18 Truths to Start Telling Yourself

This is your journey, and yours alone.  Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.

Here are 18 truths to inspire, motivate and remind you that you aren’t confined by the boundaries others impose on you.  You are in full control of your own life, starting today.

1. I can only be me. – Stop trying to be someone else’s idea of perfect.  Be your imperfectly perfect self.  Be YOU.  When they laugh at you for being different, laugh back at them for being the same.  Judy Garland once said, “Always be a first rate version of yourself instead of a second rate version of somebody else.”  Live by this statement.  There is no such thing as living in someone else’s shoes.  The only shoes you can occupy are your own.  If you aren’t being yourself, you aren’t truly living – you’re merely existing.
2. This is my life, and my dreams are worth it. – Life is a courageous journey or nothing at all.  We cannot become who we want to be by continuing to do exactly what we’ve been doing.  If you are passionate about something, pursue it, no matter what anyone else thinks.  That’s how dreams are achieved.  Be deaf when people tell you that you can’t fulfill your dreams.  The only place where your goals and dreams are impossible is inside your head.  Once you’ve dreamed of it, you’re halfway there.  So go ahead and follow through.  Let your dreams be bigger than your fears and your actions louder than your words.  Follow your heart regardless of what others tell you to do.  At the end of the day it’s you who has to live with your decisions, not them.  Read The road Less Traveled
3. Everything, good or bad, is a life lesson. – Everyone you meet, everything you encounter, etc. – they’re all part of the learning experience we call ‘life.’  Never forget to acknowledge the lesson, especially when things don’t go your way.  If you don’t get a job that you wanted or a relationship doesn’t work, it only means something better is out there waiting.  And the lesson you just learned is the first step towards it. Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons.  Love yourself, trust your choices, remember what you deserve, and keep pushing forward.
4. A few REAL friends are all I need. – When it comes to relationships, focus on quality over quantity.  Spend your time with friends who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways.  They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.  Spend more time with those who make you smile and less time with those who you feel pressured to impress. These people make your day a little bit brighter simply by being in it.  It is better to have one true friend than all the acquaintances in the world.
5. My actions and words directly affect the lives around me. – Lead by example.  Practice what you preach or don’t preach at all.  Walk the talk!  People watch what you do more than they listen to what you say.  Inspire, challenge and encourage people to their best, by doing YOUR best.  And when someone else is doing a great job, tell them that you’re proud of them.  Encourage them.  Take the time to recognize their effort.  If they know you believe they can do great things, they will often go to great lengths to live up to your expectations.  Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.  Optimism is a happiness magnet.  If you stay positive and confident, good things and good people will be drawn to you.
6. Broken promises destroy relationships. – You make commitments to others and yourself all the time.  The question is: Do you keep them?  If you said you’re going to do something, do it!  When you fail to keep a promise, it tells others that you don’t value their time or relationship.  Don’t over-promise; under-promise and over-deliver on everything you do.  And a few words to the wise:  Never make a big decision when you’re angry, and never make a big promise when you’re overjoyed.
7. The little things are often the big things. – Keep it simple.  There is absolute joy and wonder to be had in the simplest of moments – like watching the sunset over the horizon or spending time with a family member.  Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things.
8. People regret the things they did NOT do. – You miss 100% of the shots you never take.  Choices, chances and changes – start making them.  You must make a choice to take a chance, or your life will never change.  In the end, more so than the mistakes we made, we regret the chances we didn’t take, relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.
