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Do you lack confidence? Would you like to find out ways in which you could increase your self-esteem and self-confidence? If you have answered either or both of these questions in the positive then this article may well be of interest to you.

Throughout my childhood and teenage years I was a person who had a real lack of self-belief. I have to say that in reality I did not like myself. I was extremely jealous and envious of other people and what they seemingly had in comparison to me. They seemingly had it so easy where as for me life was a constant struggle. What I needed was to some how gain confidence.

I had a stutter you see which did make life unbearable at times. I did eventually, at the age of twenty-two, manage to achieve fluency which of course was a great relief. I had however already spent the previous eighteen years struggling to cope with a stuttering or what is also known as stammering problem that virtually destroyed my entire confidence.

What I did learn and what was eventually a catalyst to enabling me to eradicate the speech impediment was that I needed to start appreciating what I had in life. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself and I needed to work hard at improving the areas of my life that I was not happy with – such as my speech.

I also had to stop stressing, panicking and worrying so much. I had to completely change the way I approached life; out went the negative and in came the positive.

I was attempting a huge overhaul of the way in which I lived my life, it was far from easy. Ultimately however all of the effort did pay off and I was able to achieve fluency and a real confidence.

I hope that you will also be able to gain in confidence; I will be happy to help in any way that I can.

As a successful businessmen I am now involved in various projects including one which offers training for foster carers. This is a great deal fun as the lessons are very beneficial and the feedback thus far has been very positive.

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Extensive studies show that more than 85% of the population suffers from some degree of diminished self-worth, lacking self-esteem and insufficient confidence. For most of the people who lack a positive self-image, the future looks like a mere extension of their troubled past. Their expectation of what is to be is consistent with what has been — with a slight and predictable level of improvement.

Extensive studies show that more than 85% of the population suffers from some degree of diminished self-worth, lacking self-esteem and insufficient confidence. For most of the people who lack a positive self-image, the future looks like a mere extension of their troubled past. Their expectation of what is to be is consistent with what has been — with a slight and predictable level of improvement.

Because of their lacking self-esteem and confidence, most are resigned to a life that lacks the excitement and passion that characterizes the lives of those who feel worthy of tapping into the best things life has to offer. People who possess a positive self-image typically have an optimistic expectation of what is ahead of them and as a result, they realize this expectation as a self-fulfilling prophesy.

In contrast to the state of resignation that typifies those with diminished self-esteem and lacking confidence, consider the possibility that the future lives as the realization of a promise — a promise you make to yourself and to the world. The future will result from your expectations and the quality of your future will be impacted by the commitment you have for it. It lives as a possibility. In other words, you get to invent it. In fact, you are the sole designer and architect of what is to be. And the result will be entirely consistent with your expectation and your self-image.

In other words, our future will be directly related to what we expect for it to be. If we doubt our self-worth and expect our future lives to be worse than our current situation, we will sabotage ourselves into making it turn out in alignment with this self-fulfilling prophesy resulting in diminished self-esteem and self-confidence. If we limit our expectations and plan on more of the same results we have to date experienced, our apathy will generate a future consistent with this expectation. To the contrary, if we believe in ourselves and our expectation is that our future will be better than our present situation, self-motivation will result to bring about the positive outcome we envision.

If we feel good about ourselves and expect to live happy, fulfilled, and successful lives, we will take the actions consistent with realizing that expectation. We will therefore generate the opportunities that will result in rich relationships, abundance, and joy being attracted to our lives – because we believe we deserve it and act on this belief.

We get what we expect and attract prosperity or lack, joy or sorrow, rewarding relationships or angry, frustrating ones all as a result of whether or not we feel worthy. Just as we can doubt our abilities to succeed and our attractiveness as worthy of rewarding friends and intimate relationships, we can also instead choose to take full responsibility for expecting all aspects of our lives to be the way we want them to turn out.

Realize that you have consciously or unconsciously attracted everything that shows up in your life to you. If where you are in life, the relationships you have attracted to you, your physical, financial, emotional and spiritual states are not what you desire, decide now to alter your course. Decide that you deserve better. Get in touch with the erroneous decisions you made at an early age. Reframe how you see yourself and resolve to act from a declaration of who you are (just because you say so) instead of the unlovable, somehow defective or unworthy image you made up or bought into long ago.

Change your expectations. Design a life plan consistent with your new expectations. Make requests of those who can support your efforts in some way. The future exists for each of us as a possibility. When we do the necessary work to heal our troubled past and put the self-interpretations that do not support us behind, we can courageously decide to design our future lives deliberately to be in alignment with joy, abundance, fun, fulfillment, and self-love. When we train ourselves to first expect positive results and then to act in accordance with what we expect, we set the stage for a bright and promising tomorrow. We have the personal power to create our future on purpose. The future can unfold out of our declaration of how we see ourselves and what we expect it to be like. To the extent that we take responsibility to expect great things in our lives, ensure we give off positive, attractive, loving energy and then get into action to bring about our expectations, we will be the force behind the realization of a rewarding happy future characterized by soaring self-esteem and confidence.

