CAREER DEVELOPMENT, GOALS, SUCCESS UNIVERSITY

Everyone has an image to take care of. Whether you like it or not, people will often scrutinize your looks. If you want to create your image, decide now! You can stand by and improve your own image or be a shadow of someone else. Many people shy away because they are so conscious of their appearance. Here are just five simple steps on how to enhance your image and to build the must have self confidence.

1. Feel good about yourself. Positive thinking is a good enhancer of personality. Nothing compares to an aura of self contentment and serenity. Shyness is developed by negative thoughts that others are far better than you. Stop that nonsense and start appreciating yourself. Look at the mirror every morning and say to yourself "You are a beautiful creation of God!"

2. Positive image starts in you. A good character is admirable and gives you credibility. Live harmoniously and be at peace with everyone. How can you project a positive image if your real life doesn’t say so? You can really feel shameful if you have criminal records. The real idea of an enhanced image is brought about by living decently.

3. Appearance. Good looking and fashionable people are the ones who get more attention from the audience. Being shy can also be a product of not so being confident on how you look in front of people. To enhance your image, you may want to consider these points relative to your appearance:

• Clean body that comes with clothes. Be sure that you are clean from head to toe. Hygiene and proper grooming are important aspects in image enhancement. Putting on that clean apparel from top to bottom can give you an edge in any occasions. Making sure that your body and what you’re wearing are neat will help you feel secure about yourself and your appearance.

• Proper color coordination. Be careful on what you wear as this can be a mirror of your personality. Combination of colors should be perfect. Neck ties should be matched with your inner shirt; belts and shoes should have the same color.

• Put on the right make up. Woman should always be conscious about her make up. Any color will do for fair skinned while light shades of purple and pink goes with dark skinned women. Choosing the right lipstick should also be a priority.

• Clean cut hair. You wouldn’t want to look like a rock star over a corporate meeting. Make sure that your hair is well trimmed and that it doesn’t cover your face.

4. Gaining a positive image will also be incorporated in your movements and ease in front of a crowd. You should develop eye contact and facial expressions appropriate to certain circumstances. Smiling is one sure way of gaining some people’s trust. This can also involve the proper actuations in a social gathering. Etiquette is necessary to develop your presence in any events.

5. Seek the help of a professional image enhancer. There are also certain books which will help you with the information on how to develop your image and do away with shyness. You can invest on these things to make sure that you are properly guided.

Enhancing your image is one good way of overcoming your shyness. It can boost your self confidence knowing that you appear respectable and neat in front of anyone. Positive image can spell success thus it should always be cultivated.

- Leon Edward

Leon Edward helps people improve in Career Development, Goal Setting, Leadership, Success, Motivation, Self-Improvement, Happiness, Memory Improvement, Stress Reduction and more through his articles, blogs, reports and self-help success roladex-on-line. Visit his Success-Leadership Library, Articles  at http://www.AwesomeSuccess.org

Leon Edward also helps people improve  IQ, focus, memory, concentration, creativity, speed reading, public speaking , time management and reducing stress.
Download his IQ Mind Brain Memory Self-Help library at his website http://www.IQMindBrainLibrary.com

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Posted by Leon Edward at 04:27 AM | Permalink

A variety of self-improvement articles is available nowadays. You may be thinking that this is one of those, obviously.

What do you have to lose by reading one more self-improvement article?

In the later stages of your life, you will suddenly realize many things. You ask yourself questions. How will it be when I get to the end of my life? How do I feel about the life I lived?

Then someone gives you some self-improvement articles as he tells you that it is not yet too late. Does that mean anything to you?

You bet it does.

The feeling of anxiety that will come next is just normal. Then you will feel confused because life had felt so good. You were happy, had a successful marriage, two wonderful kids, and a job you reasonably enjoyed. "What was my problem?" you ask your self.

It was your glass ceiling, which represents the "practical" and fear-based side of you. You have convinced yourself all along that your passion and dreams had died.

Here are top ten shifts in perspective that can help you move your life to the next level. This self-improvement article will assist you in breaking through your own glass ceiling to create the life you really want.

