While we all have dreams and aspirations, few of us are fully aware of our own potential. It can be hard to see the truly good and admirable traits in ourselves, just like it is our faults. However, believing in your own potential is a crucial part of developing your self-confidence.

In order to achieve all you’re capable of, you have to believe in the potential you have. It can help you to try new things, challenge yourself, and take risks that could all lead to success. We’ve come up with a few ways you can determine if you believe in your potential.

Spend Time in Self-Reflection

The first way to determine if you believe in your own potential is to spend time in self-reflection. Ask yourself what you are capable of; what are your strengths and admirable qualities. This time spent determining your potential is valuable to who you are as a person and achieving your full potential. During this time, try to focus on the following:

• What is your potential?
• What do you want to achieve?
• Do you truly believe you can achieve it?
• What can you do with this potential?

Focusing on these things and answering these questions will help you to identify your potential and believe in it more strongly.

Write Down What You See As Your Full Potential

Now that you’ve had time to reflect on what your potential is, you can list the qualities and skills that entails. This will help you affirm what your potential is and your belief in it. Study this list and keep it with you, being sure to look at it whenever you feel yourself doubting your potential. This will help you keep your potential in the forefront of your mind and helping you to truly believe in your potential.

Prove Your Potential to Yourself

For some to truly believe in something, they need to see it. This even extends to what they believe about themselves. A great way to truly believe in your potential is to prove to yourself you have it. Act on it; challenge yourself by pushing the limits of your potential.

This challenge can be career-, hobby-, or relationship-oriented, so long as it challenges you and forces you to showcase your full potential. Once you’ve achieved the goal you set for yourself and fully showcased your potential, you’ll not only have a well-earned sense of accomplishment and confidence … you’ll also fully believe in your potential without doubts.

Surround Yourself with People that Believe in Your Potential

We all like to think we don’t let others affect us, and the reality is that the people around us, especially those close to you, do have an effect on us and our emotions. If those close to you doubt your potential, you’re likely to do the same. You don’t need that negative influence in your life. Instead, surround yourself with people that believe in your potential and encourage you to achieve all you can. Their positive influence will provide you with encouragement and help you to see and believe in your potential.

We all have a river of potential inside us. Few people truly recognize and believe in that potential. Believing in your own potential is an essential part of your confidence and success. If you believe you are capable of accomplishing something, you’re far more likely to actually accomplish it.

However, believing in your own potential may not come as easily for you as it does for others. It’s often something we have to work on and prove to ourselves before we believe it. One way of going beyond the surface of believing in your own potential is to decide to live from this potential. This is what Life Coaching can do for you.

Life coaching is a self-improvement service designed to help you get out of a state of desperation and into a state of inspiration … to fully believe, see and live your full potential.

When you live in a state of inspiration, every decision you make and action you take supports your greater good and helps you to reach your full potential in any field of endeavor.

Life coaching will, for instance, help you to:

• Develop new skills
• Capitalize on your strengths
• Overcome weaknesses
• Expand your comfort zone
• Improve your thinking
• Eliminate limiting beliefs
• Clarify your goals and priorities
• Develop empowering habits and rituals
• Strengthen your core values
• Improve your ability to learn from mistakes and failure
• Upgrade your social skills and strengthen your relationships
• Unlock your life’s purpose

In a nutshell, life coaching is designed to help provide you with the support and guidance you need to excel in any area of your life. That’s what I do.

We hope we’ve helped you to see and believe in your potential.

If you’re interested in learning more about working with me, message me at denise@denisehansard.com. We’ll set up a time to have a clarity call to help you discover what your full potential can become!

1. Saying Yes when my mind screams NOOOOOOO! (and I know this “No” is only the fear talking)

“Hand’s off … I trust you will do the work”

Like anything in life there is always going to be the good and the bad. Roses are beautiful and they have a wonderful fragrance. However, many have thorns that can pierce even the thickest of leather gardening/ work gloves.

There are two main points that comprise the dark side of improvement.

First

Understand that there is no magic pill for self-improvement. Self-improvement is a process which takes time, effort, and planning. It can’t be as simple as taking the red or the blue.

We are creatures that have evolved from an early man and woman that had to fight to survive. Therefore, we learn best from pain. When you were a child, first learning how to ride a bike, your Mom likely did all she could to prepare you for that first ride. She showed you how to balance the bike, pedal, and control its direction. However, despite her best attempts at keeping you balanced, you probably fell a few times before you got the hang of balance.

I remember my  mom teaching me to ride a bike. She sat on the porch, sewing and talking me through the process of riding that bike. When I wanted to give up, she reminded me of  “why” I wanted to learn in the first place. She also told me that if I gave up that would be up to me.

What I learned is pain doesn’t have to be bad, nor dysfunctional, as long as we learn from it  and as long as it’s not willfully inflicted on us by others. It’s always our choice.

As you move through your plan for self-improvement, expect to fall down so that you can get back up stronger.

Point #1 – Disappointment

Every year we make resolutions, only for most of us to give up on them before February rolls around. You start with all of the enthusiasm you can possibly have to support your optimistic belief that this will finally be the year you accomplish … whatever it is you want. 

Only, in the end, you end up with disappointment as your enthusiasm fades, or you fail to end up where you wanted to be.

Understand that while the concept of self-improvement can turn into something of a rabbit hole for us, it can be a powerful tool.

One of the fundamental aspects of our humanity is that we feel a need for improvement. We are wired to grow. It’s possible that this comes from some archaic evolutionary survival tool for ancient men and women. While it is a useful tool, it can become toxic for those of us who see this need for improvement as a flaw.

