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Effective Ways to Improve Your Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself and your capabilities. It can be low, high, or somewhere in the middle.

By Sasha McGregorPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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Effective Ways to Improve Your Self-Esteem
Photo by Michelle Bonkosky on Unsplash

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself and your capabilities. It can be low, high, or somewhere in the middle. It is common for everyone to have doubts about themselves at some point, but if you are struggling with low self-esteem, it may leave you feeling unmotivated and insecure. If you are dealing with low self-esteem, there are some things you can do to help turn things around. From being nice to yourself to doing something good for your body like taking a red superfood powder, learn about some of the top tips for improving self-esteem here.

Be Kind to Yourself

The little voice inside your head that lets you know you are killing it (or perhaps you are not) is much more powerful than you may know. Take time and put in the effort to be nice to yourself. If you do happen to slip up, try to challenge the negative thoughts you are having. A good rule to follow is to speak to yourself the same way you would speak to your friends or someone you care about. While this may be difficult in the beginning, practice will help. You can even find tips online about how you can talk yourself up. Another good tip is to try to write down three to four things you really like about yourself. Put this list somewhere you can see it and refer to it often.

Do What Feels Right

If you compare yourself to someone else, there is a good chance you will not feel that good about yourself. Instead, try focusing on your own achievements and goals, instead of measuring them against another person. No one needs that type of pressure.

Get Up and Get Moving

Exercising is one of the best and most effective ways for you to increase your motivation. Try practicing goal setting and building your confidence. Also, when you exercise, it is going to cue the body to start releasing endorphins. These are the feel-good hormones that will help you avoid feeling bad about yourself.

No One Is Perfect

You should always strive to be the very best version of yourself that you can. While this is important, it is also necessary that you accept the fact that being perfect is not a realistic goal. If you are focused on being perfect, you will never reach a point where you are confident or happy with yourself.

Mistakes Happen to Everyone

If you want to continue to learn and grow, mistakes are a must. When mistakes happen, try not to beat yourself up and dwell on it. Everyone has done something they are not proud of and that they wish they could avoid; you cannot let this make you feel bad about yourself. Mistakes are a part of life.

Try to Focus on What You Are Able to Change

You may get stuck on the things that are all out of your control. However, this is not going to help you achieve very much. A better strategy is to focus all your energy on finding the things that you can control and figuring out what you are able to do about them. When you focus on the things that you are able to control and make changes as needed, you are going to be happier. A good way to begin focusing on the things you are able to change is by writing down everything that you are not very happy with; however, do not stop there. You should also include ways that you can make changes to these things to help you feel better about yourself. Be sure you start taking action to make these necessary changes.

Do Things That Make You Feel Happy

How are you spending your time? Are you spending it doing the things that you like? If so, then you are much more likely to have a positive mindset. You should also try to schedule some time for yourself every single day. While this is easy to put on the backburner or avoid altogether, it is a crucial part of having good self-esteem. During your “me time,” do something that you truly enjoy. This may be cooking, reading, or just taking a nap for a little while. If it is something that you feel happy doing, then make sure you take time to do it.

Always Celebrate Small Achievements

It is the small things that really make a difference. For example, did you avoid hitting snooze on your alarm clock this morning – good for you? Did you make the perfect omelet for breakfast – that is another win. When you take time to celebrate these small victories in life, you can begin to build your confidence and start to feel so much better about yourself. Try to write down a few things that you were able to do well every single day. You can even create a journal where you write these things. This is a great way to look back on these small achievements. Most people feel better about themselves when they are able to see the things they accomplished.

Be a Good Friend

There is something amazing that happens when you do something nice for someone else. Along with making them feel better, you will feel better, too. Try to do something nice for another person. However, this is not a time to brag about these actions. Being a good friend and a good person is a great way to make yourself feel good about yourself. No one else needs to know.

Have Supportive People Around You

You should take steps to find individuals who are there to support you and help you feel good about yourself. If you have noticed, there are some people who trigger your bad thoughts or negative thinking – avoid them. This is another way that you can feel great about yourself and avoid having these negative thoughts creep in.

Write Down Your Big Achievements in Life

Like the point above of celebrating small achievements on a daily basis, you should also look at the bigger achievements you have made in your life. For example, did you get the promotion you have wanted? Did you get a good grade on a big exam? Did you learn to play an instrument or speak a new language? Don’t feel bad about celebrating the successes that you have made in life. Along with the list of your small achievements, write down the big ones, too. This is a great way to remember what you have done and, more importantly, what you can do. If you ever feel bad about yourself or lack adequate self-esteem, then pull out this list and review it. Think about all the awesome stuff that you have done in your life. Keep in mind that the achievements you have made are completely unique to you and yourself. Also, do not compare these achievements to the things that other people have done. This is not going to help your self-esteem.

Think of All the Things That You Can Do and Are Good At

Every person, regardless of what they may think, has certain talents and strengths. Do you know what yours are? Take time to create a list of them. When you find the things that you are good at, you can begin to build and expand on these things. By doing this, you will find that it is easier to build your own confidence and to improve your abilities even more. You can even ask other people what they believe you do well. Be sure to add all these things to your talents and strengths list and refer to it often if you begin feeling down on yourself.

Set New Goals

You need to be goal-oriented. Once you have goals, you need to create a list of the steps that you must take to achieve them. Remember, these do not have to be big, life-changing goals. You should try to make your goals smaller at first. You want to see check marks on your list. This is also going to help improve your confidence that you can really get things done. You can make them small – such as going out with friends or making a home-cooked meal.

Be Your Own Cheerleader

You will not ever have self-esteem or feel great about yourself if you have negative thoughts going through your head all the time. Consider the self-talk that you hear in your head and how it could be impacting your self-esteem. You need to take time to make sure you are treating yourself the way you do your best friend – you would not be negative to them, and you should never be negative to yourself.

Building Your Self-Esteem

As you can see, there are many steps you can take to help build your self-esteem and to feel better about yourself and what you have achieved in life. By using the tips and information here, you can get rid of that negative self-talk and feel great about the things you have done and will do.

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