mm20101206

1. If you don't believe in yourself, you're going to fight an uphill battle to get others to believe in you.

2. If you're weak in this area, you can learn to believe in yourself, no matter how unlikely that may seem at present.

It's funny how often people give up, and how quickly some people give up. Give them a challenge, and they fold. Sometimes they make a half-hearted attempt, sometimes, they just give up right from the start. A lot of this has to do with how good their self image is -- in other words, how much they believe in themselves.

Unfortunately, I speak from experience here. In my life, I've sometimes had my challenges in this area -- sometimes, I've been really low, and any belief I may have had in my own worth was hard to come by.

But I believe in fighting that, I've learned one of the great secrets to developing a good belief in yourself: through setting challenging goals and achieving those goals, a positive self-belief is rapidly created.

Some people will suggest that you don't really need to accomplish anything to develop a good self image, and if that works for you, more power to you. But for me, I find that I only gain a lasting, positive self image when I follow through on challenges and goals, and then continue to challenge myself.

I wish it was easy, and I wish it were always permanent. You may have to build up parts of your personality one step (and one challenge) at a time. But each challenge successfully met makes it more likely you're going to do well on future challenges -- and the abilities and habits you learn addressing those challenges helps you become better, faster.

So here are the steps involved: determine a goal; determine a plan; put the plan into effect; continue working the plan (adjusting if necessary) until the plan is achieved, and then move on to the next area of soul-building.

There are a lot of "feel good" methods out there, but this one is the one that really gives you the satisfaction you need. Work to make yourself better, and then after you've achieved your goals, give yourself a pat on the back and move on to the next area of growth.

Copyright, 2010, by Daryl R. Gibson. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial redistribution of this document as long as it remains intact with this copyright and all other lines. This license does not extend to the use of this material in a compilation, whether for profit or non-profit use. Join us at http://www.Weekdaywisdom.com.