Playing Your Inner Game (The Science Of Self Image)

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Self Image Science

I’ve got a story about a pop-tart coming up but first…

You’re going to want to watch this video by Brenden Bruchard in order to set the stage for todays post. winning streak. ([9:49])

Now if you took the time to watch the video you realize it’s pretty damn detailed. I mean it’s a blueprint for our over all success in life:

  1. You have to have a Hunger-Inspired Action
  2. You’ve got to decide to take Ownership-Accountability of your actions
  3. Decide you’re going to commit to Learning-New competencies
  4. Have Focus– Sustained Action
  5. Take the Initiative– Massive focused action plan
  6. Collaboration– Work with other people (experts)
  7. Keep yourself Accessible– How in touch are you with those you’re serving
  8. Commit to Mastery-Excellence and being the best at your something specific
  9. Have a Coach– Life coach or mentor (consistency)
  10. Always have an attitude of Gratitude– Being thankful for clients, friends, family & coaches

There’s only one problem. Hundreds of thousands of people still won’t take action on this blueprint.

Why?

Because they aren’t hungry for success?

Hardly.

Consider this for a moment. Have you ever had a thought show up in your head that sounds like this? “Gosh that’s inspiring I know what I should do now, but I still don’t do it. I mean I just don’t see how it can happen for me.

Enter the inner critic into your thoughts.

The first stage in the Brendon Bruchard video was Hunger. -To take inspired action.

The reasons you don’t take inspired action could be you just don’t see yourself doing, being, having or deserving.

It’s your inner critic talking you right out of your desired lifestyle.

We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.“-Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Steven Covey knew.

  1. He knew why I didn’t take consistent actions that would lead to my successes.
  2. He knew why, when I had already committed to not eating junk food anymore, why I would fire up the toaster for a pop-tart.
  3. He knew why I would say to myself with a confident and resounding, “I’m definitely going to stick to it next time.” Then next time tomorrow comes around and I would rationalize it all over again.
  4. He knew there was a key to unlocking our potential. Better yet he knew there was a key to unlocking the real me and it was found in that quote.

The Pop-Tart

I’m going to share that key, but first the pop-tart.

I know I should but…

  • I don’t get up and meditate.
  • I don’t exercise even a little every day
  • I don’t have anything healthy in the house and I eat something gross for breakfast. (Um, like a pop tart)
  • I don’t work on my home based business.
  • I don’t write everyday
  • I don’t spend more time with my spouse.
  • I don’t drink enough (or any) water
  • I don’t (Fill in the blank)
  • I don’t (Fill in the blank)
  • I don’t (Fill in the blank)

I’ll just tell you right now, not only would I have a pop tart almost every day for breakfast and was 30 lbs over weight, but I would get in my car, drive that morning to the corner store and buy my pop-tart fix. Even when I had committed not to.

Oh I wouldn’t keep them in the house. No way. I would be forced to eat them to be reminded of the broken commitment I had made just the day before.

But the next morning I would rationalize it and actually find the energy to go out and get them anyway! So how would someone who was already 30 lbs overweight find the motivation to get up, drive and buy pop-tarts for breakfast (almost everyday) but not get up and exercise?

That’s a question I never asked myself in the moment. I was too busy rationalizing. So I ended up:

  • Even more over weight
  • Having zero energy
  • Felt little to no passion
  • Felt I had no purpose
  • Was stressed out
  • Was struggling financially, spiritually & emotionally

Years ago I would have told you all of it was a result of I was focused on what I didn’t want, rather than what I did want.

There was some truth to that.

But Steven Covey knew the answer.

Now I realize my pop-tart ritual had more to do with how I saw myself. I didn’t see myself fit, healthy and energetic or even deserving of it. So my mind wondered off into other ways to make me feel good about myself immediately. Enter the Pop-Tart.

Raw power (creativity) must be harnessed, organized and directed in order to create value.“-Dan Kennedy

It’s not the one pop-tart that could have killed me by the way. It’s the succession of pop-tarts over the course of time that could have killed me. #seriously The loop may have never stopped had I not stumbled upon this key I’m going to share with you. Many people never find their way out of this mental loop.

I didn’t see myself as deserving of a healthy and fit body. Hell I didn’t see what I was going to need one for anyway.

Eh, not good.

The Science Of Seeing Yourself

Back in 1960 there was a book published called Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz.

