Showing posts with label failure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label failure. Show all posts
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Thursday, 5 January 2017
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
5 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Confidence
Self-confident people are admired by others and inspire confidence in
others. They face their fears head-on and tend to be risk takers. They
know that no matter what obstacles come their way, they have the ability to get past them. Self-confident people tend to see their lives in a positive light even when things aren't going so well, and they are typically satisfied with and respect themselves.
Wouldn't it be amazing to have this kind of self-confidence, every day of the week? Guess what? You can.
"Low self-confidence isn't a life sentence. Self-confidence can be learned, practiced, and mastered--just like any other skill. Once you master it, everything in your life will change for the better." --Barrie Davenport
It comes down to one simple question: If you don't believe in yourself, how do you expect anybody else to?
Try some of the tips listed below. Don't just read them and put them on the back burner. Really begin to practice them daily, beginning today. You might have to fake it at first and merely appear to be self-confident, but eventually you will begin to feel the foundation of self-confidence grow within you. With some time and practice (this is not an overnight phenomenon), you too can be a self-confident person, both inside and out, whom others admire and say "Yes!" to.
1. Stay away from negativity and bring on the positivity
This is the time to really evaluate your inner circle, including friends and family. This is a tough one, but it's time to seriously consider getting away from those individuals who put you down and shred your confidence. Even a temporary break from Debbie Downer can make a huge difference and help you make strides toward more self-confidence.
Be positive, even if you're not feeling it quite yet. Put some positive enthusiasm into your interactions with others and hit the ground running, excited to begin your next project. Stop focusing on the problems in your life and instead begin to focus on solutions and making positive changes.
2. Change your body language and image
This is where posture, smiling, eye contact, and speech slowly come into play. Just the simple act of pulling your shoulders back gives others the impression that you are a confident person. Smiling will not only make you feel better, but will make others feel more comfortable around you. Imagine a person with good posture and a smile and you'll be envisioning someone who is self-confident.
Look at the person you are speaking to, not at your shoes--keeping eye contact shows confidence. Last, speak slowly. Research has proved that those who take the time to speak slowly and clearly feel more self-confidence and appear more self-confident to others. The added bonus is they will actually be able to understand what you are saying.
Go the extra mile and style your hair, give yourself a clean shave, and dress nicely. Not only will this make you feel better about yourself, but others are more likely to perceive you as successful and self-confident as well. A great tip: When you purchase a new outfit, practice wearing it at home first to get past any wardrobe malfunctions before heading out.
3. Don't accept failure and get rid of the negative voices in your head
Never give up. Never accept failure. There is a solution to everything, so why would you want to throw in the towel? Make this your new mantra. Succeeding through great adversity is a huge confidence booster.
Low self-confidence is often caused by the negative thoughts running through our minds on an endless track. If you are constantly bashing yourself and saying you're not good enough, aren't attractive enough, aren't smart enough or athletic enough, and on and on, you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are becoming what you are preaching inside your head, and that's not good. The next time you hear that negativity in your head, switch it immediately to a positive affirmation and keep it up until it hits the caliber of a self-confidence boost.
4. Be prepared
Learn everything there is to know about your field, job, presentation--whatever is next on your "to conquer" list. If you are prepared, and have the knowledge to back it up, your self-confidence will soar.
5. For tough times, when all else fails: Create a great list
Life is full of challenges and there are times when it's difficult to keep our self-confidence up. Sit down right now and make a list of all the things in your life that you are thankful for, and another list of all the things you are proud of accomplishing. Once your lists are complete, post them on your refrigerator door, on the wall by your desk, on your bathroom mirror--somewhere where you can easily be reminded of what an amazing life you have and what an amazing person you really are. If you feel your self-confidence dwindling, take a look at those lists and let yourself feel and be inspired all over again by you.
Source
Wouldn't it be amazing to have this kind of self-confidence, every day of the week? Guess what? You can.
"Low self-confidence isn't a life sentence. Self-confidence can be learned, practiced, and mastered--just like any other skill. Once you master it, everything in your life will change for the better." --Barrie Davenport
It comes down to one simple question: If you don't believe in yourself, how do you expect anybody else to?
Try some of the tips listed below. Don't just read them and put them on the back burner. Really begin to practice them daily, beginning today. You might have to fake it at first and merely appear to be self-confident, but eventually you will begin to feel the foundation of self-confidence grow within you. With some time and practice (this is not an overnight phenomenon), you too can be a self-confident person, both inside and out, whom others admire and say "Yes!" to.
1. Stay away from negativity and bring on the positivity
This is the time to really evaluate your inner circle, including friends and family. This is a tough one, but it's time to seriously consider getting away from those individuals who put you down and shred your confidence. Even a temporary break from Debbie Downer can make a huge difference and help you make strides toward more self-confidence.