1. Give yourself permission to dream.

You probably had no problem dreaming as a kid. What happened to your ability to imagine and dream about what you want and who you want to be? When was the last time you caught your self daydreaming and appreciated it?

2. Stop looking outside yourself for happiness.

Look inside. Increase your self-awareness. Get curious about who you are at the core. Cultivate and nurture a relationship with yourself.

3. Cover the basics.

Take the time to address your personal needs. How can you focus on thriving in your life if you are in survival mode? Set up that meeting with a financial advisor, get your space organized, and clean up the details that are wasting your energy.

4. Embrace your past and move on.

Shift from "why it happened" to what I want to do about it now. Asking "why" is not a very empowering question. Asking your self the question "how I want to proceed" can be more powerful and lead to forward movement.

5. Remember that you are not alone.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed with life. Seek support. Read more self-improvement articles. These might help you figure out some things that are puzzling you.

6. Remember gratitude.

Count your blessings. What is working right in you life? Make a list. Acknowledge what or whom you are grateful for everyday. The more you practice gratitude, the more you attract into your life things that you like.

7. Court your passion.

You still have your passions though it has been a while since you may have felt it flow. When are you the most alive and joyful in your life? Whom do you most admire and what do they inspire in you?

8. Take action and take a risk.

Inspiration alone is not enough to make you move your life to the next level. It takes inspired action to do that.

9. Keep breathing.

You probably forget to take deep full breaths. We have all learned to constrict our breathing in response to stress. According to many self-improvement articles, we not only need oxygen to stay alive, we need oxygen to give us energy and keep us healthy. Right now, take 5 deep, full breaths.

10. Have fun!

Call a friend, take a bubble bath, take yourself to an art museum, or schedule a whole day out in nature. Put on some great music and dance until you drop.

And you thought this was just one of those self improvement articles…

Posted by Leon Edward at 06:46 PM | Permalink

Stress is the curse of living in modern times. Everyone suffers from stress. And the stress we suffer takes a heavy toll on our bodies, emotions and minds.

Feeling stressed out, worn out by fatigue or just simply having a miserable day, the best thing to do is relax.

Watching television may be a form of relaxation for some, but is not a recommended method by experts. When we watch TV we are bombarded with commercials, ads, sounds and images. So how do we achieve relaxation? If there are thousands of ways we can get stressed, one of them is not meeting deadlines, there are also many ways we can relax.

In recent studies, experts have determined that heart disease is linked to anger and irritability is linked to mental stress. Too much stress brings about ischemia that can lead to or cause a heart attack. Relaxation takes on added importance in light of this matter. Managing your anger and attitude is significant to heart health, and relaxation can help you manage stress.

One way of relaxation is transcendental meditation. Recent studies have also shown that this method might reduce artery blockage, which is a major cause for heart attack and stroke. People practice transcendental meditation by repeating uttering soothing sounds while meditating, this is to achieve total relaxation. The researchers found that practitioners of transcendental meditation significantly reduced the thickness of their arterial wall compared with those who didn't practice transcendental meditation.

Another study on another method of relaxation, acupuncture, seems to reduce high blood pressure by initiating several body functions for the brain to release chemical compounds known as endorphins. Endorphin helps to relax muscles, ease panic, decrease pain, and reduce anxiety.

Yoga is also another method for relaxation and may also have similar effects like acupuncture. In another study, participants were subjected to several minutes of mental stress. Then they were subjected to various relaxation techniques, such as listening to nature sounds or classical music. Only those who did Yoga significantly reduced the time it took for their blood pressures to go back to normal. Yoga is a form of progressive relaxation.

Breathing is one of the easiest methods to relax. Breathing influences alamost all aspects of us, it affects our mind, our moods and our body. Simply focus on your breathing, after some time you can feel its effects right away.

There are several breathing techniques that can help you reduce stress.

Another easy way to achieve relaxation is exercise. If you feel irritated a simple half-hour of exercise will often settle things down. Although exercise is a great way to lose weight, it does not show you how to manage stress appropriately. Exercise should also be used in conjunction with other exercise method.

