Excerpted from “The Self-Esteem Book: The Ultimate Guide to Boost the Most Underrated Ingredient for Success and Happiness in Life” 

If your self-image is tarnished, your expectations of participating in all the great things life has to offer are likely suffering as well. Perhaps, low self-esteem’s greatest cost is the resulting resignation it fosters. We die inside a little more each day. Before we realize what is happening, we have sold out our dreams for being all we can be, having those things we deserve and living a life fueled by our passions. We get what we expect. If we expect our network marketing businesses to thrive and that our lives will be marked by rich relationships, abundance, fun and adventure, we will generate an intention to make it so.

Our intention will create a drive within us to accomplish those actions necessary to manifest our vision.

Likewise, if low self-esteem results in anticipation of pain, business failure, loneliness, suffering, struggle, broken relationships and poverty, we will see these results in our world. We unintentionally sabotage our efforts at achieving those things we want most because we do not believe we are worthy of receiving them. Every time things begin to look up, an invisible self-defeating inner thermostat kicks in, ensuring our low expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The good news is that you can retrain your thoughts and intentions to manifest what you want to have appear.

Train your mind to become an ally in your quest for high self-esteem by creating a vision that honors your values, aligns with your passions and encompasses the qualities you are committed to fostering.

This new and empowering vision will replace the current dim vision that is neither serving your magnificence nor fueling your self-esteem. Take an 8-ounce glass filled with coffee. This represents your low self-esteem. It is murky, dark and does not transmit light. Now take a large pitcher of crystal clear water. This represents your new empowering vision. Pour the water from the pitcher into the glass. The water from the pitcher flows into the glass, causing the glass to overflow. The first few ounces have little obvious effect on the color of the liquid in the glass. However, as you add more pure water, the content of the glass gets lighter and lighter. By the time you have poured the entire pitcher out into the glass, you will notice all discolored liquid is gone and only pure, translucent water remains. The same holds true with regard to your mind.

As you replace cynical, self-defeating thoughts that crush your self-esteem with a positive, empowering vision that feeds your magnificence, the power of the new thoughts eventually replace the old. This elevates your esteem and dilutes the thoughts that previously consumed your attention.

The power in realizing this transformation comes from the magnitude of new positive energy that far surpasses the old negative force. To mold your new life vision, close your eyes and imagine that a genie has just appeared before you. This genie has offered to grant your every wish, provided you have the courage to envision it, believe it will happen and pursue it. In order to create this vision, you need to temporarily suspend any self-defeating thoughts that you will only have in your life what you have always had. The past does not need to be a harbinger of the future. Keep in mind that we will be developing a specific plan of action to address the question, “What exactly will it take to manifest this vision?” So, create your dream vision with the expectation that we will be designing a plan to bring each aspect of it into reality. Let’s start by revisiting what values your vision will honor. These will form the fabric that will weave throughout your vision. Next, review the qualities you previously recorded that you will enhance and further develop. These qualities will speak to who you are being as you construct your dream life. And lastly, make a list of your passions. These are those things you love to do and would gladly look forward to doing every day for the next 50 years. Your passions make life worthwhile. Think of this vision as a movie script you will watch play out before you on the silver screen as you take your seat in the theater featuring your life story. Write your vision in first person and present tense as if you are describing a scene from the movie as it happens. Create a vivid mental image with as much detail as possible to bring your vision to life. Utilize all your senses in describing it sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. See your vision as an already accomplished reality in the present, not merely as something you want or hope to have happen. If you construct your vision as something you hope to have, the wanting, desiring and not having of it will manifest instead of the realization of the vision itself. Include within your vision the answers to the following questions:

• Who will you be? What qualities and values will you embody? How will you look and come across to others? What will your self-image be?
• What will you do with your life when you possess these qualities and values? How will you spend a typical day at play and a typical day at work?
• What will you have as a result of being these qualities and doing the actions consistent with them? Where will you live? In what type of home and with whom? With what physical possessions will you surround yourself? What other things such as great friends, abundance, personal freedom, peace of mind, etc. will you have? What goals will you accomplish? What level of success will your business achieve?
• Who will you assist or support with these accomplishments? Are there any special people, organizations or causes that will be an important part of your life?
• What will your relationships be like? Picture yourself interacting with friends, family, co-workers and all you meet in a way that reflects your high self-esteem and rich friendships.

Possession of a clear and compelling vision is the first step in designing a successful plan of action geared toward creating success in network marketing.

