The New You
Key #6 Create your new self-image
Self-confident choices should lead you to a lifestyle of self-confidence. But for this to happen, you need to create and maintain a new image of yourself.
We’ve already said that human beings are creatures of habit. All the positive choices we make should become natural and habitual for us. This is the only guarantee from slipping into our old behavior patters.
Visualization and affirmations are two basic tools for working on our new self-image. There is no magic about those practices: they use the same principles of mind action that work for us every day. We all make mental pictures. We all make affirmative statements. However, if we do this unconsciously, we stay at the same place or drift aimlessly, rather than moving in a desired direction.
If you wish to become self-confident, mentally see yourself as self-confident. Say to yourself that you are self-confident. These images and words will be translated into your experiences. Your life is shaped from within. Your mental state always come first.
Do not ever visualize yourself being sick, broke, or miserable. Do not say bad things about yourself and your abilities to deal with life’s challenges. Even as you recognize your shortcomings, you need to support and encourage yourself. Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, you need to dream and hope. Let your visions and words build up your power and courage.
Prefer to do this work when you are alone. Do not allow others to enter into the workshop of your consciousness, where your glorious future is created. Be prepared for consistent efforts. It is not an easy job to make yourself a new and a better person, but it is the most rewarding one.
© 2010 by Andrei Yashurin
Self-confidence is much more than feeling good about ourselves. It is one of the essential tools of our survival and creative flourishing. If we act rationally, our self-confidence becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 


The seventh habit of highly effective individuals is «sharpening the saw», or continuous self-improvement. Steven Covey invites to imagine a person who wants to saw down a tree. If a saw is blunt, it takes much time and efforts to get the job done. Every saw which is used becomes blunt, so it is wise to sharpen it on a regular basis in order to make work more effective. 