By Jan Richards

When you’re making significant change of any type, you typically find many barriers along the road. For many people, though, a major barrier to change is the person’s now-out-of-date self-image. Your expectation of your ability to change has a lot to do with how hard change will be for you, and if you can sustain it.

If you don’t update your self-image as you make progress through life, like it or not, you’re more likely to slip back into old ways – almost like snapping back to a picture or pattern you’re trying hard to fit that you’ve long ago outgrown.

For example, perhaps you think of yourself as the quiet kid you once were when you felt buried in an older sibling’s shadow. Yet perhaps others would be surprised if they knew that image you held of you. That’s because they see a confident, outgoing person who’s easy to talk to, comfortable in the company of anyone they meet, and in any social situation.

You see the point. You may be carrying around a very out-of-date sense of yourself, and it can definitely hold you back. Read More→