9. Small people can make a BIG difference. – Stay positive when negativity surrounds you.  Smile when others frown.  It’s an easy way to make a difference.  There are many small, simple actions you can make to profoundly impact your family, your community, and the world.  You could pick up and throw away some trash you see on the street.  Send thoughts of loving kindness, support and peace to a friend.  Find something in your house you no longer need and give to someone who could use it.  Everyone values the gift of unexpected assistance and those who supply it.  Leave everything a little better than you found it.  You’ll see why.
10. Adversity makes us strong and wise. – Pain makes you stronger.  Tears make you braver.  Heartbreak makes you wiser.  Be grateful for your past because it helped shape who you are.  And thank the past for a better future.  Live for today, learn from yesterday, and hope for tomorrow.  Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.
11. Everyone deserves kindness and respect. – Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are.  There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected.  Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother.  People will notice your kindness.
12. Everyone has something amazing to offer. – Accept people just the way they are.  In most cases it’s impossible to change them anyway, and it’s rude to try.  If you give them a chance, everyone has something amazing to offer.  Open your mind, arms and heart to all people; we are united in our differences, and stronger together because of them.
13. There’s no point in doing something if I’m not going to do it right. – I’m impressed by great guitarists, writers, bloggers, painters, motivational speakers, internet entrepreneurs, computer engineers, mothers, fathers, athletes, etc.  And there’s only one thing they all have in common: They excel at what they do.  There’s no point in doing something if you aren’t going to do it right.  Excel at your work and excel at your hobbies.  Develop a reputation for yourself, a reputation for consistent excellence.  Read The Four Agreements.
14. Dishonesty should never be tolerated. – Nobody likes a liar.  In the long-run, the truth always reveals itself anyway.  Either you own up to your actions or your actions will ultimately own you.  Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless.  Period.  Don’t be dishonest and don’t put up with people who are.
15. Personal growth will feel uncomfortable at first. – Growth always begins at the end of your comfort zone.  So break out of your comfort zone and try something new.  Fight the unfamiliar and enjoy the experience.  Try out that new restaurant.  Stop by the new park.  Routines stagnate us.  New experiences help us grow and they make life interesting.  Make an effort to try something new every day this week.  It can be a whole new activity or just a small experience, such as talking to a stranger.  Once you get the ball rolling, many of these new experiences will open doors to life changing opportunities.  And with a strategy of continuous small steps into new experiences, we are able to sidestep the biggest barrier to positive change:  Fear.
16. Happiness is a choice that comes from within. – Being happy doesn’t mean everything is perfect, it means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.  There are choices you can make every day to feel the effects of happiness.  Choose to be around the right people.  Choose to focus on what you have, not on what you haven’t.  Choose a good attitude.  Choose to express gratitude.  Choose to forgive.  Choose to take care of your body.  Begin today by taking responsibility for your own happiness.  The choice is yours.  Read Stumbling On Happiness.
17. The more I invest in myself, the more control I will have over my life. – Invest time and energy in yourself every day.  When you invest in yourself, you can never lose, and over time you will change the trajectory of your life.  You are simply the product of what you know.  The more time and energy you spend acquiring pertinent knowledge, the more control you have over your life.
18. Knowledge without action accomplishes nothing. – The number one thing I persistently see holding smart people back is their own reluctance to take action with the knowledge they already have.  In other words, they believe they require additional knowledge, skill, experience, etc. before they can aptly partake in an opportunity.  Yes, more knowledge is great to have, but without action it doesn’t get you anywhere.  You’ve got to take baby steps.  You’ve got to act on what you know.  Remember, the acquisition of knowledge doesn’t mean you’re growing; growing happens when what you know changes how you live.

