For the last 23 years, being involved in personal development, I have witnessed time and time again, the cause of failure to be a damaged self image. Even in my own life I have seen that self image is everything. A poor self image will cause more destruction in your life than a tornado! Like wise a positive self image results in success after success after success.

Your self image is merely a set of beliefs that you hold to be true about yourself. If you believe you are inadequate at something then you will hold this belief in your self image. It is really how you see yourself and how you believe you fit into the world.

Beliefs can be changed, especially through mind programming tools such as hypnosis. So, if your self image determines how much success or failure you encounter and it is composed only of beliefs, and beliefs can be changed then it is obvious you can change your self image!

People who achieve success in life have a strong sense of themselves. They have a positive self image that reinforces their efforts. Conversely, those people who always seem to fail, no matter how hard they try, have low self esteem and a self image that is far less than who they actually are. They believe that they are not good enough!

The purpose of things like personal development, self improvement and even psychology is to alter your own self perception. They are designed to build up your self esteem, self confidence and change your self image. They are structured in a way to help you improve your self image. Because self image is everything!

Have you ever seen a very physically attractive person who catches your eye then after spending some time with them you find them much less desirable? Likewise, have you ever met a person who is not classically beautiful or handsome yet they radiate a charm and self confidence that makes them very attractive and desirable?

If you feel attractive inside then you will project this on the outside. Your self image will be of an attractive person regardless of how you look physically. Whatever you hold in mind really does become true for you. Your self image is just a set of beliefs that you hold in mind about yourself and your beliefs can be changed!

Your self image determines not only how you interact with other people but it also determines how you interact with the world and your environment. Take Donald Trump, the billionaire who owns a large portion of Manhattan. Are you aware that Trump has went from riches to being broke more than once? How did he build back his wealth? You might believe that it was because he had contacts in the business world, still retained his financial knowledge and the skills required to rebuild his empire that he achieved this. However, his greatest assest was his self image. Trump retained a self image of a billionaire. Therefore, no matter how many times he loses his money, as long as he believes himself to be a billionaire, he will regain his wealth! One of the times when he was broke his bank wanted to recall his debts. When they came to meet him not only did he ensure they waited for his repayment but he also ensured they gave him more money so that he could continue living the lifestyle of a billionaire. He convinced those men that he was still capable of making huge sums of money because he held the self image of a billionaire. He refused to live anything other than a billionaire’s lifestyle!

If you program your mind to hold beliefs that you are a person who succeeds at everything you do then your conscious and unconscious actions will be of a person who succeeds. This gives you persistence. You will not stop at a task or undertaking until you succeed at it. When you start to build the belief that you are physically, menatlly and emotionally attractive then you will project this to everyone you meet. You will exude charisma and that certain something that is elusive to others but which they can sense.

So how do you change your beliefs about yourself and build a strong supportive self image. There are numerous ways. However, one of the most successful methods is hypnosis or self hypnosis. By entering a state of relaxation positive statements can be given to the subconscious mind which it takes as a literal truth. Your subconscious mind will then ensure that your unconscious behaviour reflects these new beliefs. The changes you make can be almost effortless.

Identify all those things in your life that you feel could use some improvement. Ask yourself how you fit into these areas in your life. How do you feel about yourself as regards these areas? Are your efforts to change these areas adequate, below average or terrible? Do you believe you are the type of person who is capable of making changes in these areas and creating situations and circumstances that are more desirable?

When you see which areas of your self image need improving you can begin to change the beliefs that lie behind them. Think of some people who already live the life you want. How do you think they view themselves? Visualize yourself with those qualities. Create a mental picture of this person and place them directly in front of you. Now in your mind’s eye walk into this person’s body. Feel how it feels to be this confident and this self assured. Bask in that feeling. Perform this simple exercise for 30 days and watch what happens to your behaviour, your world and your relationships. Begin today to emulate the beliefs of those you admire and build a self image that is similar or even more positive than theirs and you will have all that they have and more!

Increasing your self-esteem and rebuilding your self image to reflect the person you want to be and the type of person who is already living the life you desire will lead to more happiness, success and confidence. So what is self-esteem and how can you develop your own?