In this book Mr. Maltz talks about our self image and how we see ourselves as one of the defining reasons why we as human beings act in ways that we do.

Mr. Maltz found that as a plastic surgeon, when he performed facial reconstruction on some of his patients he obviously helped them look normal again. Some of those people’s lives were changed. They felt good about themselves again and had an unshakable self confidence. But many people, even after he changed their physical appearance, didn’t change their perception of themselves at all. They still had lousy self confidence.

They still didn’t like what they saw…from the inside.

The power of your inner perception plays a much bigger role than you may give credit.

Self-image psychology encompasses a person’s entire being starting with the premise that a human is by nature always moving towards their predominant view of ‘self. The basic self is never flawed as it is a God-given gift. It is what we CHOOSE to do with it that counts. We determine in large measure the course of our lives through the image we hold of ourselves. That is an extremely powerful truth.

Yeah read that again. I dare you.

We determine in large measure the course of our lives through the image we hold of ourselves.

Yup, that’s powerful.

When your deepest goal desire is to succeed and you find yourself living at about one tenth your ability, (and you’re not even sure why) it can create depression, anxiety and low self esteem. You’re core self isn’t doing, living or being what it really wants to.

As Mr. Maltz points out, It’s like trying to sit on a bike with your feet on the pedals and it isn’t moving. Well, your ass just falls over. That would drive anyone crazy and depress the hell out of them after oh, (insert your age here) 30 something years.

This when you look up and realize you’re going through life working at a job you can’t stand that isn’t fulfilling, in a relationship that you thought would make you happy or hanging around people that don’t support your core aspirations. By god all of that can suck and you’ll keep feeling like you just keep falling over like you’re on the bike.

I believe this with every fiber of my being that I’m here for more than just existing.

We all want to contribute, to feel loved and to feel a sense of significance.  All of that comes from succeeding at things in life. I’m betting you feel the same way too.

It begins with seeing yourself succeeding in life. Moving forward towards your desired vision.

So how about positioning yourself to play the game right and in a way that you can have the best chance possible? Yeah without falling over day after day. 😉

Conscious Creation

Raw power (creativity) must be harnessed, organized and directed in order to create value.“-Dan Kennedy

We believe feel we have to act in ways that are congruent with how we see ourselves. It can be one of the most powerful tools as humans that we possess.

The key is are you consciously using the creativity you possess or is it unconsciously using you.

Harnessing, organizing and directing your power of creativity can be some work. But damnit, it’s worth it.

  1. So what would have to happen for you to see yourself healthy, fit, vibrant, creative, abundant, deserving? (Or insert desired outcome here ___________)
  • -You would have to take the time to write out and design the picture of your desire on paper and then see it and play it back in your mind every day. Practice it and rehearse it.
  1. What would you have to believe about yourself in order be consistent in your actions towards fulfilling that picture?
  • -I’d say believe that you ARE a creative being. You already possess the creativity it takes to paint the perfect lifestyle for your true core self.

Look I was creative rationalizing why I needed to go get a pop-tart everyday and I was pretty damn good at it.

From my perspective I’ve found that people are creative in justifying succeeding the pictures in their mind everyday. It’s just a matter of if you are consciously directing those thoughts or not towards a clear picture of what you want.

Would you prefer to see yourself accomplishing whatever lifestyle, achievement or goal you’ve had awaiting in the back of your mind or have you let your inner critic talk you out of it?

Would you like to silence your inner critic and tell it to shut the fuck up so you can get to really living a life? Or would you prefer thinking the life you desire is out of your reach per your inner critic?

Close this post if it’s the latter. Keep reading otherwise…

Playing Your Inner Game

Seeing what you want before you perform the actions is a significant part of building our inner empire. It’s the ability to build your self confidence even before you take the first step. You do this through what’s called visualization or as Maxwell Maltz called it, your theater of the mind. This is known as a synthetic experience.

I learned the same technique from Brian Klemmar years ago called screen of the mind, where you write direct and star in your own life movie scene by scene. Programming yourself for success.

Did you ever day dream as a kid?

It’s the same thing. Except back then you and I used to do it automatically. No one had to label it for us. My imagination ran wild. Did yours?

As I got older I became programmed by adults to be realistic. I was told that I should have a plan B in case my passions didn’t work out. Too many of us become domesticated by parents, teachers, professors and friends who say they are just watching out for us.

