5 Things I Did to Overcome Low Self Esteem

Image Source: Paul the Counsellor

While in secondary school, I battled with low self esteem. I struggled to make people like me. Hell! I was obsessed with making people like me. Also, I always let every insult or bad joke about me get to me. I was constantly looking for people's approval. Honestly, I didn't really know what I wanted from life. However, as I got ready to commence life in the university, I decided within me that things were going to change. From that little fella who suffered from low self esteem and the constant threat from others, I have been able to grow and become a better, more confident (sometimes nearly arrogant) young man and I want to share with you FIVE important things I did. I hope they can help you too:

17 Things Extraordinary People Do Daily

Image Source: Inc.com

Article originally appeared on Inc.com.

Want to achieve extraordinary goals? Take these easy, proven steps every day.

Some people seem to get ahead, no matter what. They aren't necessarily smarter, more creative or harder working than many others. Still, they achieve much more than their peers. Why is that?

The philosopher Aristotle offered an explanation a really, really long time ago: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit."

I meet some of these amazing, extraordinary people just about people every day, as part of my job. They're amazing entrepreneurs, leaders, artists and innovators, and their keys to success aren't complex. Rather, it's the cumulative effect of their simple daily habits.

Here are 17 things the most extraordinary people do every day:

The Idea of Effective Communication: Keep it Simple

Read this story from John Maxwell’s Everyone Communicates, Few Connect:

A few years ago, I was being interviewed on a television talk show. The host held up a couple of my books and said, “John. I’ve read several of your books, and they are all so simple.” His tone of voice, body language, and mannerisms made it clear to me and the audience that he did not mean it as a compliment! My response was straightforward: “That’s true. The principles in my books are simple to understand. But they are not always simple to apply”. The audience applauded, and he conceded that what I said was right.

Millionaire at 21, Bankrupt at 22: Andrew Thompson’s Story

Image Source: Mail Online

Andrew Thompson’s story is a perfect plot for any movie that would be titled ‘There Today, Gone Tomorrow’. By the time he was 21, Andrew had amassed a $2.5 million fortune. This money he made from advertising revenues from his website, MySpaceSupport.com. The website was created to help Myspace users to decorate their pages. Andrew gathered many Myspace friends and would market his site to them.

Is it about being the best or being your best?

Image Source: LucentCoach

Post Authored by Alexandra. Connect with her on Twitter: @AlexandraZion

One might ask, “Is it about being the best or being your best?”

Little wonder how individuals often beat themselves in situations and feel quite uncomfortable in their own skins. Agreed, we live in a world of “more”, but there’s more to “more”, more than we understand.

We tend to want “more” in a wrong way, and this wrong way is striving to be the best.

I write from a personal experience which works for me at all times. I have strongly tested and proven that the path to moving forward is being better than who we were yesterday.

At some point in my life, during my second year in Secondary School, I had transferred from another school after my first year where I was at the top of my class in academics. I went to my new school in the exclusive mind of being the best student. However, unfortunately for my big head, I came 7^th in the first term of my new school year. It was the most shocking thing ever.

My 10 Biggest Mistakes as a Young Leader

Image Source: LifeHacker.com

My ability to learn from even the littlest things in my life has become one of my greatest assets. Here are some things I've learned from retrospect on my 4 years in the university where I served on several platforms as a student leader. Read, learn, practice and share these lessons:

Why Perfection is an Enemy of Progress

Image Courtesy of JamesWoodward

If you have ever read about God’s creation of the earth, you will find that after each element or creature was created, save for the firmaments (or skies), He would always say it was good. He never said any of it was perfect. It’s not that God couldn’t make these things perfect (because I know he could have) but He made them ‘good’ for reasons. He made them ‘good’ so that the man He created wouldn’t be idle. If everything was perfect upon creation, man would have no chance to invent and create things and improve life. He would have just been roaming the Garden of Eden eating and talking to animals with nothing particularly exciting to face as a challenge or so.