Post written by Angel

Excuses Expose Your Lack of Self-Confidence

Like many, I’m not a fan of, and I have little patience for, excuses.  A person who is full of excuses or always ready to give an excuse is clearly someone in my opinion who lacks self-confidence.  Confident people don’t make excuses – they take on the responsibility and hold themselves accountable.

So, what are excuses? Two most common types of excuses are the excuses we tell ourselves and excuses we tell other people.  Excuses are sometimes flat out lies, at times a twist on the truth and other times, a series of justification that logically explain why something did or did not happen or get done.

Why do we tell excuses?  We tell excuses because we want to avoid the truth.  We tell excuses to make ourselves feel better.  We tell excuses because we want to protect ourselves and avoid unpleasant circumstances. We tell ourselves, we tell excuses to protect other people when in reality – all excuses are a means of self-preservation. We tell excuses because we are weak of character and lack self-confidence and the ability to take accountability for our actions and inactions.

What’s real pathetic about excuses is that people who can’t stand them, more often than not –  are guilty of telling them.

Excuses We Tell Ourselves

Common excuses we tell ourselves normally fall into these areas: I don’t have enough time, I don’t have enough money, I don’t know how, it won’t matter anyway…etc. All of these types of excuses are rooted in not believing in yourself, or your abilities to create change, learn, have an impact or make a difference. A clear lack of self-confidence because as I constantly preach; confident people BELIEVE in themselves and their POTENTIAL. What you can’t do now has nothing to do with what you can do later if you believe you can and put in the hard work to achieve it.

I don’t know how becomes – I know I can learn because it’s truly important to me.

I don’t have enough time becomes – I will make the time because I know this is important and needs to be a priority.

I don’t have enough money becomes – I will figure out a way, make the money, borrow it…find it somehow or I’ll get creative and find another way.

It won’t matter becomes – Even if it doesn’t matter, it mattered to me and I will have given it my best.

If your internal dialogue is full of excuses, start building your self-confidence and those excuses will start going away.

Excuses We Tell Others

Poor, poor me, I’m full of excuses – feel bad for me, pity me. YUCK! Want respect – stop with the excuses. Got a justification why something isn’t done.  Please say so, but at the beginning of it all – take accountability for why it isn’t done.  Things out of our control happen but they should never be used to make excuses. “I’m sorry I didn’t finish the project. It’s fully my fault; I got interrupted by a fire burning down my house”. Not an excuse. Quite a good justification and the person you said that too will understand.

Don’t make excuses for your short comings. Bring light to them so you can start facing them and working on them. You start making excuses, much like lies (since they are probably lies) – it will take more excuses to cover them up. People aren’t perfect so we don’t need to make excuses for our imperfections – we need to deal with them head on.

Confident people know they aren’t perfect.  They aren’t afraid to let their weaknesses show. Our weaknesses can become our greatest strength. They certainly serve as our greatest teachers.

Use your excuses to learn about yourself. Listen to the excuses you tell yourself and you tell others. Get to the root of what those excuses are about, learn, grow and implement change.

Written byAnn Bernard

Time To Kill Your Mental Boundaries

Time to Kill Your Mental Boundaries

What do you believe about yourself? It is remarkably easy to become convinced of your limitations. Frequently, people discuss what they would love to have or do but “can’t” for one reason or another. In some cases, there are huge challenges to overcome; however, all too often, what we perceive to be a physical, economical, physiological, or social boundary ends up being a mental boundary.

Buying into these mental limitations can be detrimental to your success. Here are 3 reasons to destroy your mental boundaries!

Mental Boundaries Cause Us to Accept Limitations That Are No Longer There
Much behavior is controlled by the subconscious mind. The subconscious is our autopilot, and one of its functions is to keep us in our comfort zones. This actually is very beneficial in many cases. For example, it would be a waste of time to relearn menial tasks everyday, such as buttoning a shirt, so the mind maps a blueprint of actions and behaviors required to button shirts, eliminating the need to pay too much attention.

Nonetheless, there are definitely other situations where ignoring the auto-response can be the difference between success and failure. For example, trainers shackle young elephants with heavy chains using deeply embedded stakes, so that the young elephants learn to stay in their place. The training is so thorough that even when the elephants are older and more powerful, they never attempt leaving, despite having the strength to pull up the stake and walk away. Even when there’s only a small unattached metal bracelet, meaning the stake is no longer there, the powerful elephants are still hostage to their previous programming. The key is that it is no longer the stake that is holding them prisoner. Their mental barriers are really limiting their movements.

