Confidence To Succeed

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." - Henry David Thoreau

The life we live is not restrained by outside things but by the chains we place upon ourselves. An act of self-doubt and worry will do more to keep us from moving forward then most anything else. There are certainly outside influences which can place obstacles in front of us.

It is within each of us to have confidence to succeed.

The origin of the word is from the Latin word confidere (to trust, to have faith in). Hence the original meaning of confidence is literally "to have trust or have faith in an object or person".

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the things which you think you cannot do." To find confidence is to look inside and face those things which keep you from moving forward.

Learning about oneself is the first step in moving boldly forward. You need to understand you are a confident person.

From an article titled Building Self-Confidence, the following items can help you start to recognize yourself as a confident person.

Self-Confident: Doing what you believe is right, even if others criticize you for it.
Low Self-Confidence: Governing your behavior based on what other people think.

Self-Confident: Taking risks and going the extra mile to achieve better things.
Low Self-Confidence: Staying in your comfort zone, fearing failure, avoiding risks.

Self-Confident: Admitting your mistakes and vowing to learn from them.
Low Self-Confidence: Work to cover mistakes and trying to fix before others know.

Self-Confident: Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.
Low Self-Confidence: Extolling your virtues as often to as many people possible.

Self-Confident: Accepting compliments graciously. “Thanks, I really worked hard on that prospectus. I’m pleased you recognize my efforts.”
Low Self-Confidence: Dismissing compliments offhandedly. “Oh that prospectus was nothing really, anyone could have done it.”

Additionally, here are some tips on how to gain confidence in your life.

1. Like yourself

The first step in becoming more confident is to accept and like yourself. You should make a list of all your positive traits and strengths on a piece of paper or in your diary. By doing this, you are reminding yourself that you too have praise-worthy qualities like others. You will like yourself and feel confident about yourself after this.

2. Attend Seminars

It is good if you attend seminars where professional speakers offer you tips and guidance on gaining confidence. During the speech, you can even pick up tips on public speaking from the speakers by watching their body language and the way they project themselves.

3. Motivate yourself

Whether it is for an interview or for a presentation, tell yourself that you can do it. Motivate yourself each day and soon you will find your confidence level growing. Another good way for motivation is that after work or study each day you should make a list of at least four things that you did well for that day.

4. Overcome fears

Some people always have a fear that they can never be successful in anything they do. Such insecurity will be a disadvantage and would cause you to lack confidence in yourself and in everything you do in your life. So in order for you to get rid of this fear you have to remind yourself that if you haven’t try something you can never say that you will fail in it. Be positive and try things without any fear or insecurity. For example at work your boss is asking you to head a team but you fear that you will make a mess out of it. Such a fear will prevent you from taking on that task at work. But if you were a confident person you wouldn’t think twice about failing and would gladly take on that task. This shows that a lack of confidence could also affect your career.

5. Accept Failures

If you are always crying over the mistakes that you made in your life, you will never get anywhere. Always remember that past mistakes and failures cannot be reversed and what’s done is done. Thus it is no use crying over spilt milk. A confident individual always looks past those failures in his life. After all, failures are juts part and parcel of becoming successful. If you failed once you should take that failure as a learning lesson.

While the information above is quite simplified, I suggest you read more to find what works best for you. Find a public library near you or search online for more information. Reading my article is not the end all to help you gain confidence, but maybe it will put you on a path to go boldly forward.

Stay inspired my friends!

What Is That In Your Coffee

"Widespread caffeine use explains a lot about the twentieth century."
- Greg Egan

Here we are at the end of a long week that was made even longer for some by watching the Super Bowl late last Sunday. The Friday morning sun is beginning to creep over the horizon and all you can think of is getting that first cup of coffee.

Did you ever wonder what it is about coffee that stirs your craving?

Well here is a short video that helps explain at least why I like my morning cup of coffee so much. And all along I had thought it was due to Juan Valdez' constant search for the best coffee beans bringing me the freshest and most aromatic flavors.



So have your cup of coffee this morning and finish off the work week strong. The weekend is nearly upon us.

Stay inspired my friends!

Measuring Your Goals

“Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction.”
- Anthony Robbins

When goals are set, the next step is to find a method of measuring the progress made towards achieving them. A need exists to chart where you are on the path to accomplishment. While the end will always look distant, knowing how distant will help you stay focused.

This is why experts say to write down your goals and then list a path to them.

For each goal, write down those things which must be down to place yourself at the end. It could be be a goal to lose weight. What are the steps besides simply not eating? These steps might include a proper diet appropriate to your health conditions, a change in your exercise habits or possibly changing your environment.

If you work at a Krispy Kreme donut shop and love donuts, maybe a change is needed.

Maybe the goal is to find a better job. Some would think the best thing is to quit and go look for a new job. Normally that is a bad idea because you need the current income to keep you going until finding something new. So how does one do this when working 12 hour days?

Take an hour or even 30 miinutes each day to look through the papers, yellow pages, search the Internet or by driving around. See what businesses are out there either close to you or in an area you are interested in. Research these companies and find out more about their business. Is this something you would want to do. Is there something you could fill a need for them. Now create your resume based on their needs, fill out an application and contact the company.

There are many steps you can write down for any goal.

By checking each one off as you complete them, you move closer to realizing your goal. This checklist can be your measurement. Yet the biggest obstacle many times to achievement is your own attitude. You have to believe in yourself and if not, change your attitude first. There is nothing worse then working towards a goal and hitting a problem along the way.

Those with a negative attitude will let the problem win and they will give up on the dream. If you maintain a positive attitude, you will recognize the problem for what it is, a temporary and short-term delay in achieving your goal.

Positive people work through it and continue on with renewed knowledge and ability.

Dream your greatest dreams, believe in those dreams and in your self. Now create a written path to those dreams. Watch as you progress to the finish line, gaining momentum with others cheering you on to success. Your success will be an inspiration to others but it will also be an inspiration to yourself.

Stay inspired my friends!

Twitter On A Wire

“We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.” ― Oliver Sacks

"hashtag" Good morning, "hashtag" everyone.

I must confess I am an avid user of Twitter. I have been known to Tweet a picture of some spectacular meal or my travel buddy Einstein in some far off distant location. But in spite of my geeky ways, I can still laugh about it.

I can also assure everyone I am normal, have a regular job and I do have real friends, not just Facebook or Twitter friends. Yet the full allure of Twitter is still something I am trying to understand.

What drives me to Tweet?

Maybe just another way to connect with people far and wide. As I was growing up on a small farm in Nebraska, there were not a whole lot of folks you could meet. But my world grew and reaches all corners of the earth.

The biggest thing I can say about Twitter its ability to connect with other people. Not in a creepy stalking way but as an alternative method for communicating.

Connections happen on many different levels.

Whether it be using the telephone, email, chat rooms, instant messaging, SMS texting, blogging, or mini-blogging; all of this is social interaction happening on one level or another. Twitter is simply a form of communication.

We should all enjoy the various abilities technology has given us. From the earliest childhood days of using two tin cans and a long piece of string, we have been looking for new ways to talk with each other.

Keeping the conversation going remains the important thing.

It still remains much better to sit down, face to face, and have a conversation. As long as we keep talking and understanding each other, there will be hope for improving our lives and settling any difference we have. That is the true form of communication.

So enjoy the following Twitter musical and stay inspired my friends.