Around the world the market for skilled people, for professionals, for generalists and specialists, is increasing exponentially. Ironically, at the same time the market is demanding only specific skills, knowledge, understanding, experience and qualifications, and these are often not the traditionally known ones. Remaining marketable in such fast changing and demanding times is now essential if an individual is to continue to be successful in their work. It is not enough to have traditional skill sets, nor rely on qualifications which have been superseded by more modern versions or completely replaced. To remain marketable it is essential to continuously, appropriately, and visibly, update your qualifications, skills, knowledge, and understanding. Additionally, in many business sectors you will need to demonstrate that your experiences are also current, varied, and relevant.

Successful providers of goods or services adopt what is known as the Marketing Concept. This, in essence, is the producing or selling organisation focusing primarily on identifying the needs and wants of the customer, rather than the operational capabilities of the organisation. This customer driven approach ensures that the organisation is aware of current and likely future customer needs and enables it to provide products that it knows certain customers will purchase.  Of course, other factors, such as competitor activity and background changes in the marketplace, are very important, and will be factored in to the strategies. It is this approach that must be taken by the individual seeking to be successful in their careers.

To remain marketable, to be successful in finding new opportunities, to make good progress in whatever field you have chosen, you will need to adopt the marketing concept to yourself. This means researching what your customers or clients want. If you are intent on staying within your current organisation, you must research and establish what are their current, but more importantly, future people needs, what skills, experience, expertise, qualifications, are they seeking from their key people. To highlight the importance of this, consider what an external applicant, applying for a post in your organisation, would do. Correct, research and present themselves in a way which matches the needs of the organisation as closely as possible. If you are planning to change organisations, or sectors, or to set up a business, the same applies, you must identify the current and future needs of your chosen target. If you do not, then it is highly likely that your profile will not meet their needs.

This is the most essential first step. You will need to consider which markets you are targeting, which customers. In other words, which business sectors and which organisations, or which clients and customers if you are setting up a business. This is not an easy task but it is critical that you do this well. If you are planning to remain employed then much information is readily available, directly from organisations and from business sector trade organisations, indirectly from sector reports, educational research, educational institutions who provide sector or profession specific courses, educational departments of professional associations, marketing companies, government departments. The danger is that many of these information providers may themselves not be up to date with the latest developments and trends, so you will need to cross-check most information. If you are planning to set up a business, then you will need to carry out market research on your potential customers or clients. Armed with information on the current and forecast condition and the current and future people or services needs, of your target markets, you can then move on to the next step.

The essential second step is to carry out an analysis of your current skills, experience, qualifications, and ongoing development activities. The best and most simple tool to do this with is the SWOT analysis: identifying your strengths and weaknesses and then the opportunities available to you and the threats that face you. You can do this alone, but it is much better to seek help from others, such as a coach, mentor, human resource specialist, line manager, or friend who can give advice and support objectively. When you have identified your strengths consider how these can be enhanced. When you have identified your weakness (in relation to your target customer’s needs) you should plan how to reduce or eliminate them. In both areas, this will probably mean taking on personal and-or professional development activities, which we will discuss below. Opportunities will need to be assessed in two stages: firstly those available to you now, given your current profile, and secondly those that will be available to you after you have made yourself more marketable, by enhancing your strengths and taking positive action to eliminate or reduce your weaknesses. Threats are also best assessed in two stages: firstly those currently facing you, and secondly those that are likely to arise in the future. As you can see, identifying your current attributes is a major task, but one that is highly valuable and essential if you are to move forward successfully.

As we are illustrating in this article, your most valuable transferable skill may well be that of being willing to continuously develop yourself. That aside, there are other attributes that will be highly valuable. Whether you are considering moving into another business sector, or setting up your own business, then in the process of carrying out the SWOT analysis, you should add a category where you can list your current transferable skills. These are skills, experience, qualifications, knowledge, that you already possess and which will be valuable in your new work situation. These attributes can range through the hard to the soft, and can include contacts, experiences, specialist expertise, passion for certain type of work, qualifications, internet skills, foreign languages, and so on.

After you have completed the analysis of your targeted markets, and of your current skills, the next step is to draw up a development action plan that will fill identified gaps, enhance strengths, reduce or eliminate weaknesses, prepare you to take advantage of opportunities and equip you with the means to defend against threats. Preparing a personal professional development plan is a major task and should not be taken lightly. Advice and guidance should be obtained from appropriate sources, even if this is simply to research current best practice, by using the internet and-or textbooks. Your plan should be designed to develop yourself in a way which results in your profile matching that of the target markets. It is unlikely that you will achieve a complete match in a short space of time, but you must start the journey with that in mind. Considerable help is available, from professional associations, sector specific educational qualification providers, private business schools, public colleges and universities, and can be studied in distance learning, classroom, or on the job formats. Some development areas are widely useful, such as courses in general business and management, quality management, project management, and marketing, whilst other subjects can be highly useful if identified as a specific need, such as risk management, event management, financial awareness, strategic planning, and customer relationships. There are, of course, many more that could be essential development areas.

In addition to the necessary personal development activity, there are other avenues that should be explored. These include: networking, which is seen in some sectors as a valuable marketing tool for employed and for self-employed people; building a presence by publishing articles, in relevant journals or internet directories or publishing a weblog, or even writing and publishing a book on your business specialism; taking on public speaking; joining and participating in local branches of professional associations. These are but a few of the many ways of promoting yourself, which can be explored in more depth through research on the internet.

The message here is very simple. You must take action. Whatever your marketplace it will be highly competitive and highly demanding. You will need to be actively managing your participation, your self-marketing, in order to be amongst the successful participants.

There are some common pitfalls that can damage the process. The main danger areas are: Allowing current workload to prevent you from taking the action described here. You will almost certainly never be less busy, it’s the way of the modern business world that the amount and the pace of change is continuously increasing, and this translates into workload; You are tempted to focus on technical, operational skills, rather than broader, more conceptual skills, such as interpersonal skills, negotiation skills, or strategic approaches; You become committed to a position because it was easy to obtain. If this happens it is unlikely that the attraction of the post will last; You limit your opportunities by trying to match your existing skills with opportunities; You limit your opportunities by carrying out little or insufficient research; You limit your opportunities by not looking beyond your current business sector; You procrastinate and don’t take action. All of these are fatal mistakes. You must avoid them and take positive, realistic action, now.

