Public Drafts

"She began to add value to herself first, and later saw the value in herself."

"It's impossible to consistently behave in a matter inconsistent with how we see ourselves."

"People are never able to outperform their self-image."

Three quotes that I underlined in this chapter.

Blessed to have grown a lot in this department over the past little while and to continue to be intentionally pursuing growth in this area. It's so important to know your worth and your infinite potential as a child of God. In order to accomplish significant work for the Lord, you must first be able to visualize what you are capable of doing. To see it in your mind's eye. To solidify it and believe that you can. If the seeds of possibilities for you are never planted in your mind, they can never grow to be anything (there were no intentions in the first place). Believe in yourself. Love yourself. And take a risk because you're created to be great for Him. When you play small, when you hide your talents, when you keep quiet of the Good News, it does nothing to serve the world.

I also found the section Steps to Build Your Self-Image incredibly valuable.

1. Guard your self-talk. Whether you know it or not, you have a running conversation with yourself all the time. What is the nature of yours? Do you encourage yourself? Or do you criticize yourself? Become your own encourager!
2. Stop comparing yourself to others. What happens when you compare yourself to others? Usually its one of two things: either you perceive the other person to be far ahead of you and you feel discouraged, or you perceive yourself to be better than the other person, and you become proud. Neither is good for you or will help you grow. Your mission should be to become better than you were yesterday, and you do that by focusing on you. 
3. Move beyond your limiting beliefs. "When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do." The greatest limitations you will encounter are the ones you impose upon yourself and tell yourself you can't do. 
4. Add value to others. It's hard to feel bad about yourself when you're doing good for someone else.
5. Do the right thing, even when it's the hard thing. Being true to yourself and your values is a tremendous self-esteem builder. Every time you take action that builds your character, you become stronger as a person - the harder the task, the greater the character builder. 
6. Practice a small discipline daily in a specific area of your life. Chip away at things you need to work on bit by bit; don't try to tackle it all at once. This gives you confidence to complete the task. 
7. Celebrate small victories. It's good for you and inspires you to keep going.
8. Embrace a positive vision for your life based on what you value. What do you value? If you don't have a vision, you're likely to be apathetic. If you tap into what you value and try to see what could be, it can inspire you to take positive action.
9. Practice the one-word strategy. If you could only pick one word to describe yourself, what would it be? Make sure it's positive. 
10. Take responsibility for your life. We tend to get in life what we're willing to tolerate. If we allow others to disrespect us, we get disrespected. If we tolerate abuse, we get abused. If we don't develop a vision for ourselves, we will become a part of someone else's.