All too often, we impose needless restraints on our lives. We have been so thoroughly convinced of our limitations that we dare not question them, even in cases where those boundaries no longer exist or no longer possess the power to stop our progress. There will always be seemingly valid justifications for why you can’t start that business, give the object of your affections a call, pursue that degree, or lose weight. Those justifications only point out the size of the problem, but they ignore the size of you. Do you know how great you are?

Recognize when your subconscious is acting as the personal saboteur to your dreams and aspirations. Don’t allow the shackles of failure to bind you when the only true barrier is your mind.

Mental Boundaries Will Limit Our Potential
Mental boundaries are also a great danger to your potential. Possibilities for you are determined by your capacity to believe. While this statement may be motivating, the tragedy occurs when your belief system refuses to acknowledge your ability to achieve the seemingly improbable. It was improbable that someone fired for lacking creativity went on to found one of the most creative and magical places on earth, yet Walt Disney persisted. It was improbable that someone ousted by his own board would go on to helm another company and lead it to unprecedented heights then return to his previous company and shatter record after record, yet Steve Jobs persisted. Just because a dream is seemingly improbable, doesn’t mean that you lack the potential to bring it into manifestation. Improbable is not impossible.

Sometimes we acquire these mental barriers from other people. Roger Bannister, the first man recorded to run the 4-minute mile was told by physiologists of his time that not only was running the 4-minute mile impossible for man to do but attempting to do so was dangerous to man’s health. Obviously, they were wrong, and once Roger Bannister proved so, the world was not only stunned, but the collective mental barrier was decimated. In around 3 years from the time Roger Bannister first ran a sub-4 minute mile, 16 runners did so as well, even though no others had accomplished this feat during the previous century. This substantiates that the speed barrier was only secondary to the mind barrier. Once Roger Bannister changed the expectation of possibilities through the achievement of his high goal, the entire paradigm through which the other runners viewed the world changed accordingly. He changed their potential by shattering their mental barriers.

Mental Boundaries Are Rooted in a Negative Sense of Worth
Too many people die with their music still in them. Steven Covey argues that we all desire to “live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.” However, it is hard to achieve something substantively meaningful when you feel miserable and unaccomplished. Likewise, developing a positive self worth is part of the basis for making deposits of success in OTHER areas of your life (health, spiritual, mental, etc) if you are out of a job. That way, your measure of success and failure won’t be wholly-defined by your job situation.

I recently became aware of Sylvester Stallone’s powerful story. Early on, he found it difficult to realize his dream of becoming an actor/writer. After watching a boxing match between Mohammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, he became inspired to write the script for Rocky. He then took his script to producers; they loved the idea but were not pleased that he wanted to be the lead actor in his own star vehicle. They even offered him $325,000 for the script only. This would translate into an inflation-adjusted $1.3 million in today’s dollars. Stallone turned it down, adamant that he should star in the film. Eventually, they acquiesced to his demand at the risk of losing the script, and he was paid $35,000 to star in Rocky. Now, films that he has starred in have grossed upward of $2.6 billion worldwide, earning him both critical and commercial acclaim. He clearly made the best decision. However, suppose he had bought into the producers’ assessment of his value rather than adhering to his own sense of his worth?

A real danger of having a negative sense of worth is that you never know when you are going to get a chance to do the extraordinary. If you don’t feel worthy of the opportunity, then it is hard to capitalize on it.

Winston Churchill said “to every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.”

Closing Thoughts
I hope you are convinced that it is not within your best interest to blindly accept mental barriers to your success. While such justifications may keep you comfortable, your reward is often in the discomfort. Don’t allow yourself to be robbed of victory due to false beliefs of who you are, what you can do, and where you can go. You possess the power to eliminate so many shackles and solve problems that enrich the world. Break free of your chains today!

Written by 

Roshawn Watson http://www.dumblittleman.com

HOW LEADERSHIP AT HOME AFFECTS THE REST OF LIFE

Have you ever heard—or asked—questions like these at work? “Who dropped the ball?” “Why can’t that department do its job right?” “When will we find good people?”