Making yourself more marketable, more attractive, more credible, more interesting, is an essential skill in today’s highly competitive, complex, and fast-changing business world. The need to show evidence of continuous personal and professional development is no longer expected of the few, or in certain professions only. It is now mandatory in all business sectors, and in all organisations, be they private or public, commercial or non-profit making. The most successful individuals embrace this requirement and add it to the range of skills that they equip themselves with, and then develop it with passion and commitment. To make yourself more marketable you have to take that task very seriously, and commit appropriate effort and energy to it. If you can also add passion for continuous development and learning, the rewards will be considerable.

If you’re running or managing a business and want it to be around for a long time, you need to spend a good part of your time innovating. That’s because, in a fast-moving world, where people expect things to get better and better, and cheaper and cheaper, innovation is your route to getting ahead of your competition.

Here are 7 ways to put new life blood into your organization through innovation.

1. Create An Innovative Climate. Goran Ekvall of Lund University in Sweden has defined three conditions needed for a climate of innovation. They are: trust, dynamism, and humour. One of Ekvall’s case studies was a Swedish newspaper where the team working on the women’s section consistently outperformed all the other teams. The reason? Quite simply, this group trusted one another, had a high level of energy and shared a common sense of humour.

2. Develop Washing-Up Creativity. According to the Roffey Park Management Institute, most flashes of inspiration come to people when they are away from work and not forcing their conscious brains to find solutions to their problems. For some, ideas come while mowing the lawn or taking the dog for a walk or playing golf or waiting on a railway station. For Isaac Newton, it was an apple on the head while sitting in the garden. For Archimedes, it was in the bath. For others it’s while doing the dishes; that’s why Roffey Park calls these flashes of insight: “washing-up creativity”.

3. Make New Connections. Making new connections between existing features of your product or service is a popular way to innovate. Akio Morita, chairman of Sony, said that he invented the Walkman because he wanted to listen to music while walking between shots on his golf course. His team simply put together two seemingly incompatible products: a tape recorder and a transistor radio.

4. Find Out What People Need. Necessity is a great spur to innovation. Take, for example, writing paper. The Chinese had already made paper from rags around the year 100 BC but because there was no need for it, nothing came of it. When it did reach Europe in the Middle Ages when writing was all the rage, the supply of rags and worn-out fabric soon dried up. That’s when a French naturalist made the discovery that wasps made their nests by chewing wood into a mash that dried in thin layers. Within 100 years, all paper was made using the idea of wood pulp.

5. Test, Test, Test. Product testing is the way most inventors and organizations go about innovation. It may not be the quickest route to success, but it is often the surest. Jonas Salk, for example, discovered the polio vaccine by spending most of his time testing and testing and continually finding out what didn’t work. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the filament light bulb, recorded 1300 experiments that were complete failures. But he was able to keep going because, as he said, he knew 1300 ways that it wasn’t going to work.

6. Adopt and Adapt. One relatively easy approach to innovation is to notice how others deal with problems and then adapt their solutions to your own. It’s known as “adapt and adopt”. It’s what watchmakers Swatch did when they realized that the more reliable their watches became, the less people needed to replace them. Their solution? Borrow an idea from the world of fashion and collections by turning their watches into desirable fashion accessories. Now people buy Swatch watches not just to tell the time but because it’s cool to do so.

7. Take Lessons From Nature. If you really want to be inventive, you can’t beat nature. The world of nature gives us an endless supply of prototypes to use in our own world. Take Velcro, for example. Velcro was patented by Georges de Mestral in 1950 after he returned from a hunting trip covered in tiny burrs that had attached themselves to his clothing by tiny overlapping hooks. De Mestral quickly realized that here was an ideal technique to fasten material together. A whole new way of doing things was suddenly invented.

The history of the world is the history of innovation. Thomas Kuhn called each acceptance of a new innovation a “paradigm shift”. For once a new innovation becomes accepted, the world has changed for ever and can never go back to the way it was.

Fact: Success is something of which we all want more.

Fact: Most people believe that success is difficult.

Fact: They’re wrong – it’s not!

Success isn’t really that difficult. There is a significant portion of the population here in North America, that actually want and need success to be hard! Why? So they then have a built-in excuse when things don’t go their way! Pretty sad situation, to say the least.

For those of you who are serious about having more, doing more, giving more and being more, success is achievable with some understanding of what to do, some discipline around planning and execution of those plans and belief that you can achieve your desires.

The Truth About Success

The first thing to remember about success is that it is a process – nothing more, nothing less. There is really no magic to it and it’s not reserved only for a select few people. As such, success really has nothing to do with luck, coincidence or fate. It really comes down to understanding the steps in the process and then executing on those steps.

There are basically six key areas to higher achievement. Some people will tell you there are four while others may tell you there are eight. One thing for certain though, is that irrespective of the number of steps the experts talk about, they all originate from the same roots.

From my perspective then, here are the six key steps:

1. Making the decision

2. Clarity – developing the Vision

3. Focus – having a plan

4. Commitment – understanding the price and having the willingness to pay that price

5. Belief – believing in yourself and those around you

6. Taking action – practice Ready, Fire, Aim…

Making the Decision

If success is a process with a number of defined steps, then it is just like any other process. So, what is the first step in any process?

Making a decision to do something – this is the first step. We all know that nothing moves until someone makes a decision. The first action is always in making the decision to proceed. This is a fundamental step, which most people overlook.

So, make the decision to move forward. Commit your decision to paper, just to bring it into focus. Then, go for it!

Clarity

Having clarity of purpose and a clear picture of what you desire, is probably the single most important factor in achievement. Why is Clarity so important?

Without clarity, you send a very garbled message out to the Universe. We know that the Law of Attraction says that we will attract what we focus on, so if we don’t have clarity, we will attract confusion.

Consider the following analogy:

You are going on a cruise, but when the ship sets sail, you discover it has no rudder. What happens? One of 3 things will occur:

1. You will sail along until you collide with an immovable object, after which you will sink to the bottom

2. You will run aground and become hopelessly stuck in the mud

3. You will drift aimlessly until you arrive back at the original dock

Trying to go through life without clarity is similar to sailing a rudder-less ship – no good thing can or will happen!

The sad thing is the majority of people have no clue about what they truly want. They have no clarity. When asked the question, responses will be superficial at best, and at worst, will be what someone else wants for them.

So how do we get clarity? Simply by asking ourselves lots of questions: What do I really want? What does success look like to me? Why do I want a particular thing? How will this achievement change my life? How can I use this success to make a difference for others?

Introspection is the trick. Understand what you want, why you want it and what it will do for you. This is a critical factor, and as such, is probably the most difficult step. For this reason, most people never complete this aspect – then wonder why life is so difficult!

Once you have a clear understanding of what you want, it is critical that you engage in goal setting – specifically setting SMART goals.

SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Sensitive – S-M-A-R-T. Knowing what you want and setting SMART goals as mileposts on your quest cannot help but give you clarity!

Focus

Focus is having the unwavering attention to complete what you set out to do. There are a million distractions in every facet of our lives. Telephones and e-mail, clients and managers, spouses and kids, TV, newspapers and radio – the distractions are everywhere and endless. Everyone wants a piece of us and the result can be totally overwhelming.

So, how can we stay on course with all the distractions in our lives? Willpower is a good start, but it’s very difficult to stay on track simply through willpower.

The best way is to develop and follow a plan. Start with your goals in mind and then work backwards to develop the plan. What steps are required to get you to the goals? Make the plan as detailed as possible. Try to visualize and then plan for, every possible setback. Commit the plan to paper and then keep it with you at all times. Review it regularly and ensure that every step takes you closer to your Vision and Goals. If the plan doesn’t support the vision then change it!

Along with your plans, you should consider developing an action orientation that will keep you motivated to move forward at all times. This requires a little self-discipline, but is a crucial component to achievement of any kind. Before starting any new activity, ask yourself if that activity will move you closer to your goals. If the answer is no, you may want to reconsider doing it at that time.

I coach my clients to practice the 3 D’s – Defer, Delegate or Delete. Can the particular activity be done later? Defer it! Can it be done by someone else? Delegate it! Does it need to be done at all? If not, consider deleting it! Posing these questions will help to keep you focused on what is truly important!

Commitment

Commitment is something that comes from understanding that everything has its price and then having the willingness to pay that price. This is important because nobody wants to put significant effort into something, only to find out after the fact that the price was too high.

The price is something not necessarily defined as financial. It could be time, effort, sacrifice, money or perhaps, something else. The point is that we must be fully aware of the price and be willing to pay it, if we want to have success.

Belief

This is perhaps the single biggest obstacle that all of us must overcome in order to be successful.

We all carry a lot of baggage, thanks to our upbringing. The majority of people carry with them, an entire series of self-limiting beliefs that will absolutely stop, and hold them back from, success. Things like “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not lucky enough”, and the worst, “I’m not worthy” are but a few of the self-limiting beliefs I have encountered. We carry them with us like rocks in a knapsack, and then use them to sabotage our success. So, how twisted is that?!?!

The old expression is absolutely true – whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right!

One of the main areas that I work on with my clients is shedding these non-supportive beliefs and replacing them with beliefs that will help them to accomplish their desires.

It is truly amazing the damage that we, as parents, can inflict on our children. So why do we do it? For the most part, we don’t do it intentionally or with malice. In the majority of cases, the cause is a well-meaning but unskilled or un-thinking parent, who says the wrong thing at the wrong time, and the message sticks – as simple as that!

And it’s not just parents that are the cause – teachers, friends, clergy members or anyone else that has influence in a child’s life can be a contributor to these self-limiting beliefs!

The bottom line is that we must shed the bad and replace with good beliefs.

Taking Action

“Nothing changes until something moves” – this is the battle cry of author and journalist Robert Ringer. And he is absolutely correct. Not all of the decision-making, clarity, planning, focus and belief in the world, will get you to where you want to be, without taking action!

Action – putting your plans into play – that is what will get you to the destination. Don’t get caught in the paralysis of analysis, or in the conundrum of Ready, Aim, Aim, Aim, Aim…

Get the oars in the water and start rowing. Execution is the single biggest factor in achievement, so the faster and better your execution, the quicker you will get to the goals!

Conclusion

So, there you have it; the six steps that will help you to the fabled land of achievement and success! You now have the opportunity to push ahead and reach your potential. No more excuses – make the commitment to take action TODAY!

Figure out what you want, put a plan together to achieve it, understand the cost, believe in yourself then go and get it!

You’re probably aware of hypnosis to stop smoking. Or for losing pounds. Maybe you’ve heard how hypnosis can help explore past lives, but there are some things hypnosis can help you do that might surprise or amaze you:

1. Locate lost objects. If you were the one who put it away, or you witnessed it being put away, hypnosis might help. Even if the incident was years ago. Try it and see what happens.

2. Enjoy foods you’ve avoided. Brussels sprouts are healthy, and whole-grain bread is better for you than white, nutritionists tell us. But what if you just don’t like the taste? A little hypnosis and you might change all that, though if your resistance persists, check for an allergy. Sometimes your body just “knows.”

3. End cravings. The reverse of #2, this helps you turn down brownies, stop uncontrolled shopping, or even give up the boyfriend who keeps doin’ ya wrong.

4. Enjoy public speaking. They call it a greater fear than death. Too bad. Being an effective speaker can boost your career in your company, your industry, and beyond. Once-reticent clients gasp at the changes in themselves—and the benefits they reap. If stopping smoking stops draining money, becoming a good speaker puts money in the bank.

5. Exercise longer, stronger and more efficiently. Hypnosis can help your turn distaste for working out into a craving. Ask yourself: “What would exercising give me? What would it make possible in my life?” A talented hypnotherapist spins a powerful motivational story for your subconscious, making it all so desirable that you can’t wait to shop for running shoes.

6. Attract your life partner. You think finding the person of your dreams is about mesmerizing her or her? Nope. Start with yourself. Hypnosis for confidence, sex appeal, or immediate rapport gives you a feeling you’ve never had before. And that sense of self is very appealing to others. Try it out.

7. Get more done in less time. It’s not all about organizing your files or upgrading your technology. Productivity, effectiveness, and enjoying what you do all start in the mind. And specifically, in your subconscious mind. Uh-huh.

8. Relieve an itch. Yeah, really. When is an itch not an itch? When it’s a habit. Keep scratching it and it feels itchier. And irritated. Irritated skin often itches (not to mention bleeds) so you’ve created a cycle. But you can tell your subconscious to disengage that phantom itching, allow your healing, and get back that healthy smoothness.

Finding Your Hypnotherapist

Once interested in hypnosis, people ask me how they can find a good hypnotist in their area. If you live in or near a metropolitan area, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

But people trained in hypnosis can sometimes be found in rural areas too.

You may see the title “certified hypnotherapist” or “certified hypnotist,” and more recently “consulting hypnotist.” Ask which organization(s) certified him or her. For hypnotists who are not licensed as psychotherapists or psychologists (and yet are extremely effective and trustworthy), the National Guild of Hypnotists is nationally known and deemed trustworthy. The American Board of Hypnotherapy is also a respected organization.

When you call a hypnotherapist, found through referral or simply by Googling “hypnosis”, notice how comfortable you feel during the conversation. Great skills are crucial, but so is the rapport between you. If you want to test the waters, arrange for a single appointment, and then decide whether you want to continue.

