3 Tips to Increase Your Personal Power

2018-12-302018-12-30 ~ adminlife

Personal power is never fully developed. Like your body, it needs exercise. Not a couple of times a week. Instead, conscious training several times a day. To develop habits that ingrain beliefs, values and help you become at one with yourself. When you know yourself, value yourself and stay true to you, you’ll find meaningful purpose in all areas of life. At the core of the true you is the ability to bring the best out in those around you.

That’s the makings of a true leader. Leading from a place of wisdom and not using positional power alone.

You can have positional power and personal power, but you cannot be an effective leader without personal power. Nor do you need the positional power to be a driving force for good in your own life and those around you.

3 Tips to Boost Your Personal Power

1. Strive to learn more

Commit to consistent learning and be broad about the topics you study. Study life and attend seminars and workshops to build your expertise. Most important is to learn more about yourself continually. Try new things, experiment, take some risks and put yourself into situations that make you feel vulnerable. Go to the cinema after work instead of feeling the need to have drinks with your colleagues, just because you feel the need to fit in. Do what feels right by you.

2. Practice Mindful Gratitude

Practicing gratitude is among the most positive habits you can develop. Keeping a gratitude journal can serve you in multiple ways. You’ll feel better, sleep better, eat healthier, have stronger relationships with everyone important in your life, and you’ll feel happier for being grateful for everything you have surrounding you.

3. Own Your Authenticity

Authenticity is about being true to you. It is only possible when you have in-depth knowledge and know your strengths and weaknesses. You will begin to act with deliberate intentions that are in line with your moral compass. You will know your place and when to delegate and how to go about using your relationship skills to get people to do things for you that you know they’ll do a better job than you could if you were to try.

That’s where coming from a place of personal power to influence others will help push you toward reaching your goals faster, because you will have strong relationships with people who value your input, expertise, trust your credibility and will help you when you ask, without hesitation.

To your success

Michael W

P.S. If you are looking for a confidence program that can help you with your self development. Send me an email at michael@youaresuccesslifecoach.com to request a copy of my “Maximum Confidence Transformation Package”. Afterwards we can arrange a discovery telephone call to discuss the package and how you can benefit further from developing your confidence level.

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/identity-self-authentic-795295/

Stop Being a Know-It-All

2018-12-212018-12-16 ~ adminlife

Knowledge is great. It gives you the power to make decisions and even keeps you from making the wrong ones. However, if you get to the point where you believe you know everything, that is going to hurt your ability to make those decisions. At that point, you will lose trust in your abilities.

You are one smart cookie. Perhaps you went to a great college which landed you a great job after graduation. Once you start working, however, you get fixated that you know everything there is to know. That is when you are in danger of losing your edge. You will start to make bad decisions which could end up costing you a job or two.

It is important to trust yourself with the knowledge you have learned. However, times and technologies change, and you need to be ready for those changes. Too many people get left behind by getting comfortable in their current positions.

Companies have been trying to help by offering training or tuition reimbursement. While this is a step in the right direction, if companies or colleges are not offering the appropriate training, this becomes a waste of money.

Another danger with companies offering internal training is they blame employees when those employees don’t learn from the offerings. Even if employees do learn, applying the knowledge may not increase the companies’ bottom lines. These companies don’t evaluate the effectiveness of their programs. Worse, they make broad claims that they are leading-edge companies because they offer training to employees.

There are some great training programs online from websites such as Udemy.com, SkillShare.com, and others. However, anyone is permitted to submit training modules and makes selecting these modules hit or miss. There are good offerings with these programs. But, you must rely on feedback from others.

No matter where you find training, modules can be well-presented but may still contain out-of-date material. People could give high ratings based on the fact that they are well-presented. That gives you a false sense of security that you are receiving proper training.

You must be quite selective when choosing training for the current work environment. Be overly critical, but don’t let it stop you from seeking training. Good training exists. Ask people you know for suggestions.

You should always stay in learning mode, no matter where you went to school or how much knowledge you think you have. In a constantly changing world, you’ll be way ahead of others, and it will give you the tools you need to trust your decisions.

To your success

Michael W

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/prague-library-prague-monastery-980732/

The Power of Self-Belief

2018-12-202018-12-16 ~ adminlife

If you believe in yourself, there is little to stop you in whatever you want to accomplish. It gives you the power to push forward and to defy the odds. You will be able to handle any roadblocks that come your way. You will also brush off the naysayers. It gives you peace of mind when you stick to your self-belief.

To keep that self-belief strong, you need to define your goals. You wouldn’t expect a general to fight a war without a map. You too need a map to guide you on how to proceed. Too many people skip this step and wonder why they aren’t getting anywhere.

Goals are your guidance, but carrying through with them is only done when you believe that it’s possible. The belief is the energy you need to take action. It helps you to focus on getting your tasks complete.

