Great Self Confidence

...to live the life you want

Never judge the day by the weather

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This is a quick, extra, post mainly prompted by my making a total hash of trying to get a video clip on yesterdays post. It doesn’t appear to work in Internet Explorer (get Firefox – it’s better anyway!!) and I now realize those getting the RSS feed didn’t get anything, so the post may have read a little strange. Click on Stephen Fry for the You Tube video.

The other thing to say is that today in the UK has been calculated as the “most depressing day of the year”. A University researcher has come up with a formula that takes into account various factors such as weather, day of the week, debts from Christmas, failure of New Year resolutions (!) and found the third Monday in January is the day to stay in bed!

This story has been on our radio and television, but the link above was the main one I could find on Google. The author has clearly missed the point – he argues from California that sometime in November is a more depressing day. But with the weather we tend to get in January (its hardly stopped raining) – which we love to talk about – its not exactly a surprising finding.

Has anyone got a formula for the Happiest Day of the Year? One thing I have done recently is replayed an old Zig Ziglar audiotape I purchased many years ago. One of his “suggestions” is “never judge the day by the weather“. Today there are many people out there celebrating the birth of a child or some other momentous event. Does it matter to them if its raining or snowing or blowing a gale?

We should celebrate everyday we get, whatever the weather. We will never get 21st January 2008 ever again – its gone. I hope you made the most of it.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself

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Stephen Fry is always entertaining (to me anyway!) and usually gives interesting reflections on life:- 

This video has now been withdrawn from YouTube – copyright problems with the BBC!

You could have see it on You Tube My recent posts have highlighted the less than perfect starts of people who went on to great success in their chosen fields. Despite an affluent background, Stephen Fry described his teenage years as having a "tendency to lie, cheat and steal". So much so that at 18 he was sent to prison for 3 months for credit card fraud! 

[Read more…]

Does Attitude Count more than Ability?

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Last week I received an email announcing the relaunch of Success magazine. As the email was unsolicited – and technically spam – it didn’t seem a particularly auspicious way to relaunch a magazine! But it did lead me to dig out my old copy of Success, which I purchased in Chicago on my only visit (to date) to the USA – in February 1982.

Its a long story as to why I was in Chicago in winter, and I’m not really sure why my magazine has survived 26 years (and that I could find it!). Ironically 1982 was the least successful year of my life as I spent most of it unemployed and lacking confidence in myself. I had yet to learn that reading self development material isn’t enough – you have to take action..

Reading any old publication gives a fascinating insight into how far some things have changed. There is a feature on a new form of dancing called “aerobics”, an advert using John DeLorean to promote a brand of whiskey and the cover feature/main interview is Johnny Carson (“shy and introverted as a youngster”). The other big interview is Brent Musburger, who I gather is still around today.

In many other respects, the magazine is remarkably undated. [Read more…]

Self Confident men, Shy and Flamboyant

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“Life’s a bit like mountaineering – never look down.” So said Sir Edmund Hillary, who reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. He was the first to reach the highest point on earth, an achievement for which he was forever linked. He died yesterday aged 88.

Whilst around 2000 have since reached the summit, when Hillary and Tenzing Norgay did so it had been seen as beyond man’s capability, previous expeditions having ground to a halt. As Hilary admitted:-

“We didn’t know if it was humanly possible to reach the top.“

Whatever image you have of Edmund Hillary, remember two facts about him. At school, he was in a gym group for those lacking co-ordination and admitted to feeling a “deep sense of inferiority”. A few years later he was apparently so shy that he proposed to his wife with a message via her mother. [Read more…]

Do you suffer from gluckschmerz?

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Thought I’d step away from goals and resolutions and share with you two new words I’ve learned recently. Gluckschmerz, a German word that means feeling unhappy about the good fortune of others; and Schadenfreude – yes, you guessed it – also German, which means feeling pleasure at the suffering of others.

Sadly, the English language doesn’t always have the panache of other languages! We’re left with envy – perhaps the feeling does deserve such a short and ugly word. Does it affect you? If so, does it motivate you to work harder to achieve what the other person has got? Or, does it drag you down and undermine your self confidence?

Professor Richard Smith, University of Kentucky, said envy:-

“Occurs when we lack another’s superior quality, achievement or possession and desire it or wish the other lacked it. When we envy, we feel inferior, longing, resentment and ill-will to the advantaged person.”

Not holding back he goes on to say [Read more…]