A hypnotherapeutic relationship can be ongoing, especially if there’s a coaching aspect to it, but it is often short term: one appointment, three appointments, perhaps six, depending on the issue or the habit you want to break—or create.

In your phone conversation, you should be encouraged to ask all the questions you need to ask. As a consumer and potential client, you have that right.

Two good questions are: “How long have you been in practice? And what are your specialties?? (Mine are smoking cessation and women’s issues including love and relationship.) You may also want to ask, “Do you work with ______(your issue)?” And “How often?”

What Can Hypnosis Be Used For

Hypnosis, in a clinical setting—as opposed to stage hypnosis for entertainment—is usually used to create or break habits. These are habits of thought or action. Grabbing the next potato chip, and the next, and the next, without even noticing you’re doing it, is a habit of action. But that action may have been due to a habit of thought. Perhaps you were focusing on a painful, sad, or angry thought or an unfulfilled desire and wanted to distract yourself. And you found that a tasty food could do that for you temporarily.

A conscious motive? Maybe. But it’s often unconscious. You may not realize why you’re reaching for the chip. You’d probably say “I like the taste” or “I’m just hungry and I can’t take a break now.”

Hypnosis is ideal for working with the subconscious mind.

The Power of Self Hypnosis

Self-hypnosis is an empowering tool because once you’ve tested the waters, you may want to continue the work on your own, with only occasional visits to the hypnotist of your choice for tougher issues or to upgrade your skills.

Self-hypnosis allows you to work with yourself, whenever you choose, on simple things, reserving another office visit for times when you need an outside perspective or when self-hypnosis doesn’t seem to be working. Smoking cessation, initial weigh loss work, and relationship issues seem to work best with outside help, at least at first.

But once you’ve sampled the powerful results of hypnosis, you might want to make it part of your life. So ask up front if your hypnotherapist teaches self-hypnosis. Many of us do. For example, I teach self-hypnosis one-on-one, in a group workshop, or with a CD I have created for that purpose. When choosing your practitioner, find out what choices she offers.

Hypnotherapy is not psychotherapy

If you suspect you need psychotherapy, don’t expect the “certified hypnotherapist” or hypnotist to do that. She is not licensed for that work. Instead, either look for a psychotherapist who is also trained in hypnosis and uses it commonly in her practice, or go to two different people.

In my practice, I have relationships with many

psychotherapists. When the situation calls for both skills, we share a client, and with her expressed written permission, we exchange progress reports to maximize the impact of our work to benefit that client. Generally I see the client a specified number of times, while the psychotherapist’s care is ongoing.

Clients generally say the combination made a difference in speed, effectiveness, and enjoyment.

Hypnosis is pleasant

The process of being hypnotized is usually a pleasant one. So many of my clients have described as a “mental massage,” that I now teach a corporate workshop called That Marvelous Mental Massage.™

Clients often say they feel healthier, more alive and committed to their lives after walking out of a session. They can’t believe they could alter their minds to be so rested and optimistic, after merely sitting on a sofa for an hour, listening to someone say some words to them.

If you have an issue you think can be addressed by hypnosis, call some practitioners near you, describe the issue, what you’d like to have happen, and sample this ancient art and science for what it can do for you.

A social phobia is a fear of interacting with others on a social level. Examples would be talking in front of other people, waiting in line at the checkout imagining others are looking at you, or even fear of talking on the phone.

Self-confidence is a feeling that allows people to have positive, yet realistic views of themselves and their circumstances. Self-confident people have confidence in their own abilities, have a general sense of control over their lives, and believe that, within reason, they will be able to do what they want and need to do.

Confidence is a perspective that is accomplished through experiences. When a person experiences success, that person will tend to expect to be successful. And that very expectation will cause a feeling of self-confidence.

For example: A man wants to be a professional boxer, so he gets a manager and takes lessons. His manager will not put him into a bout until he has developed enough proficient fighting skills. And even then, the manager will only put him up against a competitor that he knows his fighter can overpower. When his fighter beats the opponent, he is successful, and starts to gain confidence in his capability.

With each match, the manager puts his prizefighter up against a contender who is a slightly better challenger then the last, but not good enough to beat his man. By the end of the third fight, the young contestant begins to expect to win his fourth, and so his confidence continues to bloom. This series of events continues to repeat itself. And as long as the fighter contestant is victorious, his expectations of success, and his feelings of self-confidence will continue to escalate.

As another example: A young lady who is scared to death of being in high places wants to learn to dive into a swimming pool from a very high diving board. So she finds a diving coach who asks her to take a jump into the pool from the first rung of the ladder going up to the high diving board. The first step of the ladder is not awfully high, so the young lady feels confident, and she dives from that rung, and lands in the water unharmed.

Next, the athletic coach has her take a jump from the second rung of the ladder, and so forth. I assume that you see what’s going on here. With each new step she takes as she climbs higher up the ladder, since the girl was able to jump without fear or harm, and the next higher step is only slightly higher then the last, the fear factor is negligible, and the girl expects to be successful. When she dives in and is unhurt, the girl’s self-confidence increases, and her expectation of success on the next step up the ladder increases.

If a person who has a long history of success and feelings of confidence does fail, they still tend to expect success the next time out. Conversely, when a person who is weak in the self-confidence department fails, they tend to lose confidence, and expect failure, which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Having true self-confidence doesn’t mean that individuals will be able to do everything. People, who have true self-confidence, usually have expectations that are practical. Even when some of their expectations are not met, they continue to be confident and to accept themselves.

People, who are not self-confident, tend to depend excessively on the approval of others in order to feel self-confidence. They usually don’t take risks because of the fear of failure. They make light of themselves and tend to discount compliments that they receive.

Conversely, confident people are willing to risk the disapproval of others because they generally have confidence in their own prowess. They acknowledge themselves; and they don’t feel they have to conform in order to be admired.

Just because one feels self-confidence in one or more parts of their life, doesn’t mean that they will feel overconfident in every single part of their life. For example, a person might feel optimistic about their athletic prowess, but not feel confident as far as members of the opposite sex are involved, such as in a dating situation, or social relationships.

HOW IS Self-confidence Initially developed?

Many powerful and effective truths have an impact on the development of self-confidence. Parents’ attitudes are critical to the way children think about themselves, especially in their early years. When parents provide admiration, children receive a solid foundation for self-esteem. If one or both parents are excessively demanding or critical, or if they are overprotective and discourage moves toward independence, children may be fated to believe they are incapable, inadequate, or inferior.

