We all have formed an image of ourselves in one way or another. I have been studying my performance in relation to my self-image.
The discovery has been phenomenal. I have discovered that the way I view myself directly affects my task performance and my overall life output.
I believe that this is true for most of us. We live our lives based on our self-image. We form our self-image based on many factors, especially external ones.
If your self-image is that of a failure or of a loser, believe me, you are most likely living a failed or losing life. However, the opposite is also true.
When I carry out a task and my thoughts are negative, the results aren’t very encouraging. Sometimes I have spent hours and hours writing articles only to realise that I have not done a good job.
This happens mostly when I am having negative feelings. Articles written while I’m feeling negative never make it onto this website.
Therefore, you need to build a positive self-image to improve your performance. A positive self-image is one of the key factors in enhancing your personal growth.
A positive self-image can boost your performance and speed up your goal-attainment process. Sometimes you just feel negative about something; it is absolutely okay to feel that way.
The key thing is how quickly you turn your negative thoughts into positive ones. I have written enough articles on this website that sometimes when I feel demotivated, I start going through some of them, and boom, my mind is filled with positive thoughts.
I have also gotten inspiration for writing even more articles just from reading motivational books. I am not blowing my own trumpet, but just merely stressing the point of reading motivational articles.
If you have always had negative thoughts about yourself, I encourage you to read the Bible for inspiration. There are many books out there, but the Bible is the book of life. It is the manual for your life.
When you read the Bible, you begin to see how precious you are in God’s eyes. Failure is often tied to our negative self-image.
You can change and shape your destiny if you change your personal self-image. Change begins with you.
If you want to improve your performance and live the life you’ve always wanted, you must make the mental shift to believe you are the best at what you do and start taking action.
You are responsible for your life and should learn to take full responsibility for your actions and your current situation. If you are an adult, you should not expect a bailout.
Take responsibility and start acting to make things better for yourself.
“The moment of enlightenment is when a person’s dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities” – Vic Bruden.
How Do You Change Your Self-image?
This is perhaps the starting point for your personal growth. You alone are responsible for creating your self-image.
It’s like in a marriage, what you tell your relatives and friends about your spouse is what they will know about them. If you disrespect them, believe me, they will also do the same.
What you call your spouse in public is what they will call them. So if you want people to respect them, you will always endeavour to say positive things about them and treat them with respect.
Those of you who are married must take this advice seriously. You will respect your spouse in public regardless of the differences you have at home.
Those who do not value their marriages will talk negatively about their spouses in public. Yes, every marriage has its own unique problems, and we do not want to bring them out in public.
The same is true with how you view and portray yourself to people. The more positive and confident you show people, the more positive and confident people will see you.
But this begins with yourself seeing the many positive things and qualities you possess. Take a sheet of paper and just write out 20 things you think you are.
You will be amazed at what you will write down. Yes, we fail, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try again. The most successful people fail many times before they succeed.
Less successful people give up when they encounter a challenge. To me, failure is merely an obstacle to overcome. Life would be very boring without challenges.
Often, when we encounter challenges, it simply means there is an opportunity to develop a solution.
If you keep trying and trying things differently, you will surely succeed at what you are doing.
Fill your mind with positive self-images, and sooner or later your mind will change the way you see yourself.
Create a deliberate habit of saying “I like myself” repeatedly every time you feel low emotionally. When you wake up in the morning, ask God to help you focus on the positive things in life.
Refuse the spirit of negativity and adopt a positive mindset. Believe you can complete tasks better and make time to develop your skills.
Have an open mind to learning new things. Always see failure as a challenge and refuse to accept it.
Changing your self-image will make you feel much happier and definitely help improve your performance.
When you feel good about yourself, you will perform much, much better. After all, what you want most in life is happiness.
You will come across people who say unpleasant things about you. But you have ultimate control to accept or reject them; besides, we all have skeletons in our closets.
No one on this earth can claim to be pure. It is also helpful to spend time with people who have a positive image of you, as this helps keep you motivated.
When you create a positive image of yourself, somehow it flows from you and attracts the right people. Make a deliberate policy to evaluate your friends; some may not be beneficial to your personal growth.
Maintain the Discipline of Doing What is Right
There is a good feeling when you do something that is right. The feeling is just awesome. I wouldn’t be wrong to say we all have the ability to do the right thing.
There is something nice about feeling that what we have done is good. All well-meaning people have a conscience that tells them about what they are doing.
Usually I go with my first thoughts, or rather my instincts. If I am doing something that I am not sure of its effect on other people, I back out unless I am convinced otherwise.
This is not to say that I have never done wrong things before. No. Believe me, I have, and I have learned to take responsibility for them and help correct them if I can.
I am not ashamed to go back and say I’m sorry; let me correct my wrongdoing. I have developed the discipline of doing what I think and feel is right, especially for my success.
Self-discipline is one of the most difficult traits, but an important one for personal development and growth. We keep fighting every day to do the right things.
Our minds always tell us to do the easier things in life rather than the most difficult and important things first. Like delayed gratification, we always want to spend money rather than save for the future.
I also struggle daily to do the easy things and forget the difficult, necessary tasks. But tell you what: every time I conquer this edge, I feel joy and satisfaction.
Developing the discipline to do the right things first is a valuable trait for improving your performance.
Doing the right things always makes you feel motivated and proud of yourself.
Society lacks men and women who can stand up to do the right things even in the face of criticism.
It seems to me that many of us have fallen prey to doing what is popular or trending for fear of being called bad names.
We would rather be on the same side with the majority even when we know deep down in our hearts that what we have done is wrong.
Conclusion
“Believe in yourself” – Unknown. Personal self-image is critical to personal growth, as it is the centre of your performance attributes.
We should try as much as possible to create a positive self-image if we want to enjoy our lives. Most people with a negative self-image are low performers.
If you are in a leadership position, take a closer look at your subordinates’ performance reports; you will realise that a major factor in low performance is a negative self-image.
The high performers are usually more confident and have a positive self-image.
You should consider helping low performers, as this will reflect on your leadership skills and improve your team’s performance.