This first lesson will mark a turning point in your life. You'll begin by measuring your assertiveness quotient, you'll learn about the many surprising consequences of not being assertive, and you'll learn to recognize the different behaviors of passive, aggressive, and assertive people.

Before you can begin to act assertively, you need to be able to identify your self-canceling thoughts and change your inner script. In this lesson, you'll learn why you have negative thoughts about yourself and what those could be. This lesson will share with you several techniques for replacing them with a positive inner script, including visualization, affirmations, storytelling, writing a journal, and creating a collage.

One of the ways non-assertive people lose power is through the use of certain types of language to either gain approval or avoid opposition, criticism or disagreement. In this lesson you'll learn how to recognize when you're doing this, and you'll discover some simple and painless adjustments to the way you say things that can help you avoid this problem.

Now that you've learned what takes your verbal power away, it's time to learn how to be verbally assertive. In this lesson, you'll learn how to make the four types of "I" statements to tell others about yourself, respond to others' requests, ask for cooperation and support, and confront another person. You'll also learn about techniques you can use to deal assertively with people who are angry with you or criticizing you.

Just as an actor perfects the nonverbal aspects of a role, you need to pay attention to the nonverbal nuances in your new assertiveness role. What you'll learn in this lesson is how to use eye contact, facial expressions, voice, body posture, gait and clothes to create an assertive image.

In order for you to be most effective, you need to be able to adjust your assertive message to the personality of the person with whom you're communicating and to deal with resistance. This lesson will study four behavior types and five sensory types to help you understand which assertive approach works best. You'll also find out how to identify resistance in others by observing verbal and nonverbal clues and various methods you can use to handle the resistance you may encounter.

Most people find it extremely challenging to be assertive with close family members. In this lesson, you'll learn about a variety of statements family members use to manipulate you, and you'll discover the most effective ways to respond to each of them. You'll learn how to act assertively with your parents, siblings, and children to build more positive relationships.

Do you find it difficult to say no to a friend who asks a favor that you don't really want to do? Do you have difficulty having conversations in social situations? If so, you'll really learn a lot from this lesson. This lesson will show you how to use the assertiveness techniques you've been learning to deal with your friends in a calm but strong manner. Next, you'll learn techniques you can use to open up to other people and carry on interesting conversations.

You may approach the thought of being assertive at work with trepidation. However, when supervisors and employees treat each other with respect and act assertively with each other, both happiness on the job and productivity increase. In this lesson, you'll learn how to be assertive during job interviews as well as with your boss and subordinates, what to look for to see if your workplace encourages or discourages assertiveness, and how to advance assertiveness where you work.

Often, you encounter situations in which you deal with people as a consumer. In this lesson, you'll learn how to be assertive with waiters, salespeople, government clerks, doctors, hospital employees, lawyers, and IRS agents. This lesson will also discuss how to be assertive in everyday situations, such as when a restaurant or movie theater is unbearably cold.