However, if parents encourage a child’s moves toward self-reliance, and they are not overly critical when the child makes mistakes, the child will learn to accept herself, and will be on the way to developing self-confidence.

A lack of confidence is not necessarily related to a lack of ability. A lack of self-confidence is often the result of centering much too strongly on the ridiculous expectancy of other people in particular friends and parents. The control of peers can be more powerful than that of parents in shaping the feelings about one’s self.

Assumptions That Continue to Affect Self-confidence

In response to external influences, people create beliefs. Some of these are helpful and some are not so helpful. Several assumptions that can interfere with self-confidence and positive ways of thinking are:

ASSUMPTION: I must always be successful at every challenge that I undertake. This assumption is a totally unrealistic assumption. In life each person has his strengths and his weaknesses. While it is important to learn to do the best that one can, it is more important to learn to accept yourself as being human, and deficient. Let yourself feel good about what you are good at, and accept the fact that you don’t know everything and you don’t need to.

ASSUMPTION: I must be perfect, and loved by everyone, and satisfy everyone. Again, this assumption is a totally unrealistic assumption. All human beings are less than perfect. It’s well advised to develop personal standards and values that are not very dependent on the approval of other people.

ASSUMPTION: Everything that happened to me in the past remains in control of my feelings and behaviors in the present.

ALTERNATIVE: While it is true that your confidence was especially vulnerable to external influences when you were a child as you gain maturity appreciation and point of view on what those influences have been. In doing so, you can choose which influences you will continue to allow to have an effect on your life. You don’t have to be helpless based on what happened in the past

HERE ARE SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CONFIDENCE

Emphasize Your Strengths. Grant yourself credit for everything that you can do. And bestow upon yourself credit for every new experience you are willing to try.

Take risks. Adopt the attitude of: I never fail, because there are NO failures. However, sometimes I find out what doesn’t work and once I’ve learned what doesn’t work in a given situation, I can test something else.

Use Self-Talk: Use self-talk as a tool to counter harmful assumptions. Then, tell yourself to stop. Substitute more reasonable assumptions. For example, when you catch yourself expecting yourself to be perfect, remind yourself that it is impossible to do everything perfectly, and that it’s only possible to do things to the best of your ability. This allows you to accept yourself as you are working towards improvement.

Make mind movies: Picture yourself in scenes that you currently have low levels of self-confidence in. But see yourself behaving in the way that a person who has tremendous confidence would. There are powerful Self-hypnosis and NLP processes that you can use to instill a sizable amount of self-confidence from within your subconscious mind. There are even NLP techniques that will let you take confidence that you do have in areas of your life, and then transplant that confidence to areas of your life that require more self-confidence!

Self-Evaluate: Learn to judge yourself independently. Refrain from the habitual sense of confusion that comes from relying on the opinions of others.

Hypnosis was accepted by the American Medical Association in 1958 as an effective mode of procedure for treating anguish, and stress related symptoms. But does it really work, and what should a person look for when seeking a hypnotist, or buying hypnosis tapes & CD’s?

There are many assorted hypnotic methods that are used to reach the unconscious mind to invoke change. Each method has its pros and its cons. We are all different, so it only stands to reason that the best results will be reached by utilizing the methods that each individual will have the most success with.

Most therapists who sell hypnosis Cd’s and tapes offer Cd’s that consist of standard traditional hypnosis techniques. A few sellers offer much more modern and effective Ericksonian Hypnosis techniques. And fewer still offer NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques.

The newest and most powerful technology is video hypnosis. Video hypnosis utilizes the latest Nlp thought patterns to create instant change in an individual. Video hypnosis modalities are not subliminal in nature.

With “Traditional Hypnosis,” we simply make commands to the unconscious mind. In case you are wondering, as far as I’m concerned, the term unconscious, and subconscious are equivalent — they refer to the same part of the mind. This type of suggestion therapy works well for someone who generally accepts what they are told without having a lot of questions.

Most hypnosis programs sold today are based on “Traditional Hypnosis” techniques. This reason is it really doesn’t take much training to write a script and just command an individual to do something. Unfortunately Traditional Self-hypnosis is not very practical for people who are analytical in their thinking processes.

By contrast, Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP methods work far more efficiently for most individuals in today’s generation! This is because today people are taught to analyze everything, rather than just do what they are told to do. So these modalities do work very well on people who are analytical in their thinking processes.

While it’s true that these modalities are much more successful at reaching and influencing the subconscious, it’s also true that it can take a lot of training to learn how to apply these techniques with success. So this is a challenge taken on by only truly dedicated hypnotists.

With “Ericksonian Hypnosis,” we use little stories; we call metaphors, to introduce new ideas to the subconscious mind. This is a a powerful avenue, because it usually eliminates the blockage of suggestions that is often caused by the conscious mind. There are two types of metaphors, “Isomorphic,” and those of the imbedded command or “interspersal” nature.

Isomorphic metaphors guide the subconscious by telling a story that has a moral. The unconscious draws a one-on-one relationship between parts of the story and ingredients of a problem situation or behavior.

For example, if a child is telling a lot of lies, the hypnotherapist might tell the child the story about the “Boy who cried wolf.” The unconscious would draw a parallel between the boy in the story and the child, and realize that telling lies could lead to disaster, so the child would probably stop lying.

With the Embedded Command technique, the hypnotherapist tells an interesting story that engages and distracts the conscious mind. The story includes covert direct suggestions that are usually accepted by the unconscious. For example: While the client is under hypnosis, he will hear the hypnotist say something like: I’m going to tell you a story about a [beach that has feelings. Isn't that] strange to [you]? It’s a warm summer’s day, and the beach [feels great].

The hypnotist pauses, shifts his voice tonality, and emphasizes the bracketed text. The unconscious recognizes a “Selectional restriction violation.” Beaches can’t have feelings. So it’s like the subconscious says to itself: “Wait a minute, a beach can’t feel anything, so that must mean that I’m supposed to feel something, and I’m supposed to [feel great].” Since the suggestions are hidden in a story that is misdirecting the conscious mind, its unlikely that the conscious will realize that it has just received a suggestion, so it won’t block it or resist it.

“Process Instructions” direct the unconscious to remember a past event of an experience from the past where something appropriate was learned, and then apply that experience to correct negative behaviors in the present.

With “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” (NLP), rather than using hypnotic commands, we use the same thought methodologies that are creating a problem, like an excessive appetite or stress, to get rid of the problem. NLP in the hands of a trained practitioner can be very effective.

NLP Anchoring: Have you ever heard some old music and had it remind you of feelings from the past? When you originally heard the music, you were feeling those feelings, and they subconsciously became attached to the melody of the song. So the song became an Anchor for the feelings. Now when you hear the song, it triggers the same feelings again.

