Is Your Self-Image Working For You?

Life sometimes throws us curve balls that we have to deal with-these are the "have-tos." Life becomes boring and difficult when you're only doing the things you have to do to get where you don't want to be.

If your Core Desire is to speak confidently in public, how do you acquire this ability? First, you've got to love what you are talking about, or at least have a great deal of interest in it. Knowledge is important, but it's not as critical. Another valuable way to exude a confident aura when speaking in public is to take your mind off your performance and put it on the gift in the message you are giving. If you believe in your message, have strong feelings about it, and are not focusing on how people might judge your performance, you will do just fine.

As a speaker, I had to learn not to get butterflies and worry about my performance. Knowing that my message would change lives and focusing on this gift helped me overcome my nerves. I learned to focus on what I was giving the audience, and the butterflies went away.

You deserve to look and feel good about yourself, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. If you're in front of one person, a large group, or even a mirror, it's the same. In job interviews, the interviewer wants to know what value you can bring to the company-not just if you can do the job. One study showed that 65 percent of interviewers make a hiring decision within the first fifteen minutes. The study also showed that 45 percent of the decision to hire is based on how well the interviewees present themselves, 35 percent is based on packaging, and just 10 percent is based on skill. That's 80 percent of the decision being based on presentation and packaging!

If you allow your negative self-image to dominate your life, it will affect all other areas of your life. If you don't have what you want in the self-image and physical areas of your life, you probably haven't identified your Core Desires. Because your inward and outward self-image will affect all other areas in your life, you will be a much happier, more fulfilled person when you have the proper self-paradigm. Your Core Desires will be realized much faster once you have a proper self-image working for you-not against you.