Keys to Self-Confidence

KEYS TO SELF-CONFIDENCE

Keys-to-Self-Confidence

Every person on this planet wants to introduce this concept of Self-Confidence in their lives whether it is related to take risks in the business, public speaking, convincing critics or to manage one’s own life. Most people often step back from getting out to achieve what they want, simply because of the fact that they have low self-esteem. There are many leaders who  can’t survive the adversities when the crisis hits them on their blind side. Because they lack the confidence to take a decision and live with the consequences.

Self-Confidence begins with a realization of who you are. Self-Confidence depends more on your inner-conditions rather than on the outer factors including people’s opinions of ourselves which we have no control over. Whenever a crisis hits in the life of an average person, he usually gets stumbled with the crisis and loses his sense of significance which results in low self-confidence. To prevent that from happening, there are some keys which helps you to increase your self-confidence. I am going to discuss 2 important keys to self-confidence in times of crisis.

       

             KNOW YOURSELF

Keys to Self-Confidence

Lack of Self-Confidence is generally due to lack of understanding about our self. Most of the times we are too busy in getting along with people, hanging out with them & understanding them that we forget to maintain our Intra-personal Relationships. Intra-personal relationship is our connection with ourselves. If you do not know who you are, why you are here and what you can do, then you should not attempt to understand others.

The first person that you should know about is yourself! I have seen people who try to look like others, dress like others, talk like others and behave like others. They feel a sense of significance when they look like a famous celebrity. This is one of the signs of a person with low self-confidence even if they look confident, they are actually not.

The problem is they do not really know who they are and what is their uniqueness, which results in a low self-concept, low self-esteem and low self-worth. So they become like others to regain their self-confidence.

Always try to spend sometime with yourself.

Don’t always keep hanging out, got to parties or attend business meetings all the time. Take some time out of your schedule to understand yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses and work on how you can improve yourself on a daily basis.

     Develop An Unstoppable Attitude

I have already covered the aspect of Attitude in my previous blogs. You can check them out here:

Attitude is Everything!

Attitude V/S Ability

No person in the world can teach you or should I say manifest the spirit of confidence in you. It is the realization of your true identity that helps you achieve that. The key to life is to maintain and sustain the right Mindset. And you cannot achieve that unless you change your thinking. You can never achieve new results from your old way of thinking.

Keys to Self-Confidence

Do not ever relate Self-Confidence with your past achievements or accomplishments. Because if we do that, it can become a great threat to our self-esteem. If your confidence is based on your possessions then you can lose your self-confidence when you lose your possessions. Self-Confidence is an automatic product of aligning your thoughts in the right direction.

Everybody fails at some point in their life. So, do not connect your sense of significance with your success. Nobody has ever achieved greatness without ever failing in their life. You could think of any great person that lived on the earth that you think was confident. You might agree that their failures were more important than their success as the failure taught them the principles to success and made them self-confident. They were confident because of what they knew about themselves and not what others thought of them. Successful people never trust other people’s opinions about themselves because they know that their success cannot be determined by others opinions but their planning & management of time and themselves. This is the source of real Self-Confidence!

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Leadership lessons from Armed Forces

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM INDIAN ARMED FORCES

Leadership lessons from Armed Forces

The Indian Armed Forces has been leading the nation in times of uncertainty and fear. They have always been faithful in their commitment to serve every individual by avenging the nation. They become the hope of every individual when pressurized by external aggressors. In the midst of all this, they always provides us leadership lessons to learn from. Leadership spirit is embodied in the DNA of the Indian Armed Forces which inspires others to take charge of their life regardless of the tough and turbulent circumstances in life. They are the perfect example of leading in times of crisis and we can learn by following their example.

Ability to exert influence or the group:

Success in life lies to great extent, in knowing how to change men’s minds. Dealing with people is the greatest problem that all of us have to face. It is the mastery of this art that makes successful lawyers, politicians, preachers and even top executives. To some degree or the other, each individual possesses this quality of exerting influence on their fellow beings. But the difference between them is very wide.

We have had men like Mahatma Gandhi, who radiated influence in the darkest corners of the country, without coming into personal contact with millions of people. And this hold on the masses was so strong that they used to rise like one unit at his bidding, while, on the other hand, we have the uninterested and unsocial persons who, instead of exerting influence, arouse feelings of antagonism.

No one seems to perceive the ‘personal magnetism’, yet we all have experienced the power of such a magnetism in our leaders. Some people’s attractiveness, impress us or interests us deeply, while others unfailingly repel us. But influence is there all the time. There are people whose mere presence has a sublimating influence upon others. It was said of Socrates that ‘no one who met him was ever the same again.’ It is this personal magnetism which plays the vital part in exerting influence on others and it is worthwhile going into some qualities or conditions which bring it about. You can check my blog post to learn about the keys to influence.

