Self Development

Another research I have made for you based on the idea of comparing optimists with pessimists. Being self interested in improving myself, I always find articles and books that inspires me. I believe that all this information are quite useful likened to apply them into my life. How To Be Optimistic Is good to understand first the differences between being skeptical and being pessimistic. Being skeptical can be a healthy way to avoid getting taken advantage of; but being pessimistic is always assuming the worst and this attitude can have major negative consequences on your life. This negative aspects of any situation can cause you to miss opportunities, neglect problems that need to be solved, and fail to take action that would otherwise improve your relationships and quality of life. Optimists, so much more at peace with the world, train themselves to look for the light at the end the tunnel. If you've always had a pessimistic world view, it can be difficult to shift your focus, but...

How to develop a Strategic Vision for my Career Plan? This article provides you with some basic guidelines for long-term career planning. Long-term career planning usually involves a planning window of five years or longer and involves a broader set of guidelines and preparation . Businesses, careers, and the workplace are rapidly changing, and the skills that you have or plan for today may not be in demand years from now. Long-range career planning should be more about identifying and developing core skills that employers will always value while developing your personal and career goals in broad strokes. • Core Workplace Skills: - communications (verbal and written), - critical and creative thinking, - teamwork and team-building, - listening, - social, - problem-solving, - decision-making, - interpersonal, - project management, - planning and organizing, - computer/technology, - commitment to continuous/lifelong learning. • Identifying Career/Employment Trends: The best way to...

How to develop a Strategic Vision for my Career Plan? This article provides you with some basic guidelines for short-term career planning. A short-term career plan focuses on a time frame ranging from the coming year to the next few years, depending on the job-seeker. The key characteristic of short-term career planning is developing realistic goals and objectives that you can accomplish in the near future. As you begin your career planning, take the time to free yourself from all career barriers. You may ask yourself what are those career barriers? Types of career barriers: • personal barriers (such as lack of motivation, apathy, laziness, or procrastination); • family pressure (such as expectations to work in the family business, follow a certain career path, or avoidance of careers that are below your status/stature); • peer pressure. And while career planning and career decision-making is an important aspect of your life, try not to put so much pressure on yourself! This may paraly...

Most of us have situations where we find it difficult to communicate. Improving your communication technique, and being comfortable speaking to people is extremely important. There are some top tips for being a better communicator. Step 1: Use open-ended questions • ask open questions that often start with ‘how', ‘when', ‘why' etc. An open question is something like: "What sort of things do you do in your spare time?" This type of question gets the conversation flowing. • avoid asking closed questions. These are questions that can be answered with yes or no answer, such as: "Do you like films?" Closed questions tend to kill the conversation. Step 2: Active Listening People speak at 100 to 175 words per minute (WPM), but they can listen intelligently at up to 300 words per minute. Since only a part of our mind is paying attention, it is easy to go into mind drift - thinking about other things while listening to someone. • active listening involves listeni...

Here's some advice that will help you give your self esteem and confidence a big boost. Step 1: Put it in writing • write a list of your top 7 qualities. * these are making you unique * carry these around with you every day * read them to remind yourself who you are and what makes you special. • write a list of your past successes. * remind yourself of how you did this and how great it felt when you'd achieved your goals. * use this past experience to fuel your self esteem for achieving your goals in the future. Step 2: Don't put yourself down • keep a tally of how many times you speak negatively about yourself. * this ensures that you become acutely aware of how many times a day you're telling people that you're not any good and telling yourself this too. * this will be a real eye opener for you, which will successfully lead you to decrease the frequency of this external negative dialogs. • don't apologies before or after you talk to someone abou...

After few researches, I found this tips that can help anyone in making a first good impression in any situation: Step 1: Make an entrance • take a few moments before you walk in to a room and realign your posture. • bring your shoulders back and down and put a smile on your face. • scan the room and look around as this will make you look a lot more positive and thus creates a good first impression. Step 2: Your handshake • make sure you give a good, cool and firm handshake. • look the person in the eye and remember to smile at them. Step 3: Posture • practice sitting down in front of a mirror, in the outfit you will be wearing, to see what is going to work and what isn't. • sit well in the chair as this will make you look more confident. • rest your elbows on the arm of the chair and maybe cross your legs. Step 4: Hand gestures • make sure you don't use barriers such as folding your arms as this will make you look too closed. • use nice open gestures and good emphatic gestures ...

Building Confidence via Anchoring Anchoring is a way of drawing on past experiences in which you felt confident to help you cope better in the present. It's another powerful weapon in your confidence armory. An anchor is any stimulus that consistently triggers an emotion. To use an anchor you have to: * Generate in yourself the particular set of feelings you wish to recreate. * Programme your subconscious to associate those feelings with specific words and gestures. * Use those words and gestures to trigger the desired feelings when required. Sportsmen and women use anchors continually. For example, tennis players bounce the ball repeatedly before serving to calm themselves; most runners go through an elaborate routine to centre themselves, much of which is not strictly necessary to the actual performance; and the mighty All Black rugby team go through a series of rituals before each match to intimidate the opposition and fire themselves up. You constantly anchor feelings in ...