You must have heard this said many times that ‘no one is perfect’ or that ‘no one can be perfect’. This is true and I do not dispute it. Nevertheless, we must realize that this is so because if God had created us perfect we would have no need to improve ourselves (taking into account the sin of Adam through his freewill). There would be no room for us to become better people. Different people view man’s imperfection in their own different ways. Some see it as a disease which needs to be cured. Some see it as a defect which they can do nothing about and so just walk around with the ‘no one is perfect so don’t judge me’ mentality. There are also people who see our imperfection as a default defect that constitutes a vital part of who we are, and in essence they just try to live with it and manage it. They are not particularly committed to improving themselves. They are the ones with the ‘that’s just how I am, I can’t change who I am’ mentality.

The Law of Consequences (in Life and Business)

Source: b5z

The Law of Consequences states that the value and importance of a task or goal is determined by the seriousness of its consequence if it is completed or not completed in due time. According to Brain Tracy, a task for which there are few, if any consequences, is by definition not particularly important. Therefore, for you to be more effective in life, you must aim at spending more time on the tasks that can have the greatest possible consequences.

Why Time Management is Difficult for You

Source: Freelancingandmore.com

Everyone knows that the level of your success and productivity in life and in all your endeavors is directly, and greatly influenced by your ability to manage time. It’s not just important to learn to manage your own time, but that of your coworkers, colleagues, friends and fellow students. However, you must know that time is a wild beast that can never be tamed. What I am saying therefore, is that it is impossible to ‘manage time’.

The Inevitability of Fear

Source: Isabelle Allende http://lovequotes.symphonyoflove.net/

All intelligent people are afraid of something. Remember, we have defined intelligence as “acting in a way that is consistent with set goals”. Thus, an intelligent person is one who constantly acts in ways that is consistent with achieving his or her set goals. There is no human being that is devoid of fear. As humans, it is only natural and normal for us to be concerned about things pertaining to our survival or subsequent breakthrough; that’s how we’re wired. A courageous person isn’t usually the one who isn’t afraid. In fact, Mark Twain, the US writer and humorist expressed that “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear- not absence of fear.

Intelligence Has Little to Do with IQ

Source: www.chacha.com

I am currently reading a book, ‘Goals!’ by Brian Tracy and over the next few weeks, the articles I will be uploading with be based on and adapted from the book. It is one book I recommend to everybody that cares to make progress in life and career. Whilst reading this book, I came across a new definition of intelligence that first intrigued me, then encouraged me. It intrigued me initially because I was always under the impression that intelligent people were the ones who had been proven to know more and be smarter than others and it encouraged me because, after looking at this definition of intelligence, I realized that I am actually more intelligent that I gave myself credit for. Thus, after reading this excerpt, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to become more intelligent or you want to remain as you are.

10 Leadership Lessons from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (The Movie)

Source: oyster.ignimgs.com

1. The greatest leaders in the world did not just lead people. They led movements, revolutions and ideologies.
2. Madiba was a selfless leader.
3. Madiba was courageous. He was courageous enough to stand by his vision for South Africa. He was courageous enough to stand for peace when the people demanded war.
4. Madiba was confident in the ideology he stood for: the ideology of freedom for his people.
5. The road to greatness is never ending and always lonely.

Now That I'm a Graduate...

Source: www.busigence.com

I'm glad. I'm happy. I'm elated. By God's grace and mercy, I have bagged my first degree. I can't forget the feeling of satisfaction that pervaded my heart the moment our University Chancellor uttered the sentence "I accept you into your first degree" and our Registrar said "You may turn your tassels." Two days after my graduation (convocation), reality has slowly began to dawn on me. From this time henceforth, I am on my own. It's every man for himself now.

From what I've observed and what I have been told, this life I am about to commence is made up of countless people running a rat race. However, if there's anything I have come to learn from school in the last four years, it is that people who are walking in the center of God's plan for their lives do not run a rat race; albeit, they are running the marathon race of life. The night before we were released as 'Eagles' (as the graduates from my school, Covenant University, are always referred to), our Chancellor gave us 5 Perspectives for an Ever-Winning Life. I'd like to share these perspectives with you guys, hoping that you learn from and imbibe them as part of your life. Whether you are just graduating, you have just graduated, you graduated long ago or you're still an undergraduate, these five perspectives will be important to you if you must live a fulfilled life, and make heaven. They are:

LIFE LESSONS V: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? (by Queensly Austin @AustinQueensly)

‘A true genius admits that he or she knows nothing’

Albert Einstein

This article title might bring back memories of lyrics to a song released by an artist who shares the first three letters of his stage name with a popular Nigerian gospel artist. Okay, if you still have not guessed it right, oh well!