Well, self-esteem is simply a word that is used to describe how you feel about yourself. It represents your own self worth and reflects your internal beliefs about yourself and your place in the world.

Your self-esteem is the bedrock of your self-image and it is your self-image that you use, unconsciously, as a guide to your own abilities – what you think you can and cannot achieve. Your self-image is also the blue-print from which you build your life. If you have a negative or unrealistically negative image of yourself and your abilities then your life will never work the way you wish it to regardless of how hard you try to change it!

As your self image is how you see yourself then this determines how you think, act and react to the world around you. It influences your behaviour and thus it is directly responsible for the results you get in life. Having low self-esteem usually leads to a victim type self-image where you feel like it is impossible for you to succeed.

If you have high self-esteem your self-image will be very positive and you will feel like you can handle any problem and overcome any obstacle. You feel like you will succeed no matter what life throws at you. Optimism will be a natural automatic by-product.

When you have a strong sense of self worth and high self-esteem you tend to know where you are going in life. It is a fact that men and women who have high self-esteem know what they want from life. They are generally much more goal-orientated than others. These people exude confidence and optimism because they believe that no matter what obstacles they encounter they will reach their goal if they keep going and don’t give-up!

Having high self-esteem allows you to think clearly and avoid emotional thinking and this leads to the gaining the skill of persistence. It allows you to act in circumstances from a clear mental view point instead of reacting. This gives you much more power in any circumstance because you can think clearly and make decisions based on solid evidence and clear rationalization with the belief that you can find a way to effectively deal with the situation at hand. People with low self-esteem usually just give-up when faced with challenges because they believe they cannot meet them.

People with high self-esteem are more centered in the moment. Their thoughts are not in the past or focused on the distant future. By feeling secure, safe and loving they keep their focus in the present and thus enjoy their experiences much more. Those with low-self-esteem find it hard to enjoy what they are doing because their thoughts dwell on the past, future potential failures and the worry of how other people perceive them. Having a solid belief in yourself and your abilities also gives you the opportunity to look at your weaknesses and improve yourself because you are able to see these as challenges to overcome rather than as a criticisms or affirmations of your faults.

In order to achieve high self-esteem you must first be willing to accept yourself as you are. Stop judging yourself and especially stop judging the past. The key is to live in the moment.

Take inventory of your strengths. Congratulate yourself on your abilities and the skills you have developed on your journey through life. Accept that you have made mistakes, everyone makes them. Accept that you have learned valuable lessons from things that you believe you have done wrong. Every action you have ever taken has helped to develop the person you are today and the knowledge you gained from each experience will help to create the person you intend to be tomorrow. Every experience you have is moving you towards your desires!

Recall your success and dwell on them for a moment internally. There is no need to be egotistical about this. Just congratulate yourself on a job well done and know that you can replicate these successes again and again! Also think about what you want to gain in life. Set yourself some goals. If it seems like they are too far out of reach then set smaller goals first that will lead you closer to your ultimate desires.

Having doubts about your ability to achieve your goals can be used to your advantage. Write down, in a point by point list, all the reason you believe you cannot achieve your goals. Then take each one and develop a plan to overcome each obstacle. An example would be if you wanted a better paying job and set a goal to change your career yet you think that you do not have the necessary experience or qualifications to achieve this. In order to overcome these negative beliefs you must create a plan to gain the experience and/or qualifications you feel you need. Perhaps setting a goal to return to night school or volunteer to gain more experience would address these issues. In such a case you would take inventory of your current circumstances and determine how best you could gain what you needed.

Another essential skill you need to develop is the use of positive self-talk. Watch how you speak to yourself internally and how you speak about yourself to others. Both are forms of affirmations which are really commands you are giving to your subconscious mind. You must reprogram your mind for success. Write your goal down, in the present tense, as though you were telling someone else exactly how your life is now. Read the statement every morning and every night. Try self-hypnosis as a form of positive mental brain-washing. Use it to program your subconscious mind for success.

In this way you will increase your belief in yourself, your abilities and your future and your self-esteem will sky-rocket!