Initiative: This is a very important quality of Leadership which the Indian Armed Forces teaches us. Initiative is the ability to take the first or introductory step and to act, usually in a new situation.

Initiative is  very much an acquired quality and  can be imbibed by a congenial environment. In the early stages of life, the parents or school teachers may want to create this environment to a great extent. By allowing the young officers to shoulder responsibilities independently in a processed dose fosters development of their initiative. Initiative enables them to act in a new situation and also to take the first or introductory step in any encounter. Some other qualities are also intimately inter-related with initiative and there is a mutual balancing effect or interplay which gives initiative its final effective form in any particular field of activity.

Leadership lessons from Armed Forces

Adaptability: It’s no secret that officers in the armed forces adapt and adjust to every situation they face in. They are calm and composed even if something unexpected happens. Some people become miserable if anything happens to interrupt their routine. Some are knocked off balance when life refuses to go according to their plans. There are others who are old-fashioned, out-dated and find it difficult to change their opinions.

This is because they lack adaptability. Adaptability means to quickly adjust to the changing environment, and may be manifested in several physical ways, but basically it is the quality of mind and depends upon the outlook and thoughts of a person. A rational and open-minded person would invariably be more adaptable than the rigid, orthodox or unadventurous type.

Solving any situation requires a judicious weighing up of the various factors involved and arriving at a conclusion. If a person loses his balance of stability, he will not be in a position to make a proper use of his resources. In our daily life, we come across many people who clearly shows us how varying types and degrees of stress play on their mentality. Business leaders can learn  this quality of Adaptability from the armed forces and adapt themselves and their organizations to the changing business environment.

Leadership lessons from Armed Forces

Sense of Duty & Responsibility: The qualities of sense of duty & responsibility are very much related to our daily life. To a layman, both duty and responsibility are occasionally used in one place or the other as if they are synonymous terms. Every one of  us is faced with certain tasks or actions which come within the orbit of being recognized as our duty. Sense of responsibility is a quality which is one of the general aspects of leadership and is intimately connected with it. It is our responsibility to manage and use our time in the direction of our eternal destiny and armed forces can be the best example of commitment to duty and responsibilities.

These were some of the things from the lot that I have personally learned from the Indian Armed Forces and applied in my life. What are some good leadership qualities that you learned from Indian Armed Forces. Let me know by commenting below.

Until next time,

Gagan.

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Influence In Leadership

INFLUENCE IN LEADERSHIP

Influence-in-Leadership

Leadership is an act of influence. Leadership is completely about influence. The very moment somebody’s thoughts, ideas or actions starts to influence our life in some way or the other, they are leading us. And thereof, we are always lead by somebody whether we are aware of it or not.

Let’s look at the following list of people and see if you can recognize what all of them have in common:

Sam Manekshaw

Ranjit bajaj

K.M. Cariappa

Pablo Picaso

Bill Clinton

Mother Teresa

Adolf Hitler

Tiger Woods

Warren Buffett

Nelson Mandela

Arnold Shwarzenegger

Martin Luther King Jr.

Have you figured it out? You might be knowing some of them very well but you might not have heard some of the other names before. The one thing which is common in all of them is that they all have “influence” Some of the people in the above list are well-known people but others are not so popular. But it shows that everyone has influence. It does not matter who you are, what you wear or where you live, You too can have influence on others.

You don’t have to be in a high-profile position to become a person of influence. In fact, you can have influence on the people right where you are. Everything you do in your life not only relates to your personal life but it impacts and influences others lives as well. If your desire is to become successful and change the world, you cannot do this without Influence. Influence is the key to unlocking closed doors. The rapid changes that happen in the world every other day is because of influence. Let’s look at some of the qualities of a person of influence:

Integrity: The most highly influential people always work on Integrity even though it may cost them highly. They set for themselves some moral standards on which they live by and operate. People may not like them but they respect them. Because their life is based on Integrity. They do not lie, cheat or steal and does not tolerate those who do. People like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were so much influential because they lived with Integrity. The people in the world right now have become hypocrites. They show an enhanced picture of themselves to others so as to save their REPUTATION. 

Influence In Leadership

They focus too much on changing the conditions of the outside world rather than trying to fix themselves first.But people with integrity do no tell or show others what they truly are not.  They only reveal their true character and do not sell an enhanced image of themselves. They know their true-self and therefore they understand their self-esteem and self-worth. They are confident. When you find out who you are, you don’t pretend to be confident but it just becomes so natural for you to be confident that you don’t even have to think about it. And confidence brings influence. So, if you want to be influential, simply live with Integrity.

