We spend our lives trying to make everyone happy! First of all our family has to be happy, our staff and faculty need to be kept happy and our students and their parents also need to constantly be given positive affirmation! But what about you? You may have a wonderful spouse or significant other who does their very best to keep you happy and balanced but even with those loving people around you there can be moments when your self esteem can come crashing down, setting off a number of questions that you may not be sure of the answers to and driving you to doubt yourself. There are not many jobs where you have to assume so many different roles and where in one way or another someone is always questioning your actions. I know there have certainly been times when I have asked myself why I was subjecting myself to all the craziness but of course, I already know that the answer is because I really do enjoy what I am doing. There are a lot of people in the workforce who absolutely hate what they do for a living but continue to do it year in year out because of the paycheck. So in that aspect I feel very grateful for the job I do and although at times it can be difficult, I do enjoy the stimulation and challenge of what each day brings my way.

It is a good idea to take an honest inventory of your self esteem. Anything from your upbringing to a disappointment or some kind of unpleasant situation that has discouraged you could make it difficult for you to recover emotionally. If you can identify what is making you feel inadequate or unworthy or just plain miserable the next thing for you to do is make a plan of action to fix whatever problem exists because just the act of doing something will help to build your self- respect. Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of Britain and pioneer in her time was quoted as saying, "Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the high road to pride, esteem and personal satisfaction ." Discipline is so linked to Dance that it should be easy to have that self discipline but it really isn't all that easy and that is where we sometimes run into problems. When you own a studio you are constantly on the go but there are some things that can really help to make life easier and create more success which in turn leads to your feeling of having a job well done with a happy ending.

Here are some ideas to help you feel worthy and successful:

1. Be better prepared

2. Ask others to help you with what you need

3. Focus on your strengths

4. Use the words "I can do this.." and not "I can't…"

5. Refuse to let yourself panic

6. Look at yourself in the mirror each day and tell yourself that you look great

It is important not to forget or ignore that you are indeed the integral and most essential ingredient to your success. Certainly what separate the losers from the winners is really the time it takes to accept that something negative may have happened but that you have the ability to get back up as quickly as possible. Just like a dancer when they fall in the middle of a performance, it's not the fall that is remembered it is how quickly did they get back up and get on with what they were doing.

Of course there will be moments when you take a course of action that perhaps didn't work out the way you wanted it to, it happens to us all, the key is to learn from it and bounce back as quickly as possible. Knowing that you are capable of doing just that will give your confidence a boost every time. All the people around you who depend on you to be their leader will feel relaxed whenever there is a crisis because with your confidence and self-esteem they will know that you will manage to find a solution that will keep them all happy. Devoting time to YOU is important in order for you to continue giving so much of yourself to others. Take the time to build your confidence which in turn will build your lasting success!