Let’s go back to the bike analogy:

If I had given up after trying for a few times to ride that bike … giving up because I just kept falling down … I would have forever created a pattern of failure in my subconscious mind and behaviors. My mom knew this which is why she approached the training as a way to make it become a victory for me once I chose to make it one.

I wanted to learn to ride a bike because I felt like I was being left behind every time my older brother went out riding his. I wanted to be a part of the action. That was what had me sticking to the pattern of learning … falling off, getting back on … discovering my ability to learn from failing or from not giving in to disappointment of not succeeding immediately.

I had room to grow, and something to learn. I had a way to improve. This one experience helped to create a pattern for life on overcoming disappointment.

Point #2 – Growth

Also, bear in mind, that like a child learning how to ride a bike with training wheels, the point of growth in self-improvement doesn’t occur when the goal is reached. It occurs when we learn. 

A child who is learning to ride her bike without training wheels is probably going to fall. For older generations, this entailed some form of knee skinning. Regardless, the entire experience is a teachable, and learning moment passed down from one generation to the next. 

We tend to see our goals just beyond our reach. When we stumble while reaching it’s important to remember that the stumble, or trip-up is a learning moment. Not a failure. The dark side and toxicity comes when we throw in the towel when we stumble rather than getting back up to try again.

Avoid Self-Judgment

As a side note, remember that you are always going to be your strongest & worst critic. This doesn’t mean that you should judge yourself. The process of self-improvement requires honest assessment, not self-judgement, and there is a big difference. 

Allowing yourself to fail to learn & grow is a tremendous gift. Changing the way you view your failures, not seeing them as disappointments and choosing to grow without self-judgement is the subconscious pattern you really want in your life.

If you interested in coaching with me, email me at denise@denisehansard.com to recieve more information.

“Life Coaching is a profession that is completely different from counselling, advice, consulting, or therapy. The coaching process examines what is going on in the person’s life right now, unpacking what their obstacles or challenges are, and formulating a course of action to help them achieve the things that they want in life – help them to build the life they are seeking and desire.

A life coach will provide a safe and empowering space for individuals to identify the ways they want to improve their life and then create goals/intentions with tools that are positive, future focused and inspiring. They will help to break down these goals/intentions into manageable steps (baby steps) to help the person transition from where they currently are, to where they want to be.

They will actively listen and offer challenge and thought provoking questions to help the person develop a deeper understanding of themselves. And, a life coach will also provide accountability and challenge the person’s perspective, helping them to step outside of their comfort zones … all while giving the needed tools to help a person grow and transform.

It’s different from counselling where sessions focus mainly on the person’s past in order to bring about understanding and healing. It is also different from mentoring or advice – the life coach’s goal is not to tell the person what they should do or how to live their life. It’s about being a facilitator that empowers the person to identify the changes that they would like to make and then helping them through the process of achieving these goals.

Life coaching is about asking questions and offering a range of skills that empower the person to find the answers within themselves.

Whether you are suffering from a pain point or asking yourself “what’s next?”, life coaching might be for you. Life coaching is focused on growth, development, and expansion. It helps you find clarity over confusion, and transformation over a pattern of two steps forward and 3 steps back. The life coaching experience feels great and gets you better results!

Life coaches work to help you improve your well-being in the following areas of self: Mental, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual, Environment, Behavioral, and Relational.

Here are some examples of how I, as a Life Coach, can help you:

• Career Decisions
• Stress and Overwhelm
• Energy and Time Management
• Relationships, Personal & professional
• Communication and Mindset shifts

As I have a Masters in Counseling, 20+ years in corporate management and a certification in Life Coaching, I bring a trifecta of wisdom and strategy to every person I work with.

If you interested in coaching with me, email me at denise@denisehansard.com to recieve more information.

With everything that is going on now – over worked, remote work, uncertainty of work to come, are you finding it difficult to cope with it all? Decisions on almost anything seem exhausting and complicated. What used to be an easy task is now taking on so much complexity you are not even sure it is worth it. And, it’s your job … whether that job is in your career life or in your home life. Yet, you can’t not do your job! People are counting on you!

I understand how you are feeling. I’m also having those moments feeling like the smallest of mundane tasks (which I used to love doing) suddenly take on a whole different feeling. A simple example of this was when I went to the grocery store the other day. Keeping myself & others safe by masking up, paying attention to the time I went (the earliest I could go … 6 am … so there would be less people) and distancing from others all seemed so MONUMENTAL that it exhausted me … and it only took an hour! Even as I was leaving the store going to my car, a kind gentleman looked at me commenting … “sometimes it just doesn’t feel like its worth it.”  I sooooo get that!

In my work, each day feels like a week, each week feels like a month and every task takes a Herculean effort just to accomplish one simple thing – like writing a newsletter. This is when I begin to question, is it worth it? Am I supposed to be doing this “coaching” thing?

The answer is …  an emphatic YES!

I love what I do and love when I am coaching my clients. I love assisting them in discovering their own worth giving them the roadmap to their success in their career and life. I can’t not do it.

What about you? Are you having these questions pop up for you? Are you feeling the exhaustion that comes with work these days? Wouldn’t you like the roadmap?

Join me for a FREE Webinar …

BEYOND CHAOS & COPING FOR CORPORATE WOMEN
A Roadmap for Creating Harmony, Balance & Appreciation in Challenging Times

If you’re feeling somewhat out of balance during these times wondering if it is worth it, then come on this webinar with me. Click here to sign up for the time that works best for you.