Your Self Image Dictates Your Levels of Success in Business
Have you ever wondered why there are some really successful people out there who have built hugely successful businesses? And have the lifestyle so many of us dream of, yet they’re not that special when it comes to brains, expertise or even talent? Your self-image is a key component.
I need to make a confession. I have often sat through business conferences and looked at the speaker on stage, wondering how the heck they got there. They’ve not been that interesting, special, talented or insightful. In fact, I’ve often sat in the audience and thought to myself ‘I could do a better job than that.’ I was quite annoyed at a high profile speaker talking about great leadership and creating a fantastic culture in organisations. Almost every word he spoke was utter nonsense (in my professional opinion).
And yet there are people I meet on my travels who are exceptional in their thinking, demeanour, and creativity and no one gets to hear about them.
What’s the difference?
Are you one of those people who know deep down inside that you have so much more to give, to offer and deliver to the world of business? And yet you don’t have a platform? You feel incredibly frustrated when you hear so-called experts spout forth on a public platform and think ‘crikey, why is everyone falling for this nonsense?’
I have learned in recent months that this has everything to do with the self-image that you hold in your mind of yourself. This is made up of the way you talk to yourself, the way you think about yourself. Your actions and your outcomes, the way you see yourself when you look in the mirror and what you believe to be true about yourself.
I have also learned that in order to change the image you have of yourself, you need to do some kidding on. A bit like Amy Cuddy in her Ted Talk, you have to ‘fake it until you make it’. You have to create an image in your mind of how you want to be, look and feel. This means you need to change the way you talk to yourself and the way you recover from the mistakes you make.
Admire those who speak to you
Model those people you admire. Pick out the qualities you most admire in them. I’ve selected a few people including Michelle Obama, Brene Brown, Bobbi Brown, Bob Proctor, Dr Richard Bandler, John La Valle, Nelson Mandela and Oprah Winfrey, to name but a few. I wrote a list of the qualities I admire in them that I’d like to possess and then wrote it down in a way that described me as though I have those qualities right now.
It goes something like this….’I am so happy and grateful now that I am well respected, wise, globally renowned, phenomenally successful, phenomenally wealthy, kind, considerate, loving and generous….etc’
What are the qualities you admire? What would you write down?
When I first started writing this mantra out in my journal, I felt stupid and you probably will too. It felt like I was a fraud and I was telling lies because I couldn’t possibly hope to be like these people. Then, as the weeks and months went on, I realised these things could be as true of me as they are of the people I look up to. There is no reason why they can’t be and as I began to realise that, something odd started to happen.
I began to believe in myself more than I’ve ever believed in myself before. Then I began to win more business, gain bigger and better clients. The dream of leading the world’s biggest business coaching, consulting and training business is rapidly being brought to reality by a great team of people who I am now working with.
I look back over the past nine months and realise I have transformed how I think about myself and my results are changing for the better and fast. Your self-image could be the thing holding you back too.
Create the Image You Want
So, if you absolutely know you’re not getting the results you want in your business and you know you’re capable of so much more, perhaps it’s time to start creating the image of yourself that you want and telling yourself you’re already there. Then watch the change begin.
Neuroscience tells us that the brain cannot tell the difference between something you imagine on the screen of your mind and reality. So picturing yourself with the qualities you want to have is the first step in making those happen in reality. When I first started this process I was sceptical, but persevered. It takes time and constant repetition and practice. Work on your self-image now and for the next ninety days and notice the difference in your results.
