Overcoming the Fear of Criticism May Be The Secret to Your Success in Business

The fear of criticism is a strong emotion that can bring a grown man to his knees. Your sweaty palms and shaky knees that is overwhelming from doing something as simple as speaking in front of a crowd. This fear can be detrimental to anyone seeking success in business and cause them to achieve only a fraction of their potential. Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" listed this fear as one the six fears that cripples people from achieving success in life, relationship and business.

When you are in a crowd moving along with the masses in a non-descriptive mode you are great. Your name is the best thing that is bestowed upon you as a child. You love the sound of your name and you stand at attention when someone calls your name. Yet when someone calls your name to bring you out of the crowd and places you in a fish bowl the sweaty palms and beads of sweat rolling down your head makes you frightened. The fear of public speaking is only second to spiders in the top 10 phobias. Social phobias are the fear of being evaluated negatively in social situations.

A successful leader stricken with the fear of criticism would find it very difficult to succeed. A leader must be able to make decision about policy and not worry the negative chatter that might arise from it. You must overcome this fear if you are truly going to generate the riches that you want in your life. If Henry Ford was afflicted by this fear he would push one button and have someone else's take care of it. There are more practical and psychological ways to defeat the fear of criticism.

There are a number of ways to overcome this fear. Three ways that you may use is to unlearn the fear through therapy, Counter Conditioning and Behavioral Therapy. Counter Conditioning uses relaxation method to allow you to think of a better scenario that you in as opposed to being on the stage in front of people speaking. We have all heard about the suggestion of imagining the people naked is a form of Behavioral Therapy.

The fear of criticism can do tangible and intangible damage to a person's confidence and psyche. Tangible damage could be an inability to get on a public stage to talk to a group of people. Intangible damage might be stripping a person of their imagination, limiting individuality and destroy your self reliance. The fact remains that you must beat this fear to achieve success in your life, love, relationships and business. The fear of Flying is the #3 phobias and once you get on the plane whether the plane crashes or not is beyond your control. The fear of criticism is a fear that you do have control over.

The Secrets of Goal Setting Or How to Boost Your Home Business in 6 Easy Steps

Napoleon Hill and Carnegie knew it back in 1929. Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins know it now and thousands of people all over the world are experiencing the benefits of it through building successful online businesses every day. What is it? Goal setting. Two little words that can mean make or break when it comes to your success or failure in your internet business or whatever venture or path you set out on.

But like any other activity you have to learn how to DO it right before you GET it right. Here are little 6 steps to help you discover that Goal Setting could be the most important thing you learn today.

1. LIST YOUR GOAL. Be specific about what you want - really specific. You are making a legal contract with yourself - a blueprint for success. Saying "I want to be rich and earn lots of money" is not being specific, but saying "By [date] I will be earning $10,000 every month" is very specific. You have told yourself when you want to achieve your goal and you have told yourself what your goal is. Which brings me to the second point

2. SET A DEADLINE. A goal without a deadline is just a dream. But specifying a timeframe in which you will achieve your goal sets it in stone. You have told your brain that you WILL achieve your goal by such and such a date and so your brain goes to work.

3. PLAN THE STEPS INVOLVED. Write down what you need to do exactly to achieve your goal. For example let's say you want to LEARN SPANISH for a forthcoming holiday. What would your steps be to achieve that goal.

• Buy a Spanish phrase book
• Learn 10 to 20 new words every day
• Listen to other people speaking Spanish
• Find a friend who speaks Spanish and practice your grammar with them
• Download Spanish audio recordings from the internet and listen to them every day.

4. MAKE A COMMITMENT. Promise yourself that you will do your best to reach your goal. DO NOT waiver but DO be flexible. No matter how good your plans are, stuff happens and you may need to adjust some steps as you go along - and that's OK. Don't beat yourself up about it. Just keep making progress toward the final goal.

5. START IMMEDIATELY & REVIEW YOUR GOALS DAILY. Everything may not be perfect to start but JUST START. If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right you will NEVER take the first step on your journey. Write all of the above steps down on a piece of paper and SIGN AND DATE IT. Now you have made a legal contract with yourself. The only person stopping you from achieving your goal IS YOU. Read that contract EVERY DAY - OUT LOUD...! - and remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing. Give yourself a big pat on the back when you pass some of the milestones you set yourself.