Anchoring can be a very powerful method. Suppose that you have a memory of being commended for having done a good job in the past. If you get inside of that memory, you’ll be able to recall the feeling of self-esteem that you had at that time. If you touch two fingers together while you re-experience those feelings of self-esteem, that touch will become an anchor for the feelings of self-esteem.

Now suppose that you want to create motivation to stick to a diet and lose weight. If you make a mental image of yourself with a thin, sexy body, and simultaneously trigger the anchor – (press the two fingers together again), your subconscious will connect together the feelings of self-esteem to the mental image of you with the thin body and your level of motivation to lose weight will grow exponentially.

NLP Flash: This is a very effective and powerful Nlp methodology that can be used to turn things around in the unconscious, so that thoughts and experiences that used to trigger feelings of stress actually trigger relaxation instead.

The NLP Flash technique is also a fast way to erase conditioned respsonses. For example: If a smoker has a cigarette while drinking coffee, his/her subconscious will pair the two behaviors together so that he/she automatically gets an urge for a cigarette anytime he/she has a cup of coffee. The Flash will cause the smoker’s mind to disassociate the image of a cigarette from the cup of coffee so that he/she does NOT feel a craving to smoke just because he/she is drinking coffee.

With “subliminal” methods, the recording has two different tracks. One track contains a cover sound that is heard by the conscious mind. The cover sound could be anything from music to the sound of a snowstorm. The second track contains ideas that are listened to by the subconscious mind. These post-hypnotic suggestions are repeated hundreds of times during a session.

Subliminal programs can be played in the background while you are working. You don’t have to stop what you are doing and relax like you do with suggestion therapy or NLP. Subliminals can be an adjunct therapy to hypnotic programs. But Subliminals will never replace Hypnotherapy or Nlp because they are not as effective! They don’t even come close!! Some experts claim that it can take up to 80 hours of listening to a subliminal recording before it will have any effect on many people.

The last method of hypnosis that we’re going to talk about is “Video Hypnosis.” Video Hypnosis is the most effective form of hypnosis! The techniques used in video hypnosis are based on the Neuro-linguistic programming technology, which works based on the utilization of a person’s existing thought processes instead of hypnotic suggestions.

Over 70% of the population learns much more quickly and automatically by seeing, rather then by hearing. Think about it. If you feel an urge to eat or smoke when watching television, it’s because your mind recorded the video image of either food in your hand, or a cigarette in your hand, and then tied that image with the depiction of the TV. You never spoke to yourself and told yourself in words to associate them together, am i correct?

And that’s why the Video Hypnosis methodology is so compelling. Video Hypnosis is not hypnotic in the traditional sense, relying on the spoken word. But if you’ve ever cried when watching a sad movie, then you know how practical Video Hypnosis can be at reaching the subconscious mind. With this methodology, results usually start with the very first viewing!

Words are just a part of our lives aren’t they? Why do we need to think about them? When I teach people self-hypnosis, the language they use in self-hypnosis sessions is very important. What’s more, the kind of language used in self-hypnosis can be used outside of formal self-hypnosis too, to enhance your communication with yourself at all times.

The words that you use in and out of self-hypnosis carry a lot of connotation and a lot of deeper meanings for you as they do for everyone. What one word means to one person can mean something completely different to another.

Think about an occasion in your life that was a wonderful occasion; maybe a happy birthday, the birth of a child, a wedding or a celebration, maybe a time when you achieved something, when you succeeded or maybe a time when you felt the full force of joy or love. Really think about that experience. Remember what you saw, remember and think about the sounds that you heard and think about how you know and how you knew you felt so good then. Whereabouts in your body were those good feelings? Now, as you really think about that memory and immerse yourself in it, think about the words that you would use to describe that experience.

These are the words that are going to elicit the most powerful response from within you when you use them in self-hypnosis sessions and when you communicate with yourself at any time.

Have a think about these questions; what words make you feel good? Which words give you good feelings? Make a list of the words that appeal to you. You can use a thesaurus to help.

Ask yourself; how would I like to feel? Here are some good words you may like to use in your self-hypnosis or just to frequent the internal workings of your mind with: Healthy, Peace, Balance, Harmony, Relaxed, Confident, Good, Happy, Powerful, Joyful, Calm, Unison, Assured, Vibrant, Loving, Progressive, Better, Beautiful.

All a bit obvious, I know you get the idea. It is really important though that you do actually use words that have a good meaning to you and make you feel good within your self-hypnosis or just your internal dialogue.

Now, I am going to add a couple of words here for you to think about. Think about the words “more and more” and “increasingly.” These words are going to be important to create growth, power and fluidity in your mind. Let me explain how.

Consider the sentence “as a result of achieving my ideal weight I am happy.” This is a nice way to remind yourself that achieving this particular goal whatever it might be for you are happy. Great. However, we can make that more powerful by changing a rather static “happy” to “more and more happy.” I don’t know about you, but I would never want to think that I ever reached the pinnacle of happiness and could not go any further.

“Happy” is static. In order to supercharge your programms and the way you utilize language in and out of self-hypnosis, you can mobilize the words and get them moving onwards and upwards for you. You can change “Happy” to “Happier and happier” or “more and more happy” or “increasingly happy” or “progressively more happy” or “more and more appropriately happy. “ Use whatever feels right for you, just use other words to develop and power it up.

Words to avoid:
Some of these words may seem fine and feel fine to use for you. I am just giving you ideas and considerations when using these words in and out of self-hypnosis.

When communicating with yourself , my recommendation is that you consider avoiding the following words and types of words;

Words that elicit bad feelings. Words that are ambiguous.
Words that are limiting, restrictive or dis empower you. Words that you are uncomfortable with.

When communicating with yourself, ask yourself these questions: Is there another phrase or word that is better? Is there a word or phrase I find more pleasing? Is there a way in which you can put your energy and power into this suggestion in a better way?

So, firstly, I want to point out some words that can elicit bad feelings:
Try, can’t, won’t, don’t, should, shouldn’t, must, mustn’t,
jealousy, temper, no, lose, will, sad, difficult, but.
I want to point out a couple of these words in particular.

The word “try” sends a shudder down my back. I use this word in therapy often to ensure that people won’t do what I am asking them, for example I might say “try to resist the urge to relax.”

When you are trying to do something, you are not doing it. You build in failure by using the word try. So just remove it from your internal communication.

You will have heard that expression “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” Yuck. Awful stuff. It really should read “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try, and try and try and try and try and try… etc, etc.” You want to do the things you want to do, you want to achieve the things you want to achieve; you don’t want to try and do them or try and achieve them.