Reinforcing Self Esteem To enjoy a better life you must focus on your potential, not your limitations, and concentrate on what you do well. You must make the most of your natural aptitudes and abilities. Of course everyone has weaknesses, and it takes courage to admit to them. But it can be equally harrowing to accept that we have our strengths and acknowledge that we have talents and personal qualities that others don't have. This section is about your strengths and making better use of them. You'll discover you have many on which to build. The world is full of unsuccessful people who have talent but lack confidence and tenacity, who feel that no matter how good they are at something, someone else is bound to be better. Don't be one of them. * Head a page of your notebook 'My strengths'. Now write down all your good points, everything you like about yourself. For example, are you a good communicator? A good cook? A talented artist or musician? Good with numbers? Ha...

Building Self Esteem Some people think it's a sin to love yourself. They consider those who love themselves to be selfish, conceited and rather unpleasant. But they're mistaken. They confuse self-love with false pride and narcissism (being in love with yourself ) which is quite a different matter. Vanity and arrogance are usually a form of bravado engaged in by people who love themselves too little and are trying to cover it up. If you don't love yourself you'll have no sense of self-worth, and no feeling of acceptance or belonging. Furthermore, your capacity for loving others is directly related to how much love you have for yourself. You can't share anything you don't have. How can you truly love another if you don't feel worthy of giving and receiving love? Impossible. The belief that you need to be different from how you are in order to be loved causes a great deal of misery. Unless you are happy within, you'll never be truly satisfied with what you ...

Overcoming Low Self Esteem Your self-image began to take shape even before you left the cradle and was pretty well established by the time you reached the age of 8. By then, on average, you had already received over 70,000 negative dictates: 'Don't do that', 'No you can't', 'Who do you think you are?' 'You'll never make anything of yourself,' and so on. Most of these were run of the mill reprimands to which adults attach little importance; but they affect a child deeply and the accumulated effect can be devastating. The means by which a person molds the behavior of another using a combination of reward and punishment is termed conditioning. You experienced plenty of it as a child, much of it negative. Very few young people reach adulthood without having their confidence dented in some way. Once you understand your conditioning you can unravel the knots, dispense with the ropes that tied you down and leave them behind forever. * The means by w...

Developing Assertiveness Skills Even if you've never considered yourself to be assertive, mastering a few basic techniques soon starts to reap untold rewards. * Decide to become more assertive. * Think like an assertive person, and think of yourself as one. * Imagine yourself behaving assertively and being treated accordingly. * Act assertively. Start by taking small steps. Keep going until the uncomfortable feelings fade. * Use these affirmations: 'I think, speak and act assertively at all times.' 'I used to be passive, but all that is changing. I am becoming more assertive every day.' * Mentally rehearse potentially difficult situations. 'Imagine' and 'feel' yourself handling them assertively. 'See' others responding accordingly. * Practice assertive non-verbals. Be aware of the non-verbal signals you give out: 1. Talk unhurriedly, with a clear, steady tone. 2. Make a habit of taking slightly more time to reply. 3. Give...

Gaining Self Confidence As the greatest and wisest teachers have always taught, improving the quality of your thoughts improves your life almost immediately: * The Bible quotes King Solomon: 'As a man thinketh, so shall he be.' * The Buddhist text, The Dhammapada, states: 'We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.' * The Greek philosopher Socrates said, 'To find yourself, think for yourself.' When you think like a confident person, you automatically feel more confident and act more confidently. Positive thinkers are the happiest and most successful. Sometimes all it takes to change your life forever is a single thought! Humans are not robots: you can intentionally choose how to think, and if you are serious about building your confidence you must start changing your thinking patterns without delay. * When you think like a confident person you feel more confident and act more confidently, so commit yours...

Effective Self Motivation Techniques Building confidence takes time, patience and effort. You will have to take a few risks. At times you will feel anxious. How can you motivate yourself to put up with the discomfort and persevere? We humans are motivated by: * A want or need which induces tension. Only if these are unsatisfied can there be motivational power. * Perceptions of 'pleasure' and 'pain'. We seek pleasure and are driven by a desire to avoid pain. * Hopes and expectations that we can get what we want, and that everything will come right in the end. The strongest motivation comes from a passionate desire for something pleasurable, coupled with the avoidance of pain. The best way to motivate yourself is to set yourself some worthy goals, find plenty of reasons why you want to accomplish them, and keep in mind the consequences of failure - which is what you are about to do. * Ask yourself, 'What am I trying to achieve by believing I lack confidence?' Writ...