You will also build confidence when you have self-belief. It’s a powerful tool as others will be attracted to that confidence. They will follow your lead, and you will help show them what is possible. When you run into any stumbling blocks (and you will), that confidence will help you see them through. You will know how to take alternative action when necessary. The people following you will respect that as well.

Several forces will try to beat you down. You may even find yourself letting it happen. You need to get centred on why you started your journey in the first place. Use affirmations to reinforce your message. Be consistent with your affirmations.

Unfortunately, many of the negative forces are going to be from your family and friends. They will see it as helping you avoid mistakes. Many people will succumb to this negative pressure and give up. One way to prevent this is to join groups of like-minded individuals. It can be related to your business, or it can be groups that focus on self-help. These organizations exist to try and push the negative forces out. It’s great to go to meetings and get encouragement from the group.

Attending these groups can sometimes lead to friendships with people where you can extend the encouragement of each other. You may even form business partnerships from these friendships. It’s good to know that you have the support of these people when these relationships form. They understand when everyone else around you doesn’t. Your self-belief will strengthen considerably from this arrangement.

To your success

Michael W

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/paper-document-business-composition-3111146/

The Perils of Self-Doubt

2018-12-192018-12-16 ~ adminlife

Have you ever doubted yourself? Perhaps that seems like a silly question as most people have doubted themselves at some point in their lives. But, many people continue to doubt themselves, and this can be a major contributor in holding them back towards success.

Why do people engage in self-doubt? The reason is that it is easier to doubt yourself than it is to believe that something is possible. When you believe in your concept, it is something that hasn’t materialized yet. It is unfamiliar territory for you. Our protection mechanisms tell us to reach for something that is familiar. We use this as a reason to quit.

The unknown also helps us to come up with excuses. It’s easy to say it won’t work because, and then insert whatever reason can set your mind at ease. You can even find help from others in coming up with excuses. They have plenty of them for you to choose. If they didn’t, they would be succeeding at their goals.

Sometimes self-doubt can help us survive. For instance, if you someone said that you could jump off a high cliff and not get killed, your self-doubt will reassure you that this is a bad idea. Self-doubt can also sometimes guide you to not get into something unnecessarily, like a business opportunity that sounds too good to be true, etc.

In most cases, self-doubt is not something that will advance your life. It will hold you back, and you need always to be aware of that. Don’t take the easy way out. Do prepare yourself as much as possible for the unfamiliar situations. But, go forward with a strong belief that you can accomplish what you set out to do.

Try to structure your life so that you have more positive than negative energy. Use affirmations, support groups, or whatever works to flush out as much negative energy as possible. Negative energy is what self-doubt is all about. The two forces are opposing each other. If you have 100% negative energy that means you have 0% positive energy. Therefore, try to tip the scale to as much positivity as possible and push away the negativity.

The world is full of negative energy. It’s unlikely that you can ever have 100% positive energy. But, you can work towards exposing yourself to positive energy. You can stop listening or reading the news, and you can reduce your exposure to negative people. Positive people do exist. You just need to find them.

To your success

Michael W

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/cloud-insecurity-negativity-fears-705729/

Why It Is Important to Believe in Yourself

2018-12-142018-12-10 ~ adminlife

You may wonder why it is important to believe in yourself. The simple answer is that no one else will. Your spouse and your family will believe in you to a certain extent. However, when times get tough, family support tends to wane. It’s not that they don’t love and care about you. It’s just they stopped believing in you.

While this doesn’t always happen, it happens often enough to cause conflict. An example is when a spouse or parents initially give you support on a new venture. When the venture doesn’t work out as they believe it should, they start to question whether you should continue with it. If your belief starts to weaken, you may take on their way of thinking.

The reason beliefs start to weaken is due to a fear of the unknown. When you start a new venture, everyone is excited for you and will tell you to give it your best shot. However, when the prospects of the business become murkier, that excitement turns to fear.

The problem is the path towards success for these ventures is not a straight line up. Having some bumps in the road is normal. In fact, this is what defines the success of the enterprise, and the people who are taking risks. It should be welcomed and not feared.

The fear of the unknown may start to creep into your psyche. It’s easier to listen to your family and friends tell you to dissolve your venture because it is failing. They will continue down this negative path until you decide to stop. If you do choose to give up on your business, they will tell you that it wasn’t meant to be and that starting a business is difficult.

That time is precisely the moment that you shouldn’t stop. People never get ahead by quitting. If you believe in yourself, you would have had the conviction to see it through. You would have the appropriate guidance to give you strength to surge ahead. You could have done all of it while telling your family and friends to have some faith. A firm belief in yourself would give you the courage to stand up to them.

Whatever venture you decide to pursue, know that only by continuing will you make it work. Think of Thomas Edison’s contribution to the lightbulb. While he did not invent the lightbulb (contrary to popular belief), he made ones that lasted longer. Imagine if he decided to quit after he ran into a few stumbling blocks early on.

To your success

Michael W

Feature photo used under CCO and available at https://pixabay.com/en/paper-document-business-composition-3111146/