Be positive, even if you're not feeling it quite yet. Put some positive enthusiasm into your interactions with others and hit the ground running, excited to begin your next project. Stop focusing on the problems in your life and instead begin to focus on solutions and making positive changes.
2. Change your body language and image
This is where posture, smiling, eye contact, and speech slowly come into play. Just the simple act of pulling your shoulders back gives others the impression that you are a confident person. Smiling will not only make you feel better, but will make others feel more comfortable around you. Imagine a person with good posture and a smile and you'll be envisioning someone who is self-confident.
Look at the person you are speaking to, not at your shoes--keeping eye contact shows confidence. Last, speak slowly. Research has proved that those who take the time to speak slowly and clearly feel more self-confidence and appear more self-confident to others. The added bonus is they will actually be able to understand what you are saying.
Go the extra mile and style your hair, give yourself a clean shave, and dress nicely. Not only will this make you feel better about yourself, but others are more likely to perceive you as successful and self-confident as well. A great tip: When you purchase a new outfit, practice wearing it at home first to get past any wardrobe malfunctions before heading out.
3. Don't accept failure and get rid of the negative voices in your head
Never give up. Never accept failure. There is a solution to everything, so why would you want to throw in the towel? Make this your new mantra. Succeeding through great adversity is a huge confidence booster.
Low self-confidence is often caused by the negative thoughts running through our minds on an endless track. If you are constantly bashing yourself and saying you're not good enough, aren't attractive enough, aren't smart enough or athletic enough, and on and on, you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are becoming what you are preaching inside your head, and that's not good. The next time you hear that negativity in your head, switch it immediately to a positive affirmation and keep it up until it hits the caliber of a self-confidence boost.
4. Be prepared
Learn everything there is to know about your field, job, presentation--whatever is next on your "to conquer" list. If you are prepared, and have the knowledge to back it up, your self-confidence will soar.
5. For tough times, when all else fails: Create a great list
Life is full of challenges and there are times when it's difficult to keep our self-confidence up. Sit down right now and make a list of all the things in your life that you are thankful for, and another list of all the things you are proud of accomplishing. Once your lists are complete, post them on your refrigerator door, on the wall by your desk, on your bathroom mirror--somewhere where you can easily be reminded of what an amazing life you have and what an amazing person you really are. If you feel your self-confidence dwindling, take a look at those lists and let yourself feel and be inspired all over again by you.
Source
Sunday, 13 November 2016
The Four-Part Formula to Getting More Grit
On January 10th, 2015, a first-stage rocket crashed onto a barge floating on the south Atlantic ocean.
The rocket, used to propel a second-stage craft into orbit around the Earth, was expected to free-fall back to Earth and use a complex system of thrusters to land upright on a futuristic, self-navigating, drone barge.
The rocket slightly miscalculated the landing, crashing hard onto the barge.
At anywhere from $40,000,000 to $846,000,000 a pop, rocket launches are difficult to budget for. The tens of millions of dollars it costs to conduct a low-orbit launch are hard to sell, which partially explains why the United States government-led NASA abandoned their space shuttle program in 2011.
Yet, SpaceX--the spaceflight company created by Telsa founder and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk--had imagined a way to drastically cut the cost of launching anything into space: simply make the rocket re-usable.
They constructed a rocket which could theoretically launch, release a payload, and land vertically minutes after take-off in order to be refueled and launched again at a later time, indefinitely.
Their first attempt to land the rocket at sea failed, but not enough to deter Musk and the SpaceX team. They repaired the rocket and made adjustments based on data they received from the crash, then tried the landing again. And again they failed. They tried again, and failed again.
Each attempt to safely land the first-stage rocket ended in a hard landing, leading to months of costly repairs and improvements. But each failed landing also uncovered information the team could take to improve their systems and the rocket itself.
Finally on April 8th, 2016, for their fifth attempt, SpaceX accomplished the task of launching a payload into space and landing the first-stage rocket safely on a floating barge in the middle of the ocean.
What led the team to keep trying, even after their first failed attempt? Musk himself is quoted as having said of their first flight: "If the vehicle does not become reusable, I will consider us to have failed."
They did fail, and yet they didn't give up. Why?
The answer lies in Musk and co's remarkable amount of grit. Research has shown that grit is even more important than intelligence or talent when it comes to succeeding. Even the most triumphant among us occasionally fail. What they don't do is quit.
How can you become more resilient, is grit something we can control or develop?
Just ask Angela Duckworth, a Harvard graduate and psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Duckworth specializes in the psychology of grit, she's spent the bulk of her career studying it.