The word “Will” is another one to avoid if you can. Will is not actually happening, it is something you will do rather than actually are doing. It never occurs. You know, you can put almost any sentence together with the word will in and simply remove that word to make it more progressive and positive for your self-hypnosis requirements. Have go at doing that. (I realize that there is likely to be at least one wiseguy who now uses the word as in “last will and testament” yes, very clever. I have not heard that one before.)
Here are a couple of examples;
“As a result of stopping smoking I will be healthier.” Now
becomes; “As a result of stopping smoking I am healthier.”
“I will successfully achieve my goals” is transformed into “I
successfully achieve my goals.” Here we have just removed it to make it more progressive. You see, it is those finer distinctions that I refer to often that can really make a difference to the way you use language, and you may as well really use it more and more powerfully while you are in the state of self-hypnosis.

Lots of people tell me that they want to “Lose” weight. I always tell them that no one loses when they come to see me. Think about what else you lose in life. Generally, it is things that you would rather have kept like your keys or your wallet. You generally lose things that you want to find again. Lose has many negative connotations. Instead of losing weight, re frame it with the words “achieving and maintaining the size, shape and weight that pleases me.” This is much more progressive.

Finally for this section, I want to mention the word “But.” This word can often be seen to be negating what has come before it;

I would really like to come out tonight, but I have to wash my hair. Of course I really love you, but I need to pursue my career. I had a great time, but that guy sitting next to me was rude.

This might not always be the case for you; however, it is for you to be aware of when addressing your own unconscious mind in and out of self-hypnosis.

Secondly, I recommend that you really do avoid using words that are putdowns.
They don’t really have a place in self-hypnosis or your mind at all. Avoid the following words and words like them:

Untidy, Dirty, Smelly, Ugly, Stupid, Lazy, Hopeless, Disliked, Unkempt, Smelly, Idiot, Embarrass, Ridiculous. I know you know lots more. I don’t really like even having to write these in this article. Your internal dialogue and self-hypnosis sessions are better without these words.

This next set of words is for you to keep aware of and avoid if you feel they limit you or your programme in any way.  I am referring to words that are absolutes. These are words that have no flexibility, that are final. For example:
Always, totally, closed, never, finish, impossible, definitely, completely, death, cancelled. You may for example, state in a self-hypnosis session or tell yourself that you never smoke again. Which is fine and good for some people.

That may be fine with some, just bear it in mind. I mentioned the subject earlier within the guidelines for writing programmes and that is the notion of ambiguity. With self-hypnosis and when communicating with yourself in your own mind in other ways, it is best to avoid words that are ambiguous. Words such as;
Maybe, Desire, Growth, Positive, Negative, Normal, Whole.

You might well use the expression that your desire to stop smoking is increasing. Again, this sounds fine on the surface. However, do you want your desire to stop smoking to increase or your actual ability to stop smoking to increase? If you only increased your desire to stop smoking, it might become a very frustrating experience. Also, you might want to consider referring to your personal growth increasing. It could be referring to something growing on your body somewhere!

Think about the word normal. Who is to say what that is? Do you know specifically what you mean when you refer to anything as being normal? If you are going to use the word normal, I would recommend that you define what that means to you also, be specific about it or just substitute it for the word usual if you can.

Finally, on the topic of words, I would like to point out to you the use of the “Able.” It is one thing being able to do something; it is another to actually do it. If you are going to increase your ability with something, then also ensure you do it.

I realise that this article has offered up many considerations so far with self-hypnosis use of language and internal dialogue. These are just that; considerations.

You can allow yourself to find the right solutions and methods for you. As you get more and more used to being in self-hypnosis or just communicating with yourself more prgressively and discovering the kind of suggestions and words that have the most powerful effect for you, then you can fine tune your use of them.

Adam Eason’s best selling book The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis: Harnessing the Power of Your Unconscious Mind can be found at amazon or any good online book store.

Without doubt the most important aspect of any self hypnosis session is the setting of your intention. You must have an intention, preferably a written intention, before you even turn a hypnosis recording on. Your written intention should be a statement that sums up the exact result you want to experience after listening to the hypnosis session several times. For an example we will assume you have the intention of being more confident.

Firstly write down a statement outlying your intent and alter it so that it becomes an affirmation or set of affirmations. Make it present tense and very positive in nature. “I am increasing my confidence everyday”, “I am self assured and self confident in every situation” and “I can feel my self-esteem increasing everyday” are a few good examples.

Ensure that you do not include the negative aspect your goal or what you do not want such as “I am no longer lacking in confidence” or “My low self-esteem is getting better”. These statements focus on the situation as it is not how you want it to be. So remember keep the statement positive and only include what you do want! While still in a waking state imagine how you would look and feel if these statements were true. take some time now and create a mind movies of how you think the ‘new’ confident you would walk and hear their self assured talk and see how they interact with people. Imagine what kind of emotions this person would be feeling. Construct a movie in your mind that shows you as the confident person you wish to be. See yourself being that confident in circumstances that usually make you feel insecure, fearful or self-conscious. You will use this mind movies during your self-hypnotic trance session.

Begin by breathing deeply. In through your nose to the count of 5 allowing your lungs to expand and then out gently through your mouth to the count of 5 emptying your lungs. This will relax your body.

Focus your gaze softly on a spot in front of you. Look for somewhere that is slightly above eye-level while you keep your head straight.

Relax each muscle group of your body beginning with your feet and moving up to your head. While doing this allow your eyes to close when they begin to feel heavy.

Now take a deep breath and on the exhale mentally repeat your affirmation. Do this for several cycles until you feel that the affirmation is beginning to feel like the truth.

Continue to breathe deeply and imagine that you are at a movie theater. Directly in front of you hangs a huge wide projection screen. Up on the massive wide screen begin to project the mind movies you made earlier and let it run several times. Imagine you can actually hear the movie audience cheer and clap as the movie starts to run. Clap and cheer yourself as you watch that ‘other’ you acting how you want to act and exhibiting the type of confident behavior you want to have.

In order to stay completely relaxed and in control of your self hypnosis session continue to breathe deeply and slowly.

Now imagine that you are floating up towards the screen. The audience is going wild as they know what is about to happen. They are cheering you on! Imagine that you float into the screen and become part of the movie. You land just behind that ‘other you’ facing the back of their head.

At this time take a step and walk into that ‘new’ you just as you would step into a projection or as though you wear trying on some new clothes. The new you is a perfect fit! Watch as the colors around get brighter, the sounds get louder and the scene gets bigger. As you enter the new you, feel how it feels to be that person. See what that person sees. Hear what that person hears.