You’ve got to get after building your inner empire. You’ve got to get after playing your inner game.

If you can see yourself doing, having, being or deserving once, just rehearse it over and over in your mind every day.

See how you would perform under pressure at the last minute during a game.

Or see how you want a conversation to go that you’ve been dreading having with a boss, spouse or co-worker.

Before you may have gotten baffled, tongue tied or broke into a cold sweat just  thinking about a confrontational conversation. But now you can go inside your theater of mind and see yourself having the conversation beforehand. Seeing yourself calmly handling it, saying precisely what is on your mind and in a way that you’re taken seriously. You’re confident in your words and your posture. You handle objections with ease and without anxiety.

How about that for a change?

This exercise can create real self confidence that you may be lacking so that you can do, be, have or believe that you deserve.

Sound cheesy?

Pro athletes do it everyday in their careers.

Tell Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Joe Montana visualization doesn’t work. They will tell you it was a critical key to their success. Just as much as the hours of practice, diet and exercise were.

If you’re inspired to do and be all that you’re capable of are you ready to take the actionable steps required to have those feelings of success?

You’ll need to make sure you know you’re winning.

Knowing You’re Winning

A key to your growing self confidence is seeing and experiencing measurable accomplishments.

Not only can you see yourself having more of what you want internally, but physically measuring your successes everyday catapults you towards that vision.

Raw power (creativity) must be harnessed, organized and directed in order to create value.“-Dan Kennedy

When you clearly see in your mind what you want, you’re able to silence your inner critic and start taking action towards what you want, you’re going to need to measure your daily success so that you see you’re experiencing results in the real world.

You don’t want foo foo results. I’m talking measurable results.

Here’s two examples of why:

1. Health -When I found myself overweight (and couldn’t see myself that way any longer ironically) I finally decided to do something about it. I entered a workout contest where I had a definite deadline, a game plan and measured my results along the way. One thing I did that really kept me on track was I took a picture of myself in just my shorts from day one. (Scary let me tell ya) I got to see it all without hiding behind clothes. That was the truth set in.

However each week I kept taking pictures of my progress, and thank god I did.

I finally looked at my pictures at day 30 and was astounded by the results.

If I hadn’t seen that picture at day 30 (and compared it to day 1) I probably would have quit.

Why?

Because it didn’t seem as if I was making much progress at all. I still saw myself as fat. My inner critic was on loud speaker telling me I was wasting my time getting up early, preparing my food the night before and drinking all that water. All I seemed to be getting out of it was frequent flyer miles to the bathroom.

However from day 30 and on I planned, I tracked and I measured my results. I was inspired to keep on track doing what I was doing.

2. Financial -In my network marketing business I would take account of my daily actions. I would mark down everyday if I accomplished the revenue producing activities that lead to my income goals.

I had a list of 10 things a day that I could control the output of activity on and I would check off if I did it everyday. Every 30 days I would come up fro review.

If I didn’t have the results it was for one of two reasons. Either I didn’t do it right or I didn’t do it enough. Both of which were measurable because I tracked them.

This kept me on track many times when I felt I wasn’t making progress.

I was not only able to do this for myself but also for my team so they were able to stay on track and not become disappointed when they didn’t see immediate results. This helped with the team sticking to their decision to start a business.

Measurable and Actionable

So here is where the rubber meets the road.

If you made it through this mammoth post then your mission if you should accept it, is to take some action.

Simple action:

  1. Is there something you’ve been procrastinating on that you’ve not seen yourself doing because of (Insert bullshit reason here but realize it’s just your inner critic trying to master your self image)
  2. What is it you want to do, be, have, or feel you deserve?
  3. Map out how you can get it.
  4. Will you commit to seeing yourself accomplishing it everyday through visualization?
  5. Is there a way you can measure your success either by taking pictures along the way, keeping track of daily activities via logging in a journal or both?
  6. Will you find someone to share it with who will support you?

If you choose leave your feedback in the comments below.

Our self image is so important. How you see yourself completely impacts the choices you will make or if you will make them at all. Not to mention the quality of our lives and those we come in contact with are completely impacted by how we see ourselves.

Be sure to share this post with someone and if you feel it resonates with you leave your comments below. I’d love your opinion on the subject.

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