Shine With Grace

Don’t you call yourself names?  “A small potato”? “A jerk”?  Please quit the habit for you are what you think you are. 

A lesson learnt from The Apprentice

You go around calling yourself “white trash”? You think I would hire somebody who call himself “white trash”?

You are fired.  And, you should stop using that expression.

~ Donald Trump

Apprentice participant Derek was being bought into the board room due to his not so impressive performance in the task, nevertheless, it was his calling himself “white trash” that got him fired.

You are what you think you are

To be important, we must think we are important, really think so; then others will think so too.

~ David J, Schwartz, The Magic of Thinking Big

Why? 

Because when we think that we are inferior, we will act with little confidence, we speak sheepishly and we dress shabbily - which in every way sends out the signal to the others that we are inferior.  As a result, we receive the treatment that we THINK we deserve, i.e. being treated as an inferior person. 

Remember that we show in our every action how much we respect ourselves.  Therefore, if you want respect, first respect yourself and the others will follow. 

4 practical ways to improve your self-esteem 

How to increase self-respect and thereby earn more respect from others?  David J. Schwartz of the Magic of Thinking Big suggested the following tactics:

I. “Dress Right.  You can’t afford not to!”

Remember how you feel on a bad-hair day, or when you dressed inappropriately in an event?  You properly didn’t want to get too much attention or talk to too many people.  Why? Because our physical exterior affects our mental interior (and vice versa).  Therefore, if you want be important, you have to feel important, and dress like an important person helps, for your appearance talks to you and it talks to others.       

II. Think your work is important

You won’t pay too much attention if you think that what you are doing is meaningless, right?  If you want to perform well in a task, you have to believe that it is important.  Without enthusiasm, at most you can only attain mediocre results.  What if you really think that what you are doing is meaningless?  You may (i) try your best to discover its meaning from a boarder perspective; or (ii) reconsider whether you should continue with this job.    

Remember that others follow what we think and how we act?  If you want to motivate your staff, you yourself have to be motivated, as the way we think toward our jobs determines how our subordinates think towards their jobs. 

III. Sell yourself to yourself

If you lack self-respect and confidence, it is not because you are really an inadequte person, but you focus too much on your weakness and neglect your strengths.  Give yourself a pad on the shoulder whenever you’ve done something right or good.  Build up your asset profile, list all your attributes and remind yourself often how good you are.  You look better and perform better when you feel better. 

IV. Ask yourself, “Is this the way an important person thinks?”

We may worry unnecessarily and we may lose temper over totally unimportant matters.  Ask yourself, “is this the way an important person thinks?” can help us put things in proper perspective.  A couple of examples:

• When you worry, ask yourself would an important person worry about this? 
• When you are meeting somebody, ask yourself “am I using the language of successful people?” and “is this something successful people would discuss?”
• When you are in the bookstore, consider, ”would an important person read this?”
•  When you lose your temper, ask yourself would an important person get mad at the same thing?

Related posts:

• Be A Class Act 
• Wealth, Success, Happiness 
• Release The Break
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are
• How To Discover My Talent? 
• A Strategy For Happiness And Efficiency 
• Be An Attractive Person 

Popularity: 9% [?]

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!