One great way of relaxation is getting a massage. To gain full relaxation, you need to totally surrender to the handling and touch of a professional therapist.

There are several types of massages that also give different levels of relaxation.

Another method of relaxation is Biofeedback. The usual biofeedback-training program includes a 10-hour sessions that is often spaced one week apart.

Hypnosis is one controversial relaxation technique. It is a good alternative for people who think that they have no idea what it feels like to be relaxed. It is also a good alternative for people with stress related health problems.

Drugs are extreme alternatives to relaxation. They are sometimes not safe and are not effective like the other relaxation methods. This method is only used by trained medical professionals on their patients.

These relaxation techniques are just some of the ways you can achieve relaxation.  Another reason why we need to relax, aside from lowering blood pressure in people and decreasing the chances of a stroke or a heart attack, is because stress produces hormones that suppress the immune system, relaxation gives the immune system time to recover and in doing so function more efficiently.

Relaxation lowers the activities within the brains' limbic system; this is the emotional center of our brain.

Furthermore, the brain has a periodic need for a more pronounced activity on the right-hemisphere. Relaxation is one way of achieving this.

Relaxation can really be of good use once a relaxation technique is regularly built into your lifestyle. Choose a technique that you believe you can do regularly.

Posted by Leon Edward at 03:57 PM | Permalink

Power through the people

Have you come across a person who is so naturally friendly that when you put him inside a room of strangers, he'll be friends with almost everyone in no time? We call such a people-person, someone unbelievably nice and charismatic that he can charm anyone into doing anything.

A socially-empowered person achieves so much greatness, basically because of the people that catapult him to success. He earns the trust and all-out support of the people, whom he had helped before. He never runs out of help. He can do anything with the plethora of people behind him. All because he knows he maximizes his social potential!

See, if you know your social skills and you make use of them, you will reach self-empowerment. Self-empowerment is making a general overhaul in your life and turning yourself into a happier and more successful person.If you can be one of those people-persons, then I can't see any reason why you will not succeed. You just have to know how to start.

1. Be genuine.

Hypocrisy will just bring you all the way down. Be genuinely nice and interested to people. Once they perceive that you are Mr. Hypocrite with selfish intentions, you might as well say goodbye to self-empowerment.

2. Be the greatest listener that you can be.

To earn the love and trust of the people, listen to their problems and sympathize with them. Do not just hear them out, listen to them with your heart. Make eye contact when the person talks to you. Listen as if every word matters, and it does. Brownie points when they find out that there is a confidante in you.

3. Laugh out loud.

I do not mean that you force yourself to laugh for every joke cracked by someone, albeit you do not find it funny at all.This means finding humor in things and not being too darn serious. A person oozing with an awesome sense of humor attracts crowds and eventually, attracts success.

4. Don't forget yourself.

In the process of fluttering around like a social butterfly, you might forget yourself, allowing everyone to push you over. Remember, love and value yourself before anyone else. If you deem yourself respectable and worthy of affection, people will flock to you and not trample on you.

5. Do random acts of kindness.

You don't have to do a John Rockefeller and blow your savings to charity. Little acts of kindness matters the most, and this can be as simple as giving someone a surprise you-take-care card or helping an elderly cross the street. When we were kindergarten students, kindness was taught to us and greatly practiced. Now is the time to revive the good deeds and this time, let them stay for good.

6. Contact your old friends.

Sad how some friendships are destined to goodbye, but thanks to technology, you can do something about it. Relive the good old days by flipping your yearbook and look for the great people whom you want to communicate with again. Adding these old friends to your roster of support peers will surely make you feel good all over.

7. Develop your personality.

Are you grouchy, grumpy and generally morose? Whoa, you can't go through life with those. Get rid of the bad traits and habits that perpetually hamper your growth. And really, who wants a grouchy friend anyway?

8. Be confident.

Be able to stride to the other corner of the room and introduce yourself to people with that winning smile of yours. Just remember: be confident, not arrogant.

