Belive in yourself that's what they say.

had an interesting session with my client, who ended the session saying they just needed to believe they could do it and then they could.
Loved the great summary and if my clients could do this, the limiting belives would go away, and they'd be able to leave the self doubt.

this summed it up quite well "There are times when we believe in everything and everybody but ourselves. There is a constant search for mentors and role models when they exist within us" (http://www.depression-helper.com/believeinyourselfarticle.htm)

and this little check list from http://www.terrydean.org/why-believing-in-yourself-will-change-your-life/

Maintain A Positive Attitude.
1. Say something positive to every person you meet.

2. See something positive in every situation.

3. Force yourself to always think "It might work."

4. Become a champion of the "why not" club.

5. Act on all positive ideas.

6. Expect positive practices.

7. Be positive about things.

8. Apply positive thinking to all things you can control.

9. Do not allow negative thoughts to derail you. Re-fuel your positive thinking periodically.

this is also a good one

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/installing-empowering-beliefs/

it talks of changing limiting beliefs to empowering ones for example; "Asking for donations would make my web site look amateurish and unprofessional." He (steven pavlina) decided to challenge this assumption, so replaced it with the belief, "Many of my visitors want to help support me financially, and they'd be happy to donate if I gave them the opportunity to do so."

Positive thoughts lead to positive actions. I think therefore I am (Rene Descartes)


Our habits are stored in our unconscious mind. Think of driving to work and sometimes you "Zone" out - this is you unconscious taking over (luckily it's good at driving!)

To change habits we need to practise the new "habits". At first we'll be really aware doing them (our conscious mind) but after time, they'll become second nature and go into our unconscious. So "good habits" are worth practising as we'll then be doing the things we want to do naturally.

This is how we learn new "good habits" - I'm the best time keeper ever!

Start at the bottom and work up to the top

Conscious incompetence
Unconscious Incompetence
Conscious competence
Unconscious competence

This is the "bad habit" ie: poor time keeping. The person is unaware of it(This is NOT you as you are aware you want to make a change.
Now aware of habit - oops know I need to improve my time keeping
I can change my habit when I think about it. Aware I'm not snoozing.
This is it! I'm a good time keeper and don't even think about it!

Ok so we can all have our days where the glass is half empty, so how do we always see it as half full???

According the Martin Seligman (cited in Positive Psychology in a Nutshell by Ilona Boniwell) we can learn to be positive and optimistic!
Firstly we need to be aware of our thoughts and consciously "Disputing" negative thoughts. Then look for positive alternatives, (for more on going from unconscious thoughts to conscious thoughts, see the conscious competence blog)

Have a go at the confidence exercise and let me know how you get on! on nicola8osullivan@gmail.com

Building Confidence

Portray to others how you'd like to be seen yourself. Imagine who you want to be not who you think you are. It's our pesky thoughts that often get in the way, "this is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" (Shakespeare: Hamlet[1])

So imagine your confident self. Visualise how you'd like to be. Have a go at finishing the following statements;


Being a confident person would mean I would perceive myself as..........

Being a confident person would mean others would perceive me as..........

Being a confident person would mean I would be able to ..........

Being confident person would change me because..........

The one thing I can commit to doing now, that would boost my confidence is..........

[1] Shakespeare: Hamlet, Cited in Psychologies magazine July 08

What does confidence mean to you?
What does it enable you to do?
What would it enable you do?
Who is the most confident person you know?
How do they display confidence?
What's the one thing you could learn from them that would enable you to be more confident?