Understands People: Leaders with influence knows that every person is unique and they respect the identity of every individual. Some people are irritating and frustrating and have a completely wrong approach towards life. But influential people do not usually criticize such people because they understand that every person lives in an environment or culture which is responsible for shaping the character of that person.

Instead of criticizing, they solely focus on changing them by providing them information, helping to get a revelation and bringing in them a transformation.

Influence In Leadership

Empowering People: Empowering people is the highest form of Leadership. People like and respect true leaders for their ability to empower others. True leaders do not seek power for themselves but they want it so that they could help others become better. Influential People do not accomplish big goals only for themselves but because they want to contribute something to their generation. They impact the individuals and their organization by helping people to become better and they end up influencing them to they point where they start following the leader without even asking for it.

You too can become influential if you understand and apply the above three principles in your life and start making a change in the world RIGHT NOW!

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ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!!

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!!

Recently I was reading a book written by Jeff Keller named “Attitude is Everything.” In the book, the author describes the power and authority of achieving a successful mindset. Success in life is not achieved by chance or merely by luck. It is achieved by a continuous disposition of mind over matter. It Is achieved by the application of the right attitude towards life.

The journey to accomplish your goals and purpose in life begins with the right mindset. It all starts with the thoughts. If you can control, manage and align your thoughts in the right direction, you’re creating a massive potential well in you to learn from crucial opportunities and difficult times in life. Why are some people depressed, frustrated, ill-tempered or sick all the time even after they have achieved everything in life that a person could aspire for? On the other side of the coin, there are people who are always calm, composed, happy, motivated and sickness-free although they may not have acquired any riches? Why is it so? It’s all because of the one word, “ATTITUDE”

Attitude determines Action:

There are some people who always handle tough and risky situations calmly and with ease. Their actions are the result of the attitude in the mind. Some people believe too much in things like “overnight success”. I don’t believe such a thing exist in this world. Every successful person has some tough, horrible and daunting stories which if they tell you, you would never believe in. It’s a result of keeping in company with right attitude or stable mindset in those tricky circumstances in life where everything seems to be shaky and falling apart and nothing seems to work for you.

 It is in those little moments that successful people pick up their failure and turn it into a testimony for the whole world to appreciate and admire them for the things you never thought of. It’s an old saying that a person’s thoughts and attitude determines their conduct and action towards a particular situation. And therefore, if you need to know the Attitude of a person towards life, then just observe their actions. The kind of things they do will tell you about their thoughts The kind of books or magazines they read, people they spend most of their time with, movies they watch and music they listen to determines their mental conditions.

Your attitude is your window to the world through which you perceive things. Therefore, it is your responsibility as an individual to keep that window clean so that you can see through it clearly and distinguish between right and wrong.

Cleaning your Window:

If Attitude is your window to the world, it is necessary to keep it clean. It is important to consider the fact that every person on this planet has certain pattern of attitude which makes them different in their approach towards life and circumstances differently.

However, in the beginning it was not so. All of us are born with our windows clean but as we go through the different stages of life, it gets cluttered, filthy and foggy because of mishandling by some people! And that is because of the kind of culture prevailing in the society in which we live in. When we are born, we are like a clean sheet of paper and the culture that we live in, decides what should be written on that paper. Therefore, the culture we live in makes and shapes our attitude and is largely responsible for the accomplishments or failures that we experience in our life.

I am not going to tell you any steps on how to change your attitude for success or mention a few bullet points because unless you apply those things into your life, nothing won’t change. You can find those things on the internet. But the things that I am telling you are based on practical thinking and then applying it in your lives.

You can listen to all the motivational stuff as long as you want but you know the reality that you’re not gonna change by that. You can only change your life once you discover who you are! Only the truth about yourself can reveal your true potential to you. Nothing and nobody else can tell you that. You have to find it yourself. Once you find that, I am sure that you don’t any external source of motivation to do what you want to do. It’s not like listening to motivational music that charges you up for some time and the next day, you are dead again! You do not need any motivation to do what you want to do and achieve what you want from life, just set your target with a vision, plan for it and once you have done that then the execution should be ruthless!

Your life cannot change unless you change the way you look at the world and change your attitude towards tough & turbulent times in life’s journey. Most people look for some motivational stuff to get them fired up to do what they want to do. But somehow they don’t understand this very subtle art of changing their mindsets. We waste most of our time to look outside so that we can get successful but in that process, we don’t even realize that whatever we need to fulfill our purpose is already within us. All we need to do is CLEAN UP THAT WINDOW!

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