The subject of this article lived years before our forefathers were born and was one of the closest companions of the greatest human to have walked the face of the earth. He is not the first person that will come to mind when one thinks about lowliness. Before I overwork your brain with my puzzles, let me at least solve this one for you.

How Our DSTV Dish Taught Me Vital Life Lessons

Since June 12, when the World Cup started, I’ve only watched 2 matches because our DSTV was not connected and we hadn’t subscribed. Several attempts to get the Satellite Technicians to come help us connect it proved futile. Each time we called, they’d give one excuse or the other. I even missed the Netherlands versus Spain (5pa1n) match because of this. Subsequently, I started becoming irritated with the situation. Partly because all we had to watch at the moment were religious channels (of which I’m not a big fan), and because my parents were seemingly not as determined as I was to watch the World Cup (a lie I succeeded in telling myself repeatedly). My irritation started guiding my behavior and my parents were obviously not happy with the situation. So, in order to quell the annoyance in the air, I decided to engage in a DIY. I spent several minutes outside my house, figuring a way to fix the dish and connect it. I finally had a Eureka moment.

7 Things You Need to Know that Enhance your Productivity

1. Learn how to wake up early. People who wake up early have the capacity to be more productive than those who wake up late. The thing about waking up early is that it gives you the opportunity to plan your day before it starts. Furthermore, waking up early allows you to create a good pace for your day. Whatever your day will be like is defined by the actions you perform in the first few hours.
2. Learn how to read a lot. The more relevant stuff you read, the more knowledgeable you become. Reading a lot is no guarantee that you’ll be better but it is the foundation for getting better at what you do. The more you know, the better you get and the more productive you become. Reading someone’s book or work gives you access to all the knowledge the person has about what you’re reading. Imagine reading a book that took a man thousands of other books and many years to write, you’re able to gain access to that person’s knowledge simply through the book.

A Tale of Two Sick Men #BeInspired

I saw this short story on Facebook and I thought I'd be nice to share it with you. Be inspired:

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on
vacation.

LIFE LESSONS IV: HOW HANDICAPPED ARE YOU? (by Austin Queensly @AustinQueensly)

Imagine not being able to see the world around you, the beauty of nature, and the faces of your loved ones. Terrible, right?  Now throw in the inability to listen to good music, or the voices of those around you.

Well, that was the case of Helen Keller who was born with good sight and the ability to hear but lost both senses when she was 19 months old which made her situation feel even worse. Some of us may have heard the story of Helen Keller but not about the person behind her story.

It is hard enough teaching people who have their 5 senses intact and harder to teach someone with a disability. Anne Sullivan definitely had her work cut out for her with the responsibility of tutoring Helen Keller who was both blind and deaf; these two senses are unarguably the most necessary for smooth learning to take place.

WINDOW PAIN

God could feel my pain. I knew it. As I sat down staring out the window through tearful eyes, I knew it. Heaven was weeping with me as the rain drops raged at my window. I was in pain. My mind was messed up. In a few moments from now, the monster was going to come in again. It had become normal already. My innocence was long gone as my essence has since been lost. The monster never hesitated to destroy what was supposed to be my pride.

My thoughts were interrupted by the creak of the door. I didn’t look back. It was time. I simply turned and lay on my back as the monster smiled down at me. His once lovely face had now become the symbol of everything wrong with mankind. He was my hate. He was my pain. My evil and my devil. I closed my eyes then I felt his weight on the bed. Right beside me. I slowly parted my legs and he commenced his despicable act. I was silent all through. I had become accustomed to this evil. As he finished up, I closed my legs but then I heard his coarse whisper. I’m not done. “What?” my mind snapped but my mouth was too troubled and weak to utter a sound. He started removing his belt buckle and leaned into me as he finally took away all I ever was and will be. By the time all these was over, he dressed himself back. Expressionless and emotionless. As if what just happened meant nothing. As he made for the door, I mumbled: “Papa, please. Can this stop? I’m in pain”. He simply looked at me and smiled, “I know”.

How to Become a Person of Value

We’ve talked about the Law of Value Addition (Read about it here) and now it is important we learn how to become such persons. So here are simple ways through which you can become a person who’s constantly making life better for others (these are but a few, the list is inexhaustible):