Change How You See Yourself and Everything Changes

The “self-image” is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior. – Maxwell Maltz

Ignoring self-image is akin to putting your car in Neutral and expecting to move forward (and, in some cases, like putting it in Reverse . . . ).

It simply won’t work well.

To get anywhere, you must put your car in Drive – and assuming the engine is started, there is fuel in the tank, the engine is tuned properly and you press the accelerator – then you can move.

Let’s extend the car metaphor to people.

*  *  *

A Healthy Self-Image is like putting your car in Drive: it’s the position that allows for action and movement.

A Started Engine is being awake and alive and aware: if you’re not paying attention, then not much worth talking about will happen.

Fuel in the Tank means you are nourishing your body with the liquids and foods necessary for high performance.

A Well-Tuned Engine means you are optimizing the Four Keys of Life: Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual (the extent to which you optimize these areas determines your happiness, fulfillment and achievement).

Pressing the Accelerator is akin to having goals and daily practices that support risk-taking, learning, adaptation and, ultimately, achievement.

*  *  *

Living well and achieving goals is not just one thing.

It’s the successful integration of a number of things, over time.

Just the sort of thing I work with my coaching clients on . . .

Similar Posts

  • How to Make Positive Thinking Work

    Positive Thinking, by itself, isn’t much, and it’s certainly not sufficient. Positive thinking without constructive visualization and consistent action/adaptation is like pizza without sauce, and cheese, and toppings, and an oven, and someone skilled to make the pizza and bake, and slice, it — it’s just dough. Positive thinking when combined with vivid and emotionally charged…

  • Do You Get On?

    The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them. – George Bernard Shaw I’m sure I’ve blogged on this quote before, but it’s worth repeating. Ask yourself about your “circumstances:” Are they what you want?…

  • A Step Towards Integrity

    Who do you need to apologize to? I’m sure there’s at least one person. Go to them and apologize for your poor behavior. Do this with no expectation of forgiveness or understanding. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. To the extent that you have unresolved issues, things that don’t fit with your real…

  • The Folly of Pleasing

    You can do anything once you stop trying to do everything. – Eric Barker Why would anyone try to everything anyways? One possibility: to please. Trying to please others. Trying to please the idea we have in our heads about what people want from us. Trying to do enough and make people happy. Why? Because…

  • Language and Re-Framing

    Once again a post is inspired by something from Seth Godin. Here is another excellent post that got me thinking (click here to read the post at his blog): “I’m under a lot of pressure…” The ellipsis hides the most important part of this sentence: “I’m under a lot of pressure from myself.” When you…

  • Smooth Roads or Suspension?

    I recently read a (nother) brilliant post by Seth Godin, one piece of which was about resilience. It got me to thinking: is better to have ultra smooth roads and cars with no suspension, no shock absorbers, or to build cars with resilience? Which would be a more intelligent use of resources? Living in the…