9. Practice control.

When angry, don't snap at anyone. Never throw a tantrum. Stay calm and collected. Be adult enough to take control of situation and transform your anger into something more productive and passive. As soon as people think your anger goes to volcanic proportions easily, they will find it hard to come to you.

10. Keep nurturing your relationships.

Your relationship with your family, friends and significant others is too precious that you must not neglect it whatever happens. Go out and have fun with them. Do things together. Happiness will never fly from your side as long as the people who matter the most are close to you.

In the end, using people for self-empowerment means becoming a better and more lovable person. It's a win-win situation: the people know they can turn to you anytime and vice versa.

Posted by Leon Edward at 03:40 PM | Permalink

Have you come across a person who is so naturally friendly that when you put him inside a room of strangers, he'll be friends with almost everyone in no time? We call such a people-person, someone unbelievably nice and charismatic that he can charm anyone into doing anything.

A socially-empowered person achieves so much greatness, basically because of the people that catapult him to success. He earns the trust and all-out support of the people, whom he had helped before. He never runs out of help. He can do anything with the plethora of people behind him. All because he knows he maximizes his social potential!

See, if you know your social skills and you make use of them, you will reach self-empowerment. Self-empowerment is making a general overhaul in your life and turning yourself into a happier and more successful person.If you can be one of those people-persons, then I can't see any reason why you will not succeed. You just have to know how to start.

1. Be genuine.

Hypocrisy will just bring you all the way down. Be genuinely nice and interested to people. Once they perceive that you are Mr. Hypocrite with selfish intentions, you might as well say goodbye to self-empowerment.

2. Be the greatest listener that you can be.

To earn the love and trust of the people, listen to their problems and sympathize with them. Do not just hear them out, listen to them with your heart. Make eye contact when the person talks to you. Listen as if every word matters, and it does. Brownie points when they find out that there is a confidante in you.

3. Laugh out loud.

I do not mean that you force yourself to laugh for every joke cracked by someone, albeit you do not find it funny at all.This means finding humor in things and not being too darn serious. A person oozing with an awesome sense of humor attracts crowds and eventually, attracts success.

4. Don't forget yourself.

In the process of fluttering around like a social butterfly, you might forget yourself, allowing everyone to push you over. Remember, love and value yourself before anyone else. If you deem yourself respectable and worthy of affection, people will flock to you and not trample on you.

5. Do random acts of kindness.

You don't have to do a John Rockefeller and blow your savings to charity. Little acts of kindness matters the most, and this can be as simple as giving someone a surprise you-take-care card or helping an elderly cross the street. When we were kindergarten students, kindness was taught to us and greatly practiced. Now is the time to revive the good deeds and this time, let them stay for good.

6. Contact your old friends.

Sad how some friendships are destined to goodbye, but thanks to technology, you can do something about it. Relive the good old days by flipping your yearbook and look for the great people whom you want to communicate with again. Adding these old friends to your roster of support peers will surely make you feel good all over.

7. Develop your personality.

Are you grouchy, grumpy and generally morose? Whoa, you can't go through life with those. Get rid of the bad traits and habits that perpetually hamper your growth. And really, who wants a grouchy friend anyway?

8. Be confident.

Be able to stride to the other corner of the room and introduce yourself to people with that winning smile of yours. Just remember: be confident, not arrogant.

9. Practice control.

When angry, don't snap at anyone. Never throw a tantrum. Stay calm and collected. Be adult enough to take control of situation and transform your anger into something more productive and passive. As soon as people think your anger goes to volcanic proportions easily, they will find it hard to come to you.

10. Keep nurturing your relationships.

Your relationship with your family, friends and significant others is too precious that you must not neglect it whatever happens. Go out and have fun with them. Do things together. Happiness will never fly from your side as long as the people who matter the most are close to you.

In the end, using people for self-empowerment means becoming a better and more lovable person. It's a win-win situation: the people know they can turn to you anytime and vice versa.

Posted by Leon Edward at 10:44 PM | Permalink