by Janet Kellogg

Self-image might be defined as one’s perception of one’s self. Perception can be defined as a way of regarding, understanding or interpreting something; a mental impression; intuitive understanding and insight.  Our perception of ourselves affects our relationships, how we function, and our performance.  What is your perception of you? What is your self-image?  How well can you see the Real You?

In the last few weeks, we’ve been addressing important steps to knowing the Real You.

STEP 1: Discover your unique inner design.   Get your free InnerKinetics® Temperament Key now!

STEP 2: Follow your design and learn how your choices directly affect whether or not the Real You takes center stage in your daily life. Grab a copy of INNERKINETICS – Your Blueprint to Excellence and Happiness and take a major leap forward.

STEP 3: Make positive change  priority #1.

It’s time to add STEP 4, and it’s my impassioned plea:

GET YOUR VISION CHECKED!  You need a clear self-image!

Can you see the yourself clearly? I’m talking about your SELF-IMAGE – the way you think about yourself and the way you see and value yourself.

Have you made the mistake many of us make:  evaluating your worth through the lens of damage you’ve caused? Please don’t. No one is perfect and mistakes will be made. It’s time to see past your self-made weaknesses and view yourself in terms of the strengths that only you can set in motion.

Are you tempted to evaluate your worth by looking through the eyes of others?

You can stop that now. Your parents, your spouse, your friends, your boss . . . they have all experienced different facets of you, but none of them can provide you with useful information beyond what you have allowed them to experience. If you are giving them a mixed bag of your positives and your negatives, then it’s a view that’s out of focus. It’s a distorted image.

Perhaps it seems to you that having a healthy self-image is a bit too self-absorbed or feels selfish in some way. With respect, get over it! The way you see and think about yourself is the most important success factor in your life. Why? Because you cannot outperform self-image. No one can.

Let me say that once again because it’s my whole point:

NONE OF US CAN OUTPERFORM OUR SELF-IMAGE.

The quality of your choices is directly related to what you perceive you are worth. I’m sure, like me, you can think back to many times in your life where you questioned how in the world you got yourself into a particularly bad situation. Can you remember how healthy your self-image was during that time? Did you choose according to a low measure of your own worth? Inversely, can you remember times where you experienced surges of success. Can you correlate those times to a sense of feeling strong and confident? A pattern most certainly emerges.

Here’s an example:

Are you an organized, reliable, hard-working person who loves to use rules and regulations to see important work get done by just the right people at all the right times? If this is you, let’s talk about your sense of urgency. Can it vary from “Wow! This is just what the situation calls for” . . . to “Oh my gosh, he’s going to pop an eye vein right here in front of us!”?  You’ve probably heard both kinds of feedback in the past, yes? This is the difference between the clear, self-image boosting use of your strengths versus the distorted, image-deflating use of your weaknesses.

Therefore, the Real You becomes much easier to see when you sharpen your focus on the correct and consistent use of the strengths that propel you forward into the things you were designed to do better than anyone else! These things create a sense of real fulfillment and purpose. Now, that’s a healthy self-image in the making!

THE REAL YOU  WEARS PRESCRIPTION LENSES and chooses to see yourself (and others) in degrees of design-driven strengths – always recognizing the opportunity for growth and a more advanced level of use. And the more you operate your strengths correctly, the more you eliminate weaknesses (those distortions to the image of the Real You).

Want to see yourself more clearly? Sign up today for the INNERSTRENGTH CHALLENGE, coming April 1.