Welcome to Tony Richards Messages

22 Application Pt3

Welcome to this week’s message on leadership, self-confidence, and how to feel good about yourself everyday as you interact with people, in safety and comfort, at home and work.

Last week’s message was all about setting easy goals for yourself, so you can feel the benefits of taking small but positive steps that reinforce your focus on how important YOU are.
If you wish to be reminded of that message, it is also available back on the message page.

This week’s message is about Critical Step 5. Application.
It is the fun step that allows you to display, and share, the positive view you have of yourself, and everyone else in this world, who will want to share your world with you.

I want to concentrate this week on the dangers of not exercising the fifth Critical Step (Application) to self-confidence and leadership. And, of course, I will provide the good news of how well you will be received when you exercise Application.

There are six great enemies of self-confidence that work to destroy leadership skills. The first of these is self-doubt. Self-doubt is when you question your abilities, skills, appearance or potential. When you apply the messages you receive each week to your daily life you eliminate that self-doubt. You will always know and appreciate your unique characteristics.

The second great enemy is guilt. Guilt eventuates when you feel responsible for a given set of words or deeds that result in harm. One of the great benefits of applying the weekly messages to your everyday life is that it gives you the ability to go back and apologies for any words or deeds that may have hurt others.

Apologies are one of the best examples of how others will see you. It is a really nice feeling to get an apology off your list and it makes others feel fantastic too. An apology takes character and leadership skills that will be recognised and appreciated.

The third great enemy is uncertainty. Uncertainty results when you are not sure how to handle a situation that you might normally deal with comfortably.

If you have ever been uncertain about your direction in relationships at home or work, or the direction of your career choices that may have once been quite clear, your following of the weekly messages, through Application as a complete process, will put all those uncertainties out of the way. Certainty and confidence are very closely related. Certainty from confidence is a well-recognised leadership trait.

The fourth great enemy is conflict of conscience. Conflict of conscience comes about when you believe that what you are about to do or say may be contrary to your moral values. You will notice in the Cycle of Confidence and Leadership, the strong emphasis on listening to your conscience and applying Principles (the standards or rules of personal conduct) to your everyday life.

There are constant reminders in the weekly messages about always choosing to do what is right. Application of that knowledge eliminates any conflict of conscience.

Fear, the fifth great enemy, by definition is a lack of courage; and courage is a by product of self-confidence.

The sixth great enemy is arrogance. This is my favourite enemy to confront, as it is not uncommon for people to mistake arrogance for confidence. Yet they are opposites.
Arrogance is a demonstration, with disdain, of an assumed superiority. While Self-confidence is the mental attitude of having trust in, respect for, and reliance on, your own judgement.

You can’t exercise arrogance by word or body language without a display of disdain towards others. You can’t have confidence without a display of respect for your judgement.
You can do the exercise of checking your dictionaries, and you will see that any dictionaries that show antonyms will tell you that ‘disdain’ and ‘respect’ are direct opposites.

Those who use arrogance to get their way are compelled, over time, to make their situation worse, and are even forced to continue to be more arrogant as they destroy the confidence of those around them, as well as their own. It is the Application of your Vision Statement that will actually prevent you from being arrogant.

Your Statement was developed from the insights you provided as part of the exercise of introspection, when you sought, and then accepted, the Principles that you believed most relevant to your unique character. By living by the positive Principles that form your individual Statement you have developed a barrier that prevents arrogance.

If you doubt this, even for a moment, have a look at your Statement and it will confirm that as you give Application to the Principles in your Vision Statement you can not be arrogant.

So although this week’s message has pointed out that there are dangers in not giving attention to Application, the Fifth Critical Step, the good news is that my favourite step provides you with the opportunity to give great displays of confidence and leadership by the exercise of this step.

Take the opportunity this week to exercise Critical Step 5 (Application) and apply the wonderful knowledge you have of yourself by practising the use of all of the Critical Steps together. You will not be disappointed with the response you get from others, who will recognise your strength, and appreciate your display of Leadership skills because of Application.

The exercise of Application gives others an insight into your character, which reminds them of your leadership potential and skills. That recognition from others results in better relationships at home and work where your opportunities for advancement are more likely to be noticed by others.

Please take the opportunity this week to consider Critical Step 5 (Application) and how you can best demonstrate to others how important you are to each other by the process of Application. Everyone really looks forward to seeing the best of your character.

Please email me on how you went with the exercise of using your skills of Application, and how good you and others may have felt as a result of your interactions. Also it would be good to hear from you, if you have completed the entire process comfortably, so I can pass on your good feelings, and how it may have improved your life, to others.

Your stories – even short comments – are of great value to inspire others, and I would like to take the opportunity to include your stories, or comments, in upcoming episodes of ‘Special Interest Items’. They will be included as they fit into the theme of the message for that week.

Next week’s message is a Special Interest message in response to an often asked question. It will be followed in coming weeks by the Cycle for Confidence and Leadership and how it impacts your life. It will then, in turn, be followed by messages on the Five Critical Steps.

Until then, please continue to see yourself as a unique and remarkable person, who deserves to feel good about yourself every day.

Tony Richards.

You may edit your details, subscribe or unsubscribe to my weekly messages at any time.