So, my challenge for you today is to write out a clear and specific vision of exactly what your life will be like in every area including your relationships, health, wealth and finances, occupation, recreation and social life, and personal and spiritual development. Commit to resolving any past issues that continue to erode how you feel about yourself. I wrote “The Self-Esteem Book” and the accompanying “The Self-Esteem Workbook” to support you to learn the tools that will allow you to reinvent your life and how you see yourself. Know that all that it takes is the courage to begin the process of restoring your personal magnificence and start living full of self-esteem and confidence.

Copyright 2006 Dr Joe Rubino

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The world has become more and more materialistic; every year there is an increase in people having plastic surgery. no longer are the yearswhere folk only had surgery by being ill, cosmetic surgery has changed that for good as now more and more people are going under the knife under their own will to make themselves look a lot better, and why shouldn't they? Plastic surgery is not as expensive as it once used to be and most people can now afford it.

Plastic surgery though does tend to have its seasonal trends, and now that summer is fast approaching we can see that it is in fact more popular then ever before. The buzz around Breast Augmentation surgery have gone through the roof and there are a few reasons as to why this has occurred.

1) As summer fast approaches we see people that want to strip down to their bikinis and they would much rather do this if they had large breasts.
2) A lot of ladies tend to go abroad in the summer and they like to sun bathe topless, so by having more surgery it gives them the confidence to do this.
3) Reconstructing your breasts will also give you that added incentive of being noticed out of the crowd.
4) Getting bigger breasts will make you a lot more attractive towards the opposite sex.

There are numerous other reasons as to why there is a rise at certain times of the year, but on the whole we can clearly see that plastic surgery is becoming a lot more recognised and something people do on a regular basis, just as they would get their haircut or go and get their nails done.

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The financial crisis is now in full swing and we are seeing people begin to lose their jobs. Over gradual time unemployment figures are just going to get worse and worse.

But plastic surgery is on the rise, not just for the rich and famous but also for regular people. The work sector has become a lot more competitive over the past few months, so ultimately interviews have become a lot more difficult to pass.

There are three ultimate things to consider when going on interview and they are
1) Make sure you dress smartly for the occasion
2) Make sure that you have a bucket load of confidence and personality.
3) Make yourself look irresistable.

The first two factors can easily be justified with a little work, but the third is a little more tricky, in this current day and age appearance means everything. When you go for an interview, if you look amazing then you are more likely to be remembered. But if you are the opposite and go in for an interview looking frail then you will never make a good first impression.

So this has led to people approaching surgeons and getting various cosmetic surgery performed including facelifts, nose jobs and Breast Augmentation. So if you are looking to find a really useful job that is secure then maybe getting into the plastic surgery niche is a great one. As surgery itself is no long for A list celebrities, it has now become a lot more mainstream.

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The SMART goal setting concept utilizes a mnemonic technique to assist people in their goal setting behavior. If you want a quick, simple way to reach success, use this device to accomplish your personal, financial, and professional goals.

To illustrate this concept, an example will be used. Amy wishes to stop smoking. She decided to use the SMART technique to set and achieve her goal.

S = Specific

The language of your goals must be specific.

Amy’s goal is too vague. She needs to answer the questions what, why, and how when defining her goal. To make it specific she could state that she will quit smoking, because she cares about her health and wants to be a better role model for her children. She’s going to quit smoking by utilizing the patch and nicotine gum. Also, she plans on occupying her time and hands by joining a knitting group.

M = Measurable

Goals need to be measurable which means they need to be number specific.

At this point, Amy’s goal is not measurable. To make it measurable she would have to set goals which include measurements such as, “I plan on cutting down to one pack of cigarettes a day by the end of the first month.”

A = Attainable

Your goal needs to be something that you can achieve, and you need to have confidence in yourself. If you believe that you’re going to fail from the beginning, then you’re more likely to fail. Confidence is one of the significant factors according to goal setting theory.

Amy set a goal to quit smoking in six months. She has outlined a detailed plan on how she is going to quit smoking within her time frame. Currently, she is smoking two packs a day, so she sets short-term, attainable goals. The first goal is to consult with her primary care physician. The second short-term goal is to cut back to one pack a day by the end of the first month, half a pack a day by the end of the second month, one fourth of a pack by the finish of the third month, and two cigarettes a day by the end of the fourth month. At the conclusion of the fifth month, Amy plans to solely rely on nicotine patches and gum. By the end of the sixth month Amy plans on being free from relying on and using any substance with nicotine.

R = Relevant

Each short-term goal needs to relate to the long-term goal and be relevant to the participants.

If one of Amy;s short-term goals was to spend more time with her children, it wouldn’t be relevant to this long-term goal. That would have to be a separate goal.

T = Timely

The goals need to have a set end date. When do you wish to finish the goal? How long will it realistically take for you to be successful?

Amy makes her goal timely by stating that she will quit smoking cigarettes with six months, so her time frame is clear.

About the Author: Arina Nikitina is the author of the goal setting tutorial “How to Set and Achieve a Goal”. Get 27 proven techniques, 9 worksheets, and step-by-step success plan here: www.how-to-set-and-achieve-a-goal.com/ebook.shtml

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