U! Get that Monkey off your own Back

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

Practice. It’s defined in the dictionary as; "Systematic exercise for instruction." or, "A custom or habit of doing something." Think about that. Anything that you’ve ever done and gotten better at, you’ve had to practice. It’s like the cliche’ says; "Practice makes perfect."

When we think about practice we normally think about sports or schoolwork. But if it’s something to be done, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually, it can be practiced. Even something as routine as walking needs practice. If you were to lie in bed for some long period of time, say a year, without ever getting up, you’d have to be taught how to walk again.

Practice is basically repetition. You can repeat and repeat something until it becomes second nature to you. Think about all the different things in your life that once seemed impossible, but are now done with no difficulty at all. Your job, for instance. When you first started your job you were probably a little nervous about making mistakes or catching on quick enough. It was probably a little difficult too. But after being there day in and day out, getting all that practice, it no doubt became easier. Because the more you look at something, do something, or study something, the more you’ll understand that something. Take for instance the cockpit of a typical commercial airliner. Inside, there are enough buttons, knobs, and dials to intimidate any novice. But to the pilot and his or her crew, they present no mystery at all. Why? Practice. None of them just jumped in an airplane one day and soared into the wild blue yonder. No. It took time, practice time, to learn how to fly that plane. I can remember that as a small child I thought that tying my shoes was the single most difficult procedure in the world. I couldn’t understand how grown-ups had mastered such a complex set of maneuvers. All the crossing, looping, and pulling, boggled my mind. But after some practice, I was soon tying with as much confidence and precision as any grown-up. The point being is that; "Anything that seems too difficult at first is soon made easy with practice." I’m sure that you can think of many different things in your life that when you first encountered them seemed nearly impossible, but now are quite trivial. And furthermore, think about this; "Everything is complicated until you understand it."

Did you know that everything we know right now, we’ve learned? From the time we were born, up to this very minute. We’ve learned how to talk. We’ve learned how to walk. We’ve learned how to cross the street. We’ve learned good habits. We’ve also learned bad habits. How do we learn things? By practice (repetition). We do some "thing" over and over until we become familiar with it. We "learn" it. And anything that was learned can be "unlearned", if you will. Besides that, how do you think a habit becomes a habit? By practice, of course. No one becomes an alcoholic the first time they try alcohol. No one becomes a chain smoker the first time they try cigarettes. They practice drinking and smoking until it becomes second nature to them. I’ve heard people say that they continue to smoke, not because of the nicotine cravings, but because of the mere act of smoking. They’ve practiced this act so much that they wouldn’t know what to do with their hands if they weren’t holding a cigarette every so often.

Believe in your own abilities! Believe in yourself, and never ever be anyone’s doormat. You were not put on this earth to be walked all over by a bunch of insensitive jerks. Believe me, misery loves company. And if you’re around some insensitive miserable person or persons, they’ll more than likely try to make you as miserable as they are. Don’t accept that invitation to the misery ball. Instead, demand respect by respecting yourself. Hold your head up high and walk tall in confidence.

Did you know that no one could make you believe anything but you? (You’ll believe you before you’ll believe anyone else.) Let’s say you’re sitting at your desk doodling one day, when suddenly you get an idea for a better mousetrap. You make a sketch up and decide to show it to your best friend. When they see it, immediately they get excited and tell you what a great idea it is. They go on to offer you any help you might need in bringing this product to market. You reply by saying; "I was just kidding. This thing will never sell. Thanks, but no thanks." You have just believed yourself. You doubted, and you believed your doubts.

Now on the other hand, your friend could be totally against your idea. They might think it’s a piece of crap. And you might say; "I’ll show you. This thing will sell. It’ll sell like hotcakes! Just you wait and see!" In both cases you believed you. This is always the case, no matter what the situation. You’ve heard the phrase; "They made a believer out of me." No they didn't. They presented something to you. You analyzed and evaluated it, and then you decided to believe it. They didn’t make you believe anything. So if you’re going to be a confident person it’s going to ultimately have to be you who believes in you. It doesn’t matter what your spouse, your mom, your best friend, or even your kids, believe. The only thing that’s gonna effect your behavior is what you believe. (You’ll only act on what you believe.) You know why? Because you know you better than anyone else on this planet ever will. You’ve heard the expression; "You can’t escape yourself because everywhere you go there you are