These questions lead us into the dangerous traps of blame, victim thinking, and procrastination—ones that leaders work hard to avoid while on the job.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/jhorrocks

But what if the person asking these questions was also a parent and later returned to their family, asking: “Who made the mess in here?” “Why won’t he ever listen to me?” “When will my spouse help out more?”

Once again, they’ve slipped into a same dangerous trap—but now at home. And in doing so, this mom or dad has taught their child to ask lousy questions such as: “Why aren’t my friends nicer to me?” “When will my teacher give me a break?” “Who’s going to pay for my college?”

Then, the child becomes an adult and finds employment. Soon this person can be found at the water cooler huddle, whispering: “Who’s going to solve the problem?” “Why do we have to go through all this change?” “When is someone going to train me?”

And the problems of blame, victim thinking, and procrastination remain deeply embedded in our society, while a lack of personal accountability persists in our world.

Is it possible that when people at work blame and whine, it’s because they were taught to do so at home? And that these dangerous ways of acting and thinking were modeled for them—by mom and dad?!

Leadership begins at home. Until Mom and Dad choose to practice personal accountability in their lives, not much will change—anywhere.

The working parent who laments the degeneration of society while complaining that younger employees “lack work ethic” fails to understand this: Societal problems, which include all the problems found within our organizations, are rooted in the family.

The unaccountable parent who goes to work and criticizes others for acting entitled, fails to ask, “Am I creating entitled children at home?”

The mom or dad who fails to lead exclaims, “The finger-pointing in our world is a terrible thing!” but does not look inward with the question, “Am I raising children who blame their teachers when they get a poor grade?”

And then there is the parent who asks, “When will my daughter start getting her homework done on time?” but models procrastination at home with the words, “I’ll do it later.”

Parents who are leaders know this: Modeling is the most powerful of all teachers. Dads and moms who accept the mantle of home leadership accept that they—not sports stars, pop culture icons, or Hollywood celebrities—are the role models for their kids.

These are “no excuses” parents. They don’t blame the famous for the “poor example that they set” and would never employ the grand parental excuse: “My child didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, because he got in with the wrong crowd.”

Leadership at home is captured in this statement: My child is a product of my parenting.Any other view of parenting is irresponsible folly. Excuse-making is never part of a leader’s world.

Moms and dads who really grasp that victim thinking is a disease spread from parents to kids—that blame is taught and caught, and that procrastination is learned—know what will happen should they fail to fulfill their job at home.

It is no surprise that we’ll reap a weak workplace where salespeople whine, “I missed my sales goal because our pricing is too high!”, employees lament, “Why doesn’t management do more for us?”, and colleagues point fingers, saying, “Nobody cared about the project as much as I did.”

My wife, Karen, and I have seven children ages thirteen to twenty-nine—six girls and one boy. The youngest three (all girls) are adopted.

Here’s what we believe: Parenting is a learned skill. It’s a developed capability that responsible parents purposely strive to acquire.

Understanding the critical nature of parenting, moms and dads who are leaders ask what we call “The Question Behind the Question,” or “QBQ.” Here are some QBQs that parents who lead ask:

• “How can I be a more effective at home?”
• “What can I do today to set a better example for my child?”
• “How can I learn new parenting skills?”

This is leadership. This is personal accountability. And it all begins at home.

Written by John G. Miller http://qbq.com/

How to Gain Self Confidence on First Dates

Dating is simply defined as the act of meeting a person and taking time to know him/her better. This is usually a very exciting process, especially for first timers in dating. The first date is crucial in forming the foundation for a potential relationship. As they say, first impression lasts, and I agree. When your first date doesn't go as well as planned, your date may choose not to see you again. This can feel disappointing since most of us long to meet and connect with someone who can actually complement our personality. Losing the opportunity to build a lasting relationship with someone can feel frustrating, but I've found out that confidence is the key to a successful first date. Here are 4 important tips on gaining self-confidence while dating.