On the question of whether or not grit is something you can develop, Duckworth explains in a podcast for Freakonomics.com:
The SpaceX team didn't attempt to land on a barge in the ocean from the get-go, they instead practiced with lighter rockets, on land first. Once they mastered that, they attempted the sea landing.
Any time they failed they merely thought of it as having had been another practice attempt.
Of course, the word purpose gets thrown around a lot. What's important isn't that you find some natural calling, but instead find something you can readily dive deeper into the more you learn.
For SpaceX, that meant not only developing a rocket which could launch and land upright, but also meant exploring secondary and tertiary parts of the project: like a drone barge.
To develop more grit you must start with hope, and learn that it's alright to fail as long as you don't give up or quit.
Having something you can be highly interested in, something you can deliberately practice and readily get feedback on, something where you hope that you can succeed, are all important The key is, of course, giving yourself time to practice and learn and stay in the game.
Source:
The rocket, used to propel a second-stage craft into orbit around the Earth, was expected to free-fall back to Earth and use a complex system of thrusters to land upright on a futuristic, self-navigating, drone barge.
The rocket slightly miscalculated the landing, crashing hard onto the barge.
At anywhere from $40,000,000 to $846,000,000 a pop, rocket launches are difficult to budget for. The tens of millions of dollars it costs to conduct a low-orbit launch are hard to sell, which partially explains why the United States government-led NASA abandoned their space shuttle program in 2011.
Yet, SpaceX--the spaceflight company created by Telsa founder and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk--had imagined a way to drastically cut the cost of launching anything into space: simply make the rocket re-usable.
They constructed a rocket which could theoretically launch, release a payload, and land vertically minutes after take-off in order to be refueled and launched again at a later time, indefinitely.
Their first attempt to land the rocket at sea failed, but not enough to deter Musk and the SpaceX team. They repaired the rocket and made adjustments based on data they received from the crash, then tried the landing again. And again they failed. They tried again, and failed again.
Each attempt to safely land the first-stage rocket ended in a hard landing, leading to months of costly repairs and improvements. But each failed landing also uncovered information the team could take to improve their systems and the rocket itself.
Finally on April 8th, 2016, for their fifth attempt, SpaceX accomplished the task of launching a payload into space and landing the first-stage rocket safely on a floating barge in the middle of the ocean.
What led the team to keep trying, even after their first failed attempt? Musk himself is quoted as having said of their first flight: "If the vehicle does not become reusable, I will consider us to have failed."
They did fail, and yet they didn't give up. Why?
The answer lies in Musk and co's remarkable amount of grit. Research has shown that grit is even more important than intelligence or talent when it comes to succeeding. Even the most triumphant among us occasionally fail. What they don't do is quit.
How can you become more resilient, is grit something we can control or develop?
Just ask Angela Duckworth, a Harvard graduate and psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Duckworth specializes in the psychology of grit, she's spent the bulk of her career studying it.
On the question of whether or not grit is something you can develop, Duckworth explains in a podcast for Freakonomics.com:
"What specifically are gritty people like? What do they do when they wake up in the morning? What beliefs do gritty people walk around with in their heads? When you get to that level of specifics, you realize there's no reason why these things couldn't be taught, practiced, or learned."What are gritty people like? There are four things Duckworth explains that make up the formulate to developing more grit:
1. Practice
Deliberate practice means learning as you go, getting feedback from your experience as well as from others.
The SpaceX team didn't attempt to land on a barge in the ocean from the get-go, they instead practiced with lighter rockets, on land first. Once they mastered that, they attempted the sea landing.
Any time they failed they merely thought of it as having had been another practice attempt.
2. Purpose
Purpose is anything you can develop an interest in over long term. Practice is useless if what you're practicing is something you don't feel purposeful about or can be highly interested in.
Of course, the word purpose gets thrown around a lot. What's important isn't that you find some natural calling, but instead find something you can readily dive deeper into the more you learn.
For SpaceX, that meant not only developing a rocket which could launch and land upright, but also meant exploring secondary and tertiary parts of the project: like a drone barge.
3. Hope
Failure is often inevitable, but if we learn to embrace failure as an opportunity to learn, improve, and then get back up again, we're more likely to succeed in future attempts.
To develop more grit you must start with hope, and learn that it's alright to fail as long as you don't give up or quit.
4. Time
The last part of the grit formula is simply time. Time to devote yourself to practice, purpose, and developing from failure.
Having something you can be highly interested in, something you can deliberately practice and readily get feedback on, something where you hope that you can succeed, are all important The key is, of course, giving yourself time to practice and learn and stay in the game.
Source:
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