February 7th, 2009 | by Jack Reichert

I find that my biggest enemy is myself. When my get-up-and-go has got-up-and-gone it’s usually because I am simply scared. I’m afraid that I’ll fail. That I’ll let myself down. If you fail to do something because you never tried at least you can blame something, but when you gave it your all and failed, that hurts!

The thing is that it is this very fear that is the the REAL reason why I would fail in the first place. Assuming that my goals are realistic, as William Johnson put it: “If it is to be it is up to me.” If you were going to run an Olympic race you would make sure that your health was at its peak, your sneakers were new, but broken in, that you ate properly and fully ready for the competition. Same goes with every other challenge.

Here are several tips for positioning yourself for success:

Dress Up

Put on a new suit, get a hair cut, shower and shave. It’s amazing the difference it can make! Looking like a million bucks certainly helps you feel more like a million bucks. As Fernando Lamas used to say: “It is better to look good than to feel good… and you look mahvelous!” This is one surefire way to boost your self esteem.

Stand Straight and Tall

Same as with previous tip, if you look confident, it will do wonders for your confidence. Stand with a straight posture, vertebrae perfectly aligned. Your blood will flow properly, and you’ll FEEL confident. Don’t believe me? Try it and your self esteem will soar!

Review Your Previous Successes

Everyone has had successes. According to the OED a success is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” Even if it is something that might be easy for someone else, that does not mean that it was not an accomplishment for you!
Take stock of what you have accomplished. Don’t let yourself get off the hook with only a few. Relive those experiences. Feel how it felt. This will greatly increase your motivation for success in the future.

Envision Success

Now that you remember how success feels, clearly, envision how it will feel this time. Make it as real as possible. It’s a lot harder to let go of something that is tangible. If you don’t let your vision crystallize, it will go the way of so many other dreams of the past. LIVE this one, FEEL it, and then GO for it!

Give Yourself a Pep Talk

It may feel stupid doing, but it works. Practice one in the privacy of your office, home, car. But REALLY do it! Tell yourself that you will succeed. Look yourself in the eye (use a mirror) and tell yourself that you can, no, WILL do it!

Take your success into your own hands. Position yourself with these simple “tricks” for success, and boost your self esteem. If you don’t take yourself seriously, why should other people?

Image Credit: colin j.

Tags: goals, million bucks, Self Confidence, self esteem, success

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 7th, 2009 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Build Yourself. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.