- Do you ever experience low self-worth when you see another person’s success?
- Have you ever noticed that you constantly feel envious of other people’s accomplishments?
- Have you ever experienced self-doubt about your capacity to handle life’s everyday challenges?
If answer to any of the above question is ‘YES’, then probably you have a weak Self-Image.
Now you must be wondering,
What is Self-Image and how it gets formed?
Let’s dive in and find out
Self-Image is the internalized mental picture or image you have of yourself. It is who you believe you are. Our mind is so powerful that it always works in the direction of our beliefs.
We are all living in a world where we are being constantly being fed information through social media, advertisements, movies, news etc. In this constant chaos, our mind is never at ease. Things are moving so fast that we are not even living in the present moment.
Comparing our lives to others seems too easy rather than taking risks, planning, and growing in life.
A powerful statement by Khalil Gibran:
If you are not growing in life, then you are decaying.
This statement simply means that if you are facing the same problems Day In Day Out, then you are in a stuck state. You are not moving ahead in life. Overcome these challenges and let new challenges come into your life. That will be the indication that you are growing in life.
So, let’s understand what distorts your self-image and stops you from growing in life:
The three major reasons that stop you from taking action are
- Procrastination
- Negative self-talk
- People’s Opinions
Sounds familiar?
Isn’t it?
Let’s dig a little deeper and understand
What is Procrastination and Why do you procrastinate?
Procrastination means the act of delaying any task and putting it off to tomorrow. Don’t confuse it with laziness. When we continuously delay one task then it becomes our habit to procrastinate on many important tasks daily. Then work starts getting piled up which results in stress.
And now you must be thinking but why do we procrastinate?
That is because each one of us likes to live in our comfort zone. We feel comfortable doing the same things over a period of time. Trying something new means going into the Unknown zone which can make most of us uncomfortable. So, it is rightly said that we become slaves to our habits.
But let me tell you something “There is nothing comfortable in the Comfort Zone”. It’s neither improving the quality of your life nor you are enjoying your life. It has just become a familiar zone for you.
When you procrastinate, and you say that you will do the task from tomorrow that means your mind gets the message that you will never do that particular task.
In this way, your mind starts working on a pattern of just thinking about the task, procrastinate and the result is no action towards completing the task. So, your self-image is formed of a person who delays tasks on a regular basis.
Our mind is a terrible master and an obedient servant.
At all times, our mind works either to gain pleasure or avoid pain. When we delay any task, then our mind associates more pain in doing that particular task.
Imagine this, you want to start exercising for maintaining good health or losing weight and when you procrastinate, then your mind interprets the message as “you will never exercise”. Now picture yourself, that if you never start exercising, will you be able to lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle?
That’s right the answer is NO.
So now imagine, if you never exercise, your health starts deteriorating and you are not even be able to do your daily simple chores. Imagine to the extreme that you’ve become bed-ridden. Now, the mind starts associating pain to the comfort zone. You will start getting uncomfortable in your own comfort zone and that’s when you will start taking action.
This is the surest way to beat Procrastination.
Now here’s the most important part. Keep reading and find out-
Self-Talk
Self-talk is a constant internal dialogue that determines how we feel and behave at any given moment. We speak over 50,000 words to ourselves each day through self-talk.
Self-talk is considered an important factor in creating your self-image. It is so powerful that it can upgrade or degrade your self-Image.
Want to know how?
Let’s take a closer look:
There are 2 types of Self -Talks:
- Positive Self-Talk
- Negative Self-Talk.
Negative Self-Talk is the Self-Communication in which you always doubt your own capabilities. You always look for approval from other people for even daily and mundane tasks. Believe it or not, it is the main cause of anxiety, fear, and stress.
On the contrary,
Positive self-talk is the Self-Communication in which you trust your own capabilities. You just love the way you are and you are confident in handling whatever challenges come in your life. You always uplift yourself when you make a mistake or encounter a failure or a loss. Positive Self-Talk improves attitude, energy, and effort. It reduces stress, anxiety and fear.