6. USE YOUR IMAGINATION - VISUALIZE. I reckon this is the most important step. "Fast-forward" in time and imagine yourself achieving the goal. SEE yourself stepping off the plane on your holiday and speaking Spanish to the hotel staff in a relaxed and confident manner. Feel the sense of accomplishment that brings. IMAGINE yourself wandering through the marketplace and understanding all that is being said around you. Here are some final thoughts on Goal Setting:

• Goals are great, but you need a plan to reach them otherwise they'll always be just goals and never achievements.
• Goals can easily get put on the back burner, so you have to stay focused and keep working toward them.
• Don't be afraid to set large goals. If others have reached them before - YOU CAN TOO.
• Talk to people who have already reached the goal you have set yourself. They can give you inspiration and practical suggestions. Share your goals with your friends and family so they can be part of your support team. AND FINALLY
• Don't beat yourself up if you're not accomplishing your goal perfectly or in the timeframe you set. Just keep trying and don't give up.

Fill in your email address over there on the right >>> for your FREE e-book "How to Make Your Home Business Work Online." It's got some great tips.

Personal Perspective - Your Window to Success

Desire Is The Beginning Of Your Success

What is the most important thing you must contribute to your own success? It is the burning and prevailing desire to make that success happen with your business. Desire is the beginning of all achievement. Without desire there is no change. Network Marketing is likely the only business on the planet that is do-able by ANYONE. These days if you have a phone and an internet connection you can be successful in this business.

Why is desire so important to your success? Because along the way you will meet obstacles. You will meet up with frustration. You will take two steps forward then three steps backward. There will be days when you just want to quit. That's when your desire kicks in and you press on to your goal. Anything worth doing is not going to be easy. And here's the really good news!

Unlike most conventional businesses, everything in Network Marketing can be learned and you can achieve anything you want. The things you don't know can be learned. The resources necessary can be found and acquired for pennies. Success in our industry comes mostly from not quitting! Let me say that one point again because it is so important.

Success in our industry comes mostly from not quitting!

Desire is a a longing or craving, as for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment: sucn as a desire for success or fame or love. Desire can overcome your lack of education. Desire can overcome your present circumstances. Desire can trump frustration. Desire can keep you going when everything and everybody tells you to quit. Desire is the pilot of your success that will get you to your destination regardless of your feelings.

I remember years ago I was on a plane and landing in the middle of a rain storm. It wasn't a really bad storm, but as the plane was bouncing and bumping and rolling through the dark clouds on its way to the ground, I was a little freaked out. OK... I was A LOT freaked out! I was thankful that there was a trained pilot at the controls that was going to get us safely to our destination. He landed the plane despite my anxious feelings (and those of many other people on the plane that day).

Desire is your rational pilot when the irrational seeds of doubt, frustration, and despair enter your world. If there is no driving desire, then the knowledge and the resources will be of no use. Real, unique, meaningful desire is what will make success happen and is what will make it worthwhile.

When is the last time you revisited your WHY? The true motivation that pushes you forward day in and day out; Your desire in the forefront of your mind that helps you continue even in difficult times? I hope at least weekly.

Check your Desire Daily. Decide that you will do the things necessary to carry you forward. Decide on your core beliefs and (of course) that your family, your health, etc are more important than your business. But then aside from those things, tell yourself that there is NOTHING more important than your success. Not your favorite TV show, not your love of 'playing' on your computer, not the opinions of others, not ANYTHING!

Desire is the pilot; the guiding light that will take you to your dreams.

Finding Success As A Woman In Business

More and more women are entering into business as professional business owners and entrepreneurs. With a rise in women working from home in their own businesses there are numerous support groups to help you achieve as well as maintain success as a woman in business. From franchises to home based accounting services, women are taking the business world by force in numbers. Keeping yourself on top of your game and building support is now easier than ever. There is support networks, education and leadership courses available to women through sites such as ABWA- American Business Women's Association, NAWBO- National Association Of Women Business Owner's and PBWA- Professional Business Women's Association. Finding success in the business world can be achieved as a woman through determination and effort. Never letting obstacles get in your way or listening to those in the business world that are unsupportive for women in business. In order to keep yourself in the lead over your business you should perform an abundance of research. Learn all that you can so you can give yourself a leg up on your competitors. If you are well versed in your businesses knowledge you are sure to achieve success.