Your written vision will be most powerful when crafted as an already accomplished scene from a movie depicting your life at some point in time. Write your vision in the first person, present tense. “I am now…. I now have…. I am doing…I am contributing to…. etc.” Avoid writing in terms of avoiding negative behavior. Instead of saying “I will no longer be poor and overweight,” say “I am abundant and healthy.” Your mind will key in upon the images created so craft these images to your advantage. Include in your vision as many sensual references as possible. What are you feeling emotionally? What sights, smells, and sounds are present in the scene you are depicting? What are others who play an important role in your vision saying, doing, and feeling? Make your vision as emotional as possible by focusing upon those areas that will bring you the most joy and fulfillment. Remember to include as many others in your vision as possible since a vision that is only about you will not inspire or motivate others in the way one that touches the lives of others will. You’ll know that you’ve hit the mark when you are inspired by reading what you’ve written. Here is an example of a vision written by a successful network marketing couple to inspire their accomplishments in building their network-marketing dynasties.

Don and Mary Lou Vollmer's Vision

As we sit on the beach in Hawaii, we are contemplating our good fortune and the marvelous feeling that comes from living our dreams. Our key leaders just left after spending a week playing, planning and enjoying life. Karen’s achievement of the top leadership position in our company prompted the idea for a big celebration in Hawaii. Mary Anne has become
a consistent $5,000 per month income earner and Donna and her group are well on their way to this same level. Pam, our newest 6-figure earner, is loving her life in Texas and is busy planning their mountain retreat in Colorado. She has assumed a fabulous leadership role with her organizations in Kansas, Texas, and Colorado and is working in Texas to build an empire. Donna, our daughter, is a stay-at-home mom and has purchased a new SUV. She travels on special, annual family vacations with her network-marketing income. Eula is consistently qualifying for leadership level pay and is so pleased with her fabulous organization. Jim and Dorothy are making enough with their network-marketing income to allow Jim to retire and enjoy their grandchildren. Our daughter, Shauna, is now making enough money with her network-marketing income that it totally supports her mission trips to third-world countries to provide medical care for the needy. It is wonderful to have leaders who have taken over and are moving their organizations forward with velocity. They have truly taken over the reigns of leadership. This has allowed us to sit back and enjoy their success. It is so awesome to see them in front of the room, training for the company and presenting a fabulous new chapter for our company. Our family arrives this afternoon to spend a week with us, playing and enjoying each other’s company. Lucky Donna & Shauna get to enjoy both weeks in the fun and sun. We spent one week before everyone arrived and will spend another week after they leave. Four heavenly weeks in paradise! We are discussing having next year’s gathering on the Italian Riviera. The time we spend with our family is precious indeed. The grandchildren are growing so fast. Soon they will be leaving home themselves. We have had many enjoyable times with all of them as they have grown up with an extended network-marketing family. We spend so much quality time in Chicago with Donna, Doug, Andrew, and Amanda. The most poignant memories of these last few years are truly seeing our leaders advance and realize their dreams. Their lives have changed so very much, and because of that, they have also changed the lives of many others. So many wonderful projects have evolved as those around us realize their dreams. We also have taken one of our dream trips on the QEII on part of our around the world adventure. We still love traveling to exotic lands, always learning to appreciate people of all cultures for their contribution. We are blessed with good health, which we preserve by working out regularly. We maintain a healthy lifestyle for both body and spirit. We have enjoyed our lifestyle of choice for some time now and can truly say that we are living a life with no regrets. We thank God every day for the abundance that is ours to share with our family, our network-marketing family, and others in need. We enjoy taking adult education courses through our local university, gaining knowledge about various cultures and history. Don still enjoys having the latest automobiles and car racing. Mary Lou loves being with her church guitar group. Life is grand!

As you can see, the above vision is clear and fueled by passions, life purpose and values. It sources self-esteem through contributions to people and those ideals most important to Don and Mary Lou. It motivates them to grow and excel and by speaking it, they inspire others to both join them in its realization and create empowering visions of their own.

Visions supply the creative energy that speeds the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly.

They nourish our ambitions, help clarify our intentions and elevate our self-esteem to the extent that we have the courage to create them, speak them so as to inspire others and believe in their ultimate realization. They serve as the blueprint for the magnificent castle we will build with the granite blocks of our actions and the mortar of our interpretations. It’s now your turn to create your very own empowering vision. Please do not pass up this opportunity to take advantage of the magic that it can unleash in transforming your life and self-image.

The ultimate value of a vision is that it serves as a motivating place to come from, rather than a place to get to. Visions are also dynamic. As you achieve certain aspects of your vision, it will evolve to include new and previously unforeseen elements.

Some aspects of your current vision will also change in time to no longer be part of your evolving vision. For these reasons, visions are always in need of periodic review and reevaluation. They serve to inspire and motivate you and others, not to restrict your options and vitality. Once you have created your written vision, commit to reading it twice daily without fail, in the morning upon rising and in the evening right before bedtime. As the vision becomes an intention and expectation, your belief in its ultimate realization will support its manifestation into the world.

Exercise:

Write out your personal empowering vision in first person and present tense. Describe in detail what every aspect of your life will be like. Read your vision at least twice each day.