by Kelly Swanson

Created on: February 23, 2008

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Changing Your Reflection
Because often the number one obstacle standing in the way of your success is YOU

In business it's not really about what you know, but how much they think you know. Your self-image is a crucial asset in the marketplace and serves both an inward and an outward purpose.

The Reflection of Your Self-Image

The way you view yourself translates into the way you present yourself. When you have a healthy dose of self-esteem, you appear confident, and when you appear confident they feel comfortable in embracing what you have to say and what you have to sell. And we all have something to sell. Your healthy self-image, translated into your body language and verbal skills, proves that you have the situation under control and gives you instant credibility. It says that you can be trusted. There is nothing worse than someone trying to sell something they're not sure they believe. Low self-esteem means you don't believe in yourself and when you're selling, you're not selling a product or an idea, you're selling yourself. So if you don't like you, why should they? We all know that the key to influencing others in business is the ability to go beyond speaking to their minds to speaking to their hearts - that emotional place where all decisions are made, even business decisions. A strong self-image speaks louder than your words and shoots an arrow directly where you need to make your mark.

Your Self-Image's Control Over You

Rarely do we understand just how damaging a poor self-image can be. It's a matter of control. Low self-esteem controls you. With a healthy self-esteem, you're in control. A positive self-image gives you the courage to take action instead of asking yourself if you have the right to take action. It makes you dream higher and therefore achieve higher. It allows your passion to work without being hindered by negative thoughts.

So How Do You Have It When You Don't Feel It?

Fake it until you make it. If you struggle with self-esteem, start by acting like you believe in you. Smile and breathe and convince yourself that you know what you're doing. Learn how to control those subtle bodily and verbal communications that tell them you are hesitant.

Start to work immediately on your inner script. Over time you will learn that the negative voices whispering in your ear can only be blamed on you. You have the power over whether you will internalize them. You get to rewrite the script. So start replacing the statements that hurt you with ones that will build you up. They will be as unique as you are. Write them down if you have to. Repeat them to yourself before a big "game" and as often as you need to until they are a natural part of your thought process.

Learn to take negative criticism and learn from it or discard it as irrelevant without having it set you back on the road to healthy self-image. Remember that you always get to decide whether situations will make you or break you.

Remember that it's not one step, it's a process, just like life. The successes don't often come in reaching the finish line, but every time you dust yourself off and get back up. The choice is, and always will be, yours.

Learn more about this author, Kelly Swanson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.