First, look good. The number one thing that your date will see during your first date is your outward appearance. Good personal hygiene and dressing appropriately is a plus point for a successful first date.

Second, speak with confidence. Picture yourself talking with a very close friend so that you will feel comfortable with your conversations. Plan ahead and think about the topics you'd like to discuss during your first date. This gives you a sense of control knowing where to lead the conversations that would enhance the chances of a successful first date. Good examples for getting to know each other better include discussing your likes and dislikes, your work, friends, hobbies you enjoy and how you feel about what's going on in the world, etc. Keep the conversation light, but not too shallow. Don't hesitate to ask questions about your date as this will keep the conversation balanced. Just make sure it is appropriate with regards to the time and place.

Third, be on time. Arriving on time gives your date the impression that you are serious about meeting with him/her. Men, it is appropriate that you come earlier. Don't keep your date waiting. He/she may have other appointments after your date, and you don't want to waste his/her time by showing up late. If you are running a bit behind, it's a common courtesy to call your date to let them know that you will be a little bit late.

Fourth, be yourself. There is no better way to impress your date than by just being yourself! Show him/her the real you; don't pretend to be someone else you are not. By being who you are, you become more comfortable with the way you present yourself as well as the way you engage in conversations. This increases your self-confidence because you don't have to pretend, you just simply show your date the real you.

First dates are very exciting, yet it can cause most people feel anxious. It is important to gain confidence especially with first dates to increase the chances of forming lasting relationships with someone new. Through gaining self-confidence, you increase your chances of being successful with your first date and many more.

Article by Jessica Menoza

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6928189

Change The World Or Change Yourself?

"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."


Reblogged from Amber Rae

Want to Boost Your Self-Esteem? Throw Away Someone Else's Trash.

Self-esteem is a topic that has generated a fair amount of controversy over the last few decades, but one thing seems clear: you don’t get healthy self-esteem from constantly telling yourself how great you are, or even from other people telling you how great you are. You get healthy self-esteem from behaving in ways that you yourself find estimable. 

For instance, you feel better about yourself when you keep a difficult resolution, meet a challenge, solve a problem, learn a skill, or cross something unpleasant off your to-do list. And one of the best ways to feel better about yourself is to help someone else. Do good, feel good.

I had a friend who went through a period of tremendous rejection: she was fired from her job, she didn’t get into the graduate program to which she’d applied, and her boyfriend broke up with her. Everything worked out fine, and I asked her how she got through such a tough time. She said, “I was practically addicted to doing good deeds for other people. It was the only way I could make myself feel like I wasn’t a total loser.”

I recently performed a very small good deed that gave me a boost: I threw away someone else's trash. I’ve always been careful to throw away my own litter, but it never occurred to me to do anything about random litter lying around.

The other day, though, I was in the subway, where an empty Snapple bottle was rolling around to the great annoyance of everyone in the car. The bottle rolled back and forth, back and forth, and I thought, “Someone should pick that up.” Then I thought—“Someone like me! Why shouldn’t I be the one to pick it up?” So I did. I was astonished by the surge of good feeling I got, quite disproportionate to such a minor action.

Since then, I’ve looked for chances to throw away other people’s trash. Newspapers strewn across seats in the airport, candy wrappers on the sidewalk, that kind of thing.

"Do good, feel good" is a happiness truism that really is true. Act like a considerate citizen of the world, and you’ll also boost your self-esteem. How about you? Have you felt a boost in your feelings of self-worth after doing something worthwhile?

Author Gretchen Rubin gretchenrubin1@gretchenrubin.com.

What Does Self Esteem Mean to You?

Do you have high self esteem or low self esteem? Answering this question honesty can have a profound impact on your life.

But why does it matter so much?

Because self esteem is the ability to love yourself completely just the way you are. No exceptions. No rules. And no possible way of every turning back.