How to Develop Self Confidence through Self Acceptance Self-acceptance means acknowledging that you are as you are and being comfortable with it. It doesn't necessarily mean liking every aspect of yourself. But bear in mind, self-acceptance does not mean giving up on yourself. If some disliked aspect of yourself is important and can be changed, do something about it. There's no point in feeling bad about something you can change, just as there's no point in feeling bad about something you can't! * What aspects of yourself do you find most difficult to accept? Are there times or situations when you find it harder to be self-accepting than others? If you wish jot down what stops you giving yourself permission to be as you are. * Use this affirmation: 'I accept my... and my... (the attributes you have underlined). This is me, and I'm wonderful, aren't I?' * Do you ever feel that your best is never good enough? If you judge yourself as not good enough, no am...

Body Language: Confident Type When you move confidently and carry your body confidently, you not only feel more confident but others assume that you are. You may be surprised to learn that only 7% of the information you transmit to others is in the language you use. The remainder comes from: * 38% How you speak - quality of voice, accent, voice projection, emphasis, expression, pace, volume, pitch etc. * 55% Body language - posture, position, eye contact, facial expression, head and body movements, gestures, touch etc. Whereas people often try to disguise their true feelings in their utterances, they communicate them freely through their non-verbals. When your body language tells a different story from your spoken words, guess which is believed? The answer is, your body language. It imparts eight times as much information. * Stand in front of a mirror. Hold your head up, back straight, shoulders back, looking straight ahead. Try to make yourself look bigger, as if you're ta...

Facial Expression A simple smile can make others feel more at ease where a frown can make people see that you are aggressive or unsure of something. We use facial expressions to get our points across in the right context. For example, your message would suffer if you were saying how angry you are with a huge smile. Facial expressions can suggest or express an individual’s emotions or feelings. In essence, facial expressions are controlled forms of body language. However, since it involves feelings or sentiments, most often than not, they are spontaneous and instinctive. Then again, during an interview, it is best to control most facial expressions and express a pleasant one instead. Interviewers or employers like to see individuals who are eager to get the job and who have a pleasant personality up front. It will only convey the applicants’ confidence in themselves. Insecure people will most likely be fidgety; and even if they won't say so, their actions speak louder. Eye Contact W...

The Space Around You Those who stand always look more powerful to those people who are sitting down. This is because they are taking up more space. In this case, if you feel comfortable standing, use it to look as though you have a higher status then those around you. When you move around, the more space you take up can make others seem threatened by your presence. This is because those around you may feel that their presence in the area is less significant. In such case, they may move around using as little space as possible. If you are sitting, you can still give an image of power. If standing isn't appropriate, use more space by stretching your legs out or by having your arms at the side of the chair. When you are on the phone and you need to be assertive, standing up will project your urgency. Posture When the interviewer offers you a seat at the start of the job interview, sit upright but not too stiffly in your chair. This indicates that you are comfortable and feeling confid...

Body Language in Business Is important to know that body language accounts for over 90% of an usual conversation! Body language can be used to help conduct an interview, give a presentation or make an important sale: a conversation stretches so much further than speech. Body language is the reason why an interview face-to-face has a huge advantage for an employer over interviewing by phone or for a sale made face-to-face over selling by phone. Usually when we communicate with or see people, we only respond to what is being said, heard or generally seen. There is so much more involved and most of us do not pick up on it: it's our body language and it can express a thousand other unsaying words. Our body language will give others an impression of ourselves or show our emotions. You're probably using it right now to read this page (you will either be alert and interested, or baffled and un-interested). Our body language is an important aspect of running a successful business as we...

What is an interview? The whole idea of a job interview is to get you face to face with your potential employer.The primary idea of a job interview is to get you to communicate with an employer. • through the course of the interview they take you through a series of questions that they need to ask you, relevant to the job • they will give you the opportunity to sell yourself by giving the answers to the interview questions • you have the opportunity to ask them questions about the job as well What will be expected of me in an interview? Expectations : 1. A series of questions which will be both job-related and company-related. What the interviewer wants to see here? • that you've done your homework, • you've done your research, • you've been on the web site, • you know quite a lot about the company and where it's going, • you know quite a lot even about the individual that's interviewing you for the job. 2. They're going to think about what your expectations of ...

So, you're a recent graduate? Looking for work? You and thousands of others. What can you offer that they can't? Well, hopefully you know that or will learn as you search. Your job search is a project in itself, with various stages. Here are some tips to get you to your goal of a great first job. 1. Skill Building Practice your writing skills, Stay updated, Take refresher courses, Start a blog, Do some volunteer work, Learn networking skills 2. What tools do you need? Computer, Internet access, Briefcase or portfolio, Cell phone 3. Resume Don't lie on your resume, Be relevant, Customize your resume, Follow standard format, Make it easy to read, Be brief, Use the right terminology, Promote yourself, Have references ready, Indicate your interests, Stick to the file format, Use a cover letter, Proofread, Print quality. 4. Finding a Job and Interview Preparation Ask friends and family, Ask in social settings, Ask on campus, Check with former classmates, Try networking, Use a jo...