Brian Tracy explains how your self-ideal, the qualities you admire and internalize, shapes who you become. Clear ideals and ambitious goals raise that ideal higher. Successful salespeople have sharp, high ideals; unsuccessful ones don't.
I think that the greatest discovery in human potential in the 20th century was the discovery of the self concept. It's the way you think and how the way you think largely determines everything that happens to you in life. In fact, we say all improvement in your outer life begins with an improvement in your self concept. And did you know that your self concept is made up of three parts, each of which affects each of the other? Understanding these three parts of your thinking enables you to put your hands on the keyboard of your own mental computer. When you learn to take charge of the development of a new and positive self concept of selling, for example, you can then control your sales destiny for the rest of your career. The first part of the self concept is called the self ideal. Your self ideal largely determines the direction in which you are going in life. Your self ideal guides the growth and evolution of your character and personality. Your self ideal is a combination of all the qualities and attributes of other people that you most admire. Your self ideal is a description of the person you would very much like to be if you could embody the qualities that you most aspire to. Throughout your life, you have seen and read about the qualities of courage and confidence and compassion and love and fortitude and perseverance and patience and forgiveness and integrity. Over time, these qualities have instilled in you an ideal to which you aspire. You may not always live up to the very best that you know, but you're constantly striving to be a better person in light of those qualities that you value so highly. In fact, everything that you do on a day to day basis is affected by your comparing your activities with those ideal qualities and your striving to behave consistently with the very best person you could possibly be. Now, successful salespeople have very clear ideals for themselves and their careers. Unsuccessful salespeople have fuzzy ideals or no ideals at all. Successful salespeople are very clear about being excellent in every part of their work and their personal lives. Unsuccessful salespeople don't give the subject very much thought. One of the primary characteristics of successful men and women in every walk of life is that they have very clearly defined ideals and they're very aware of whether or not their current behaviors are consistent with their idealized behaviors. Now, part of your ideals are your goals. As you set higher and more challenging goals, your self ideal improves and crystallizes. When you set big goals for the kind of person you want to be and the kind of life you want to live, your self ideal rises and becomes a greater guiding and motivating force in your life. Perhaps the most important thing for you to realize is that whatever anyone else has done or become, you can do or become as well. Within reason. Improvements in your self ideal begin in your imagination. And in your imagination there are no limits except the ones that you accept. So what is your ideal vision of the very best person that you could possibly become? How could you behave each day as if you were already that person? Asking yourself these questions and then living your life consistent with the answers is the first step to creating yourself in your ideal image. Thank you for viewing this video on your ideal self and life. If you enjoyed this video, please press the like button below and click on the link on the screen to subscribe to my channel.