Women have struggled throughout history to achieve their goals. The ability to wear pants, go to college, to vote and to work outside of the home. Women who refused to give up or to let others interfere with reaching said goals have made all things possible. Achieving all of these goals is available through drive in pursuing what may often seem as impossible can be accomplished more easily than ever before and can be accomplished now. You simply have to build confidence and add things into your life that will keep you focused on your success. You can also better achieve business success as a woman by keeping yourself surrounded by a strong support group. This can be friends or family as well as acquaintances. This can make a world of difference having people around you cheering you on through both good and bad times.

If you find yourself in doubt of reaching your goals look at some of the women who have achieved business success and are your role models of inspiration. Consider Amelia Earhart. She was the first woman to fly solo in her precious bi-plane the canary. Think of Beatrix Potter the famed writer of the Peter Rabbit books. She was turned down over and over again when submitting her work and she is now an author of children's classics. Think about Victoria Knight Mcdowell the creator of Airborne. She was a second grade school teacher who went on to create a successful immune boosting tablet. All of these women faced controversies and obstacles. They achieved success by sheer determination and support from those that were close to them. You to can achieve this success through the inspiration of these women who paved the way for our own success in business and life as a whole. Mothers, teachers and inventors are what we are and anything else that we strive to become. Success is only a though away for women who choose to become business pioneers.

Managing The Dash: The Key to Successful Stress Management

A couple of years ago I was on a small plane flying from Chicago to Milwaukee. The plane ran into some heavy turbulence and starting bouncing through the air like a rock skipping over a pond. Every time the plane would hit a bump, I'd grip the sides of my seat, because I thought the plane was going to crash.

Every time the flight evened out, I'd relax. I happened to look across the aisle and there sitting next to his mother was a boy of maybe 6 or 7 years old. Whenever time the plane would hit a bump and I'd moan in fear, this boy would go, "Wheeeeeee." And when the plane straightened out and flew smoothly, the boy would get upset. I remember him looking at the ceiling of the plane and in a giggling voice call out, "do it again!"

I realized that this boy and myself were having completely different responses to a situation where we both were being given EXACTLY the same information. Here I was, frightened for my life and the kid thought he was on a roller coaster. I was stressed and he wasn't! I got so mad at him. Then I got mad at myself. I thought back to my college psychology class when I learned about the stimulus response theory; the S-R equation. Now, if a stimulus leads to a response, how come this bumpy stimulus led to several different responses? It must have something to do with that dash between the "S" and the "R". That dash is where my belief about the stimulus comes in. In other words, my self-talk about the flight determined that it was dangerous. The kid's self-talk was that this was fun.

Bingo! So stress is not an event itself, it's our perception about the event as stressful! And stress is not a FACT. It's a FEELING. Since we can't always change the way the world works, our best shot at managing stress lies in our learning to manage the "dash," that interval between the event and our belief about that experience.

As I struggle to keep negative stress at bay, I've come to realize that are only two kinds of events in this world- those we can control and those we cannot. And at any one time, we have only two choices. We can either act or not act. This concept is easily illustrated in a 4-part matrix, also know as the consultant's dream whereby any complex idea can be easily broken into 4 quadrants.

When you act on something you can control, we call that mastery.

When you act on something you cannot control, such as the weather, traffic jams or other peoples' behavior, we call that ceaseless striving. Actually, I used to call that ceaseless striving until I was presenting a program for a group of kindergarten teachers. One of the teachers raised her hand at this description and remarked that this description reminded her of the gerbil in her classroom. An animal forever expending energy and getting nowhere. So I now I refer to acting on something I cannot control as "gerbilizing." Nothing stops me faster from getting stressed than picturing a gerbil with moustache and glasses frustratingly getting nowhere.

When you do not act on something you can control, that's "giving up."

Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. When you're really busy and someone asks you to do something and you say, "I can't. Talk to me later," that's good. You're not acting on something you can control. If you're given an opportunity to do something that's a bit challenging and you are afraid and say no, that's not so good. When you do not act on something you cannot control, that's "letting go." I believe the key to enjoying life is learning, as much as possible, to act on things you can control and let go of things you cannot control. This is what I mean by "managing the dash."

I fly a lot. How do I control this particular dash about my stress around flying? I learned what turbulence is all about and that planes are built to take it pretty much in stride. I watch the flight attendants to see confidence in action. I do not leave home without telling my loved ones that I love them. I remind myself that driving is statistically more dangerous than flying so I'd really feel dumb if I got off a plane and was killed in a car crash leaving the airport.