How you perceive yourself affects everything you do. From business to personal, your self image will shape all of your interactions and how you deal with them. This phenomena is oftentimes overlooked and this ignorance can be extremely costly. The voice in your head that communicates with you regularly can be either a positive or negative force depending on how you use it. That voice in your head is your direct link to your subconscious mind which controls and manipulates your perceptions of different things in your life, including yourself. It’s truly amazing what a flip in self image can do for your confidence, well-being, and your overall ability to achieve great things in your life!
Shaping Your Identity
We are all a product of a set of beliefs we hold for ourselves. These beliefs begin to take shape when we are young and continue to develop through adolescence and into our adulthood. How you’re brought up and who you surround yourself with during that time is a strong marker as to what kind of traits and beliefs you’ll develop. The truth about this shaping of your identity is that it is malleable and in flux based on life experiences and how they aid in change in the development of how you perceive things. Your identity is malleable and only you have the ability to change this once you become conscious of this power. Lets explore this statement through a prominent dynamic in society that is completely tied to self image and has an astronomical impact on how you live your life.
Victim Vs. Victor
The dynamic of victimhood vs. victor is such a powerful driver, especially in a country like the United States where your choices and beliefs shape the direction in which you choose to take your life. Let’s explore both of these categories and examine the differences in self image and how they play a part in effecting their adopter’s lives either positively or negatively.
Victim:
A victim is someone who perceives the world and everything in it is out to get them. They think that the system is rigged and that there is nothing they can do to combat this rigged system and better their lives. They blame everything else for their troubles and view themselves as incapable of solving their own problems. They are perpetually angry, entitled, and seek assistance from other “more powerful” sources such as the government to aid them in their plight. Most of their time is spent complaining about things that are out of their control rather than focusing on the things that are in their control and how they can use those things to better their lives. This mindset is also synonymous with a lack of self control as “control” in itself is something these types of people don’t believe they have the ability to possess. The subconscious mind harbors these beliefs and develops preconceived notions that shape their reality in their conscious and present state.
Victor:
A victor is someone who takes control over the controllable in their lives and uses their actions as a tool to influence their outcomes as much as possible. They understand they can’t directly control the results of their efforts, but they understand the process is the thing they have control over and if done right, the likelihood of the desired results becomes as close to guaranteed as possible. These people program their inner voice to serve them, boosting their self esteem, competence, and ability to persevere through adversity. External circumstances are something a victor knows they cannot control so they focus solely on the things they can and navigate through the things they can’t. They never blame anyone or anything for their problems and are self-reliant looking for solutions rather than expecting someone bigger or more powerful to solve their problems for them.
You Have A Choice
You can see the stark contrast between these two types of people. Adopting a victim mentality is easy when you have a weak self image. If you are consciously telling yourself self-defeating tenets, victimhood is sure to follow. Success becomes impossible with this mindset, even with access to all of the opportunities in the world! Your subconscious mind becomes a failure mechanism and tells your conscious mind all the reasons not to try something and plagues the mind with the idea of failure before you even begin.
On the other hand, a victor is the opposite in every way. Completely in control of their own destiny, a victor has high self esteem and consciously reinforces this to their subconscious mind. In turn, the subconscious mind constantly looks for ways to navigate difficulty and come up with processes to obtain a desired result. With this self image, success is not a matter of how, it’s a matter of when.
The choice here is yours and yours only to make. The book Psycho-Cybernetics is a great resource to learn more about your internal failure and success mechanisms as an introduction to the power of the subconscious mind. While victimhood may be easier to slip into, it certainly leads to more difficulty and an overall miserable life. Being a victor means conquering life to the fullest extent possible. It means controlling the controllable and influencing these factors to lead you down your own path of success. You can be in control, it all comes down to your self image!