In the distance on the other side of the screen you can hear the audience going wild with delight as you perform and act as that ‘other’ you would act. Feel how good that feels.

Now repeat your affirmations as you imagine the ‘other’ confident you would say them. Feel and believe that these statements are true. Say them with conviction.

Now once you feel all those great feelings of confidence, self assurance and self esteem just allow the scene to begin to fade. Count back from 5 to 1 and allow your eyes to open. Become fully aware of your surroundings as you bring yourself back to physical reality but bring with you all those good feelings.

What really keeps you from living your dreams?

What problem is most dominant in peoples lives?

The answer is: FEAR!

People live every day in fear.  Fear of losing their wealth, fear of losing their loved ones, fear of making the wrong decisions, fear of being themselves, fear of growing up, fear of making a commitment.  The list goes on and on.

The leading cause of people not fulfilling their dreams is NOT the fear of failure – it’s the fear of success!  The fear of actually accomplishing what they set out to do.  The fear of living life to the fullest may have paralyzed you.   This will cause you to never really try in your business, or if you do try, to sabotage your efforts so you never have to face your fear of success.

Most people live their lives in the grip of this fear and they aren’t even aware that it has control over them!  The fear is the one thing that can turn your dreams of financial freedom, loving relationships, and a fulfilling and significant life into a pattern of habits including procrastination, self-sabotage and other bad habits.

Fear is the dominate problem in your life today.  The two questions you need to answer to conquer your fear are:

Which fear has the most control over your behavior?  Is it the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of success, or is it all of them?

How do I interrupt the bad habits that I have developed as a means of protection from this fear?  How do I interrupt the programming I have within me?

These are the two most significant questions when it comes to overcoming your fears.  If you can answer these two questions, your life will forever change!

The reality of fear is that it is human and is a part of life.  It’s not going to go away.  Some fear is even healthy!  It is a gift given to you to keep you safe and bring you closer to your creator.

Every person is born with three instinctive fears.  These are: fear of falling, fear of loud noises, and fear of abandonment.  These three fears were given to you to help you monitor what is going on around you.  Think about it; it is fear that gives you the adrenaline rush that makes you escape from a situation that is really, truly unsafe.  It also gives you the same rush that causes you to fight to win.

Faith is born in fear.  God knew in His infinite wisdom that fear is what would drive His people back to Him.   Although sometimes it is only in times of extreme fear that we look to God and choose Him.  Take a look at your own life and think about the times you looked to God for His power and wisdom.  Those were probably times of extreme fear.  True faith is born from fear!

So what caused the gift of fear to be the number one problem in society today?  Why do people let fear control their actions, beliefs and lives?  The answer is the difference between reacting to fear and acting in fear.  It has everything to do with your belief system.

Children typically react instinctively to fear, which is appropriate behavior at this age.  Most adults don’t make the distinction between reacting to fear, as when they were a child, and acting with their intellect when dealing with fear.

People react instinctively to fear by either denying it or running away from it.  They miss the power that comes from acting with their intellect, never allowing the fear to become the gift it was intended to be.  Learn to act with your intellect by exposing your true fears and the beliefs they represent and free yourself so you can move on with all you are meant to do, have and become!

Many people think of life as an obstacle course full of hurdles and ditches that need to be navigated successfully in order to be happy. In many ways they are right.

If you are a very goal-orientated person then it is inevitable that you will encounter obstacles on your way to achievement and success. The bigger the goal the more set-backs there seem to be. These obstacles and set-backs can act as tests. They test your character and your resolve. Each barrier that is overcome and each challenge that is met head on develops your character, belief in yourself and strengthens your resolve to succeed not matter what.

However, when the same obstacles keep showing up over and over again and failure seems to be a common occurrence it’s time to re-evaluate your approach to your goals. These recurring problems are an indication of your inability to learn from the temporary failures you are experiencing. The conscious mind is obviously having trouble analysing the reasons behind the failures and keeps making the same mistakes.

At this point some outside help is needed. Obviously you are unable to consciously work through the trouble you are having and it must be a subconscious block that is preventing you from learning your lesson and moving forward. In such situations hypnosis and self hypnosis can be of immense vale. Either Hypnosis or Self Hypnosis can most definitely be used successfully and effectively to get to the root of the problem and eliminate it forever.

One extremely powerful benefit of using hypnosis is the ability to train your mind to stay focused on the successful attainment of your goal. You can program a specific outcome and retain the ability to consciously divert your attention to it in a positive, success-affirming manner. You can also eliminate self-sabotage and remove the negative feelings and thoughts that are blocking your path to success.

Here are some tips for using hypnosis as a goal achievement tool.

1. Visualize. Program yourself with your desired outcome. While under the influence of self hypnosis visually imagine that your goal is already accomplished and your objective has been reached. See it as real. See it through your own eyes and experience all the wonderful feelings associated with that goal attainment.

2. Persistence. Get down into your subconscious mind and change your inner character traits to match those people who NEVER give up. Program your subconscious mind to be persistent regardless of what is going on in any given situation. Post hypnotic suggestions to develop an iron will and persistent approach to your goals will be invaluable in times of stress and disillusionment.

3. Think Positive. Learn to think positively. The subconscious mind has a tendency to replay past memories and throw them back into consciousness in the form of doubts and fears. Through the use of self hypnosis you can totally eliminate them. Program your subconscious mind to think positively and expect positive results.

4. Program out the Problem. Enevitably some problem will arise when you pursue worthwhile goals. Through hypnosis you can solve these problems fairly rapidly. While in trance see yourself successfully traversing the obstacle. You don’t have to see how you did it, just see yourself at the other side, relieved, happy and proud that you “figured it out” and reached the other side. If this, in itself, is a probelm for you, or you find it hard to do then seek the advice of a qualified hypnotherapist. A competent hypnotherapist will find the root of your problem probably in the fits consultation!

5. Pre-pave your path. Imagine yourself meeting the right people and being in the right place at the right time. Program your mind like this, through the power of hypnosis, and your subconscious mind will pick up on non-verbal clues, process the millions of bits of information you receive every second and guide you to the right course of action.

6. Develop faith Use hypnosis to convince the subconscious mind that your goal is already a reality. “Fake it till you make it”. Fool your subconscious mind into believing the “real” world is actually exactly like the world you have been visualizing. In the deeply relaxed state that hypnosis offers you can get fully involved in your mental image. Really feel how great it is to have already accomplished all those things you wanted for so long. Enjoy the fact that you are enjoying the benefits of having reached that goal.

Follow these six steps and use them with the power of hypnosis and you will be catapulted towards your goal faster than you can imagine.