Believing in a Better Lifestyle

How many of you have ever thought about the link betweenbelieving in yourself, and getting a good income? You wouldthink that your income is based entirely on your skills,wouldn't you. Well, we know how true that one is. So whatdoes play a part in deciding what you are worth in moneyterms per year?

There's no denying that there are a lot of factors involvedin setting a salary, for example, but did you know that inAustralia there are about 10 times more applicants for a$25,000 job than there are for one at $50,000? One reason,I believe, is that a lot of people just don't believe thatthey're worth that much, and so, even if they get thecourage up to ask for the job description, they talkthemselves against ever applying for it. I recently sawthis where I work, when a position at just over $30,000 gota literal flood of enquiries - it was well over 50. Youknow how many actually put the application in? Only 6.Seriously. It wasn't as though the job description wasexcessively difficult either. The main thing that putpeople off was that they had to be prepared to get in a carand travel around the region occasionally. How hard isthat? Especially considering a large part of the localpopulation commute for 1 1/2 hours to the nearest city forwork...

On a personal level, I used to be in one of those $25,000jobs. With a Uni degree, and Honours, I thought I was luckyto get it considering the high level of unemploymentlocally. I sold the company on how much I had to offer.They took me up on it. Then they pushed the envelope, andgot even more. Bargain rates! I filled 3 job descriptions,all on my own, and I was still on $25K. After the promisedsalary and position title review ended up leaving me inexactly the same position, I started feeling I wasn'treally being appreciated. You probably know the feelingyourself. That was when I started to think about how much Ifelt I was worth. I thought about what salary I wanted, andcame up against some pretty strong beliefs about how Ididn't really deserve more, and I should be grateful forwhat I had.

Pardon the language, but "stuff that" thought I.

I spent the next few months intensively working on what Ibelieved about myself. I started to make positiveaffirmations about how much I was worth, and how I deservedto have a decent salary, and I didn't deserve to spendevery minute stressed out over how I'd pay the bills. Irepeated positive statements about myself to the mirror. Iwrote down what I wanted. I did exercises to push theboundaries further.

Then, out of the blue, I got a phone call offering me a jobat $43,500, and apologising because it was probably goingto be fairly simple work for me.

That's when I found out about the statistics on how there'sa shortage of people applying for top positions.

Now, I agree this is not a scientific study, but it seemslike a pretty clear link to me. Especially considering Ihad a similar (although less deliberate) process happeningwhen I got the $25K job to start with. I've since used itto get a better job again, and I'm in the next-to-top taxbracket now. Oh yes, and I recently got an opportunity togo for a relieving job another TWO levels up, after Idecided to rehash my method for a course I'm developing.

Do you have anything over at the end of the pay period? Ifnot, here's a quick exercise to try. Take your currentsalary. Triple it, and imagine yourself being offered aposition at that level. Chances are, you'll start to findall kinds of things coming up emotionally for you - thepersonal arguments you use to talk yourself out ofreceiving that much money.

Not convinced?

Get a tape recorder, and leave it playing while you do arole play of you, asking your boss for a raise. Make it adecent one, say $5,000 or so. When you play it back, you'llprobably find that there is at least one sentence that youcame up with, as yourself, that argued against you gettingthe raise. "I understand there's not much money at themoment..." is a common one.

Start spending a bit of time thinking about what you arereally worth. Forget about the idea of being "selfish" andtake a good look at what you have to offer. Work on yourbeliefs about yourself. As you do, and once it's solidlybuilt into your self-image, you'll start to notice littlethings coming your way that do improve your lifestyle.Signposts, if you will, that you're on the right track.Maybe a small win in the lottery, or a scratchy. Maybefinding a note on the street, or being given too muchchange. You'll know what it is when it happens, if you'restill on track. Use them to keep yourself motivated to gothat next step further. The sky really IS the limit.

Best of luck, Crystal

http://www.self-positivity.com

Do you believe in yourself? I believe in your right to. From victim myself, I've climbed back up to reclaim my self-esteem and my life. My 'secret' is that I'velearned to look at the big picture and find hiddenfactors that are aimed at keeping people down. Now mymission is to share that knowledge with others on thejourney.