How to boost your self-confidence and self-esteem

Today we're going to learn about how to boost your self-confidence and self-esteem. Let's begin.

Record your story.

The word "self-esteem" gets used in a lot of different contexts; it's a stand-in for everything from confidence to self-worth, but the real definition of self-esteem is pretty simple. Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. That's it. It's all the positive and negative feelings that affect your view of who you are and what you can do. But it isn't always easy to figure out who you are. When you don't know how you feel about yourself, you naturally lean toward self-criticism because, in your head, someone who values themselves would know the reason why, but the truth is you have hundreds, if not thousands, of reasons to appreciate yourself and feel good about who you are, but like most people, you take that positivity for granted. You let it slip into the back of your mind or fade away from your personality.

You have to be clear.

Instead, you focus on the one or two negative feelings that keep swirling around in your brain. So what can you do to bring that positivity back to the surface? What's the best way to reflect on all the reasons why you deserve respect? Recording your life story is a fun and therapeutic strategy that countless people have used. Not only does it help you remember what you love about yourself, but telling your story also motivates you to maintain that positivity in the future. But it's not just about reflection. The fact that you're writing down your story plays an important role. Can you build the self-esteem you need to accomplish your dreams?

A point of pride

Try setting something called a "point of pride." A point of pride is one specific goal that you accomplish to prove something to yourself, going back to our previous example. If you can do that, your self-esteem will skyrocket. Personal research is the third step. You can also boost your self-esteem by changing basic things like the way you speak. For example, you might be self-critical in your language. You belittle your accomplishments and you overrate the value of the people around you. The problem is that you probably don't even realize that you're doing it. It's become almost automatic for you. So how do you change something that you don't even think about? Try studying the way you speak every time you undermine your achievements. That way, you can focus your attention on your harmful language and gradually change it for the better. You may not notice a difference at first, but this simple strategy will have a huge impact on your self-esteem over time.

Practice self-compassion.

Learning to forgive your own mistakes is one of the most difficult aