in their jobs. Half of the female managers expressed a degree of doubt about their job performance while less than one third of male respondents expressed the same doubt. In another study, Brenda Major, a social psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, asked men and women how they thought they were going to do on a variety of tasks. The results? She found that “men consistently overestimated their abilities and subsequent performance, and that the women routinely underestimated both.”

Even if women have more confidence doubts, there’s still plenty of insecurity to go around. As Smith and Marcum point out, the key to raise confidence is to rise above others’ (and your own) distorted images of yourself. As they say, it “isn’t controlled with an on-off switch. Instead it’s a constant stream of psychological strength that either sustains you, or is short-circuited by degrees of invincibility and doubt.”

So how do we boost our confidence when we need it most? Here are a few strategies:

1. Even when it’s hard, keep taking risks.

When we feel that we’ve failed, we often want to take ourselves out of the game, lick our wounds, and avoid risk. That’s the worst thing we can do.

Inaction keeps us mired in the space of loss. It’s only action which can create success and, in turn, confidence.

As Churchill famously said: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Or if you prefer Joni Mitchell: “Action is the antidote to despair.”

2. Give yourself some small wins.

There’s no doubt that success breeds confidence, but it doesn’t have to be a huge one to help you build your confidence back.

Put yourself in a position to do incremental activities that capitalize on your strengths. Repeated, small wins can slowly bring you back to appreciating your talents.

3. Get perspective with a dose of appreciation.

If a failure is particularly stinging, it can overtake our thoughts and quickly get blown out of proportion. Find a way to take a step back and put it in the larger picture. Did you lose a promotion? Consider how many successes you’ve had to get to the place you are today. One promotion lost in a career is not a dead-end. 

Seek out friends and colleagues who appreciate what you do. If you can share the failure in a safe environment, you can gain the viewpoint that others have of you. We are always our harshest critics.

4. Stop comparing yourself to others.

One of the reasons that failure hurts is that we are concerned about what others will think of us. Rationally we may know that it doesn’t matter, but you just have to look at Facebook behavior to see how comparative we all are.

If your failure results in someone else’s success, try not to make it a zero sum game. Your losing a promotion now doesn’t mean you won’t get one later. Come from a place of abundance – there are more opportunities if this one didn’t go your way.

5. Try to find the hidden gem of learning.

No one can be perfect all of the time, and we all fail. When we do, if we can dig deep and see the failure as a chance to learn, we can use it to our advantage. If we can reframe, we may even find a positive message lying hidden inside.

It really is all about the journey. Failure teaches us the most lasting lessons. We get stronger. We learn more about ourselves. We gain perspective. And we go on.

When you do overcome your failures, remember to not hide them. Showing vulnerability can actually make you more influential and inspiring to others. We are drawn to those who have failed and gone on to success. It’s what makes you human…and just like the rest of us.

http://kristihedges.com/2015/03/11/get-confidence-back/