When you truly love and accept yourself for who you are on the inside it will start to affect your outside world in ways you probably can't even imagine right now.

But give it time and you will see a difference, a huge difference, not just emotionally but physically and mentally as well.

Have you ever taken the time to ask yourself the question, what is self esteem? We all know that self esteem is an internal job but it effects so much of our external world too.

Why?

Because true change happens within not without as the great spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle says.

However, in order to truly love yourself just as you are right NOW you MUST accept everything about yourself.

Yes everything! Your weight. Your looks. Your attitude. Your job. Your spouse. Your car. Your financial situation. Your emotional situation. Your kids.

I'm talking everything. Now you don't have to like it all, at least not yet anyways, you just have to accept it for how and what it is right NOW.

So if there's something you just can't, don't or won't accept YOU must change it then. Because that is what self esteem is - total acceptance of one's self.

Loving yourself and everything about you is the first step towards self esteem building and living a more richer, rewarding, fulfilling life.

DO what needs to be done. Say "I love and accept myself", out loud or at least to yourself 100 times a day.

BE the change you want to see in the world. Create real joy for yourself. You are worth the effort, you know. And also please know that no one else can or will do it for you. You must accept the responsible to change. Then you must act.

And remember you must BE before you can DO and you must DO before you can HAVE.

Start today by loving yourself for all that you are and all that you have and all that's yet to come. Take the time to figure out what self esteem is to you.

Because now it's your turn...what is self esteem to you?

Author Michelle Sears      http://www.selfesteem-building.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6883566

Smile & The World Smiles With You!

                                                      Smile - Just Do It!
 Raise the corners of your mouth. Soon your smile will become genuine. The smile that begins as an effort and a pretense quickly grows to become genuine, and given time, a habit of happiness. In the words of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."


 www.how-to-self.com  Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The 5 Ultimate Ways To Make People Like You

Making people like you is the first step to making long lasting relationships, and long lasting relationships are what bring you happiness and success. For this one reason I personally work on this certain idea religiously, and can quite confidently say that I have finally figured out how to make “any” person almost instantly  like me.

I have condensed all that I have learnt into 5 main points. Hope these strategies help you become a people magnet as well.

1. 1. Be Genuinely Interested in People

You can’t make people truly like you, unless you are interested in them as well. Many people claim to have made systems that you can make people like you, on the base that you can disregard the other person and reap all the rewards. Wrong.

Friendships are all about give and take. You give some and you take some. And only through an even exchange of these interactions can you build a strong foundation for a lasting relationship.

1. 2. Be Positive and Happy

People are attracted to happiness and positivity, just like bees are attracted to flowers. We humans just can’t get enough of it. So keeping that in mind think about this: People who have lots of friends or attract people easily are they sad or negative? Are they gloomy people? Are they depressed?

No.

People who have attractive personalities are always happy people who radiate positivity. Try to mold yourself to be that happy person people crave and people will be running after you.

1. 3. Radiate Confidence

I don’t want to dwell very deep into this because I feel this has become quite cliché but it’s true. Confidence is very attractive and people like confident people.

If you are able to build self-confidence in yourself, you will automatically hold yourself differently, you will speak differently, and you will behave differently. It’s all part of a process.

1. 4. Give People your Undivided Attention

Nowadays, nobody has spare time to give someone an exclusive conversation. You have to be different. Whenever you meet and talk with people give them your complete attention. Make eye contact, actually think about what the other person saying and give genuine answers.

The other person will pick up on this specialized effort, and in return will begin to like you.

1. 5. Relax and Enjoy

The most likeable people are those who are genuine. Don’t try to be somebody who you are not. Relax and slow down, analyze what you are doing and then do it.

Life is not always a competition, have fun, meet people, and enjoy.

Osman Hameed writes about self-improvement and shares effective tips for living better life on his website www.codeofliving.com. CodeofLiving is a juicy mix of tips, tutorials and articles that are guaranteed to make your life bette