Learning to recognize between the two and choosing only those which give you energy can make a difference in the quality of life. It also determines your attitude towards life.
For instance, people with negative self-talk feel less energetic, irritated whereas people with positive self-talk are full of energy, confidence and always engaged in some task.
It’s Totally Normal (and Healthy) to Talk to Yourself. Do you talk to yourself?
I can hear you. your answer is YES.
Now just check within what do you mostly talk to yourself?
Now let me tell you something that is scientifically proven,
Whatever you speak within is directly going into your subconscious mind, which in turn is forming your self-image. These are not just statements for your mind. The mind takes them as Commands.
“Watch what you tell yourself, you’re likely to believe it.” – Russ Kyle
As it rightly said, everything is created twice, first internally and then you see the exact same things in the external world. So first that statement is implanted in your subconscious mind, then you start taking actions accordingly to produce the results.
For example, most people say “whatever I do my health does not improve. How much ever I try, I don’t get the success I deserve.
Such statements of negative self-talk are creating an impact on your subconscious mind. Your mind is taking them as commands and creating your reality.
People’s Opinions: Do they matter?
Your whole idea about yourself is borrowed from those who have no idea of who they are themselves.
We are living in a society where everyone has an opinion about everyone else. We try to judge others based on the way someone speaks or dresses or even walks.
Your self-image is hugely impacted by the company you keep.
A powerful quote by Lao Tzu: “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”
It means if you are someone who easily gets affected by other’s opinions, then you have become their prisoner for life.
Because when people’s opinions start disturbing you, then you start to behave according to them. In other words, you have become a slave to them. You have given your control in their hands.
You become a people’s pleaser and you will always be anxious about making others happy. To make others happy you will keep doing things, even if deep within you are unhappy about doing those things. Your mind will never be at ease. This will have a direct effect on your Self-Talk.
Do people’s opinions matter?
My answer is a simple ‘NO’.
What others say or think about you is just an Opinion, Do Not make it Fact about yourself.
These 3 reasons are enough to destroy your Self-Image.
Let’s understand this, in today’s world, negative people, social media, news, peer pressure are affecting each one of us, but still we have a chance to improve our self-image and bring magical transformation in our lives.
So let me show you
Powerful Beliefs to protect and improve your self-image.
- Stop negative feeding to your mind
If you are constantly feeding your mind with failure stories or people who are present in your surroundings are negatively impacting your life, then stay away from such people. Such negativity is corrupting your mind.
- Make the negative statements powerless.
If someone says any negative statement to you, make it powerless by saying to that person “IT’S YOUR OPINION”.
For instance, if someone tells you that you are not capable of achieving success. Make this statement powerless by registering in your mind that this statement is just his/her Opinion. It is not the fact.
Trust me, your mind will start showing you the endless possibilities in the direction of your goal instead of reacting to people’s opinions.
This powerful technique will help you in protecting your self-image
- Observe your self-talk
Start observing your self-talk. Be aware of your internal conversation with yourself. If you find your self-talk to be negative then reverse this self-talk. That means to change it to positive self-talk.
For instance, you are internal conversation is I don’t know whether I will be able to finish this particular task on time.
Write down this statement on a piece of paper.
Then reverse this statement by writing that I am the person who always finishes work on time. This way you are clearly giving instructions to your mind and it will produce the results you want.
This powerful technique will enhance your self-image.
- Visualize your Self-Image
Visualize yourself as a strong person. Imagine yourself as huge and as strong as a Mountain. Picture yourself as being stable as a mountain even during heavy rain or storms.
Realize that your problems are as small as pebbles in front of you that you can overcome very easily.
This will give a boost to your self-image.
Make small goals and accomplish them. Your goal can be as small as tidying your room, reading a paragraph of the book etc.
- Make small goals and achieve them
The goals that you have decided to achieve, divide them into a small list of tasks and achieve them. This will definitely boost your self-Image.
Your Self-Image will become more powerful.
These 5 simple yet powerful ways can enhance your self-Image and improve the level of success in your life.
It all boils down to one thing:
“The level of your success depends on the size of your Self-Image”.
