10 tips to kickstart your self esteem!
If you're tired of feeling "less than", afraid of making and
achieving your desires and goals, feel that no matter what you
do it is never "good enough", then your self esteem could do
with a boost!
Having low self esteem takes an enormous toll on the quality of
your life. You take fewer risks, which limits your
opportunities, both personally and professionally. You are
reluctant to voice or acknowledge your needs. You are probably
also haunted by past mistakes and making future ones.
It doesn't have to be like this, the tools you've used to
(unconsciously) lower your self esteem are the same ones you use
to raise it. The following article gives you ten tips to raise
your self esteem and improve the quality of your life!
1. Stop comparing yourself to other people. If you play this
game, you're likely to compare yourself in a negative way and
set yourself up for continuing to have low self esteem. Why
continue to play a game where you've set the rules against
yourself, so that you're less likely to win!
2. Don't keep putting yourself down! You can't develop high self
esteem if you constantly repeat negative comments about your
skills and abilities. Other people will pick up on it and take
on board the negative way you view yourself. How are they likely
to treat you? Also don't beat yourself up over "mistakes" that
you've made - learn how to reframe them so that they work for
you.
3. Using affirmations is an excellent way to raise your self
esteem. It's the opposite of no 1. If you can programme your
mind to repeat negative phrases about yourself (and see how
effective that's been!), then you can certainly get into the
habit of continually thinking (and saying to yourself) positive
statements about you. When you do, allow yourself to experience
the positive feelings about your statements. Also use
inspirational quotes to assist you.
4. Accept all compliments graciously. Don't dismiss or ignore
them. When you do you give yourself the message that you do not
deserve or are not worthy of praise, which reflects low self
esteem. It also means that others will become more reluctant to
praise or acknowledge your abilities, if you don't.
5. Take advantage of and use life coaching programmes,
workshops, books on how to raise your self esteem and develop a
more positive attitude. Whatever material you see, read acts as
subliminal learning, which means that it will plant itself in
your mind and dominate your behaviour. Talk about food for
thought - what diet is your mind on? Is it a nourishing one?
6. Mix with positive and supportive people. Who you associate
with influences your thoughts, actions and behaviour - another
form of subliminal learning. Negative people can put you and
your ideas down and it lowers your self esteem. On the other
hand, when you are surrounded by supportive people, you feel
better about yourself, which helps to raise your self esteem.
Learn how to develop your positive personal support network.
7. Acknowledge your positive qualities and skills. Too many
people with low self esteem constantly put themselves down (back
to no 1 again!) and don't appreciate their many positive
attributes. Learn how to truly affirm and value your many
excellent qualities. If you find this difficult, ask others to
tell you. They'll come up with things you would never have
imagined!
8. Stop putting up with stuff! Not voicing or acknowledging your
needs means that you are probably tolerating more than you
should. Find out what you're putting up with and zap those
tolerations. By doing so, you're giving yourself the message
that you're worth it.
9. Make positive contributions to others. This doesn't mean that
you constantly do for others what they could be doing for
themselves. But when you do make a positive contribution to
others, you begin to feel more valuable, which increases your
sense of your own value and raises your self esteem.
10. Involve yourself in work and activities that you love. So
many people with low self esteem stop doing those activities
that they most enjoy. Even if you're not in a position to to
make immediate changes in your career, you can still devote some
of your leisure time to enjoyable hobbies and activities.
and..............................
Start taking action! The universe rewards action. Backing away
and avoiding challenges means that your self esteem muscles
become weak and flabby. When you start to take action
-regardless of the outcome - you will start to feel better about
yourself, develop your self confidence and raise your self
esteem.