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Be Your Own Hero!

Guest post by: Pat Mussieux

Article Overview: There are many kinds of heroes in life – war heroes, super heroes, emergency services professionals. Have you ever considered yourself in this category?

Be Your Own Hero!

There are many kinds of heroes in life – war heroes, super heroes, emergency services professionals. Have you ever considered yourself in this category? If you are like most people, you have developed the habit of moving through your successes, and accomplishments, in life much too quickly! That’s strong conditioning for many of us who grew up in the day and age when it was not a good thing to speak well of yourself. “If you’re feeling good about you, what you’re wearing outside doesn’t mean a thing!”– Leontyne Price There are a few simple things you can do to build your sense of self-worth and self-efficacy. I want to share some of the practices I have because I want you to strengthen your confidence and courage when it comes time to take risks and try new things both in business and in life. 1. I keep an index card by my computer – a new one each Monday, dated for that week. Any time I get a complimentary e-mail from a client, a card in the mail, a positive wall post on Facebook, then I add a one-line statement about it on the index card. Each Friday, I take about 5 minutes to read each statement, I close my eyes after each one and just visualize what that looks like and feels like. I really ‘take it all in”. Then, I add that particular card to my ‘success box’ – in which I have stacks of cards from this past year. When I am having a bad day, or I’ve just finished a disappointing phone call……or what have you, I grab that card on my desk and take a few minutes to wallow in the good stuff! I’ve kept these cards over the years – it’s fabulous to go back and review them. 2. I journal each night. In this journal, I elaborate on what’s gone well each day – particularly, if I have been dealing with a challenging client or new, intimidating situation. I celebrate each part of those situations that has gone well – there’s always at least one thing! 3. I keep a Vision Board on my office wall for the year. Each time I accomplish something on my Vision Board, I put a small check mark through it. I take a few moments to celebrate that achievement. This builds the confidence and courage to consider bigger risks and loftier dreams for the following year. 4. I share with my closest friends. I have a close circle of girlfriends who have a pretty solid understanding of what it is I do each day for a living. They recognize that there are challenges and setbacks in the work that I do. They also cheer me on when I take quantum leaps, try new things and make it happen. This really boosts my confidence and courage when I get their positive feedback because I really value their opinion – and it’s great to have your own team of cheer-leaders! 5. I share my accomplishments in my public speaking presentations, where and when it is appropriate. Being raised a ‘good Catholic girl’, this didn’t always come easy. What I have learned, through experience though, is that it is critical to share my accomplishments because it inspires other women to develop the confidence and courage to try some of those things………I have walked the path and they know it can be done. 6. I update my bio regularly and am sure to include my accomplishments. When prospects read about them, it makes them feel comfortable about working with me as a coach and/or master mind leader. It instills confidence in them and assures them that they have made a great decision in working with me. 7. I post updates on Facebook and other social media. It gives messages of hope and encouragement to others to step up and develop the courage to try some of the things I have done. I have been nominated for the 2010 RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year – holy crow – that’s quite an accomplishment and other woman solopreneurs around me need to know that this type of recognition is possible! CONCLUSION It is so easy to pass through our accomplishments and successes. Most of us have been conditioned not to think or speak well of ourselves – that it is bragging. Well, quite frankly, would YOU want to work with a coach or master mind leader who has NOT experienced, or shared, any achievements? I would hope not. Do YOU want to model to your children that it is essential to continue to grow and develop and become the best person you can be in life? It’s all about building that internal sense of self-worth and only you can do this – by internalizing all that you have done well, by accepting compliments that you are given, by daring to have a strong self-image. Confidence and courage doesn’t just happen……and it doesn’t happen overnight……..but, over time, you can be your own hero! Don’t wait for someone else to build you up – start today. What is one thing you have done well today, that you are so happy and pleased about? Please share your thoughts! YOUR ASSIGNMENT 1. Develop the habit of keeping an index card by your computer – start today. 2. At the end of this week, make time to stop, read what’s on the card, internalize all those good things – and file the card in your (new) Success Box! 3. Start over with another new card on Monday!

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Article Tags: Confidence and courage, grow your business, happiness, heroes, Marketing and Mindset, Pat Mussieux, Self Growth, success, Success Coaching, women in business



Related Forum Posts
Are you a Support Hero Or a Support Zero - Are you a support Hero or a support Zero ?? Many websites fail not because they have bad products or their prices are to high but simply because they forgot to have a decent support system for their visitors. Support needs to be high on the agenda if your business venture is to survive in this day and age and I'm not just talking about setting up an FAQ page and hoping for the best as a lot of sites do, I am talking having people on hand to answer questions and provide the old fashioned form of support that says so much about a company. We have all tried to contact a certain company on the telephone only to find ourselves running around in circles listening to extensive menus and robotic voices telling us to push button 1 or to hash 4 only to find yet another menu and another bot telling us to choose yet another number, finally doing a full circle and listening to the first menu all over again. Or we have managed to successfully navigate through the menus only to find we are on hold for ages before we finally get to a real person who invariably hangs up on us, requiring that we suffer through the whole painful process yet again. Your website is no different if visitors cannot find their way around and they decide to hit the contact us link and leave an email requesting assistance you can be sure they don't expect to wait days or weeks for an answer and nor should they, it is in your own best interests to deal with their inquiry as quickly as possible the most they should have to wait is 24 hours before an answer is sent to them. There are a few sites i could name that provide the worst level of support i have ever seen one of them a forum where the support is so bad that the boards regularly get spammed with porn or pirated designer wear or illegal drugs for sale, these posts can remain there for weeks before a moderator or admin decide to remove them, customers there fair no better they pay a premium to have their articles submitted but scanning the forum it is filled with angry complaints from people that have paid good money months before yet their articles remain pending approval, this sort of laziness on the part of the site owners and operators is criminal, they are taking money under false pretenses their advertising states rapid inclusion and distribution yet by the time they finally approve the poor authors article the information it contains is months out of date. The bottom line is that the better you support your visitors the more sales you will make and you will be referred to other people your clients know, you and your site are rated and classified by the level of support you are willing to provide so it's important you aim to be a support hero otherwise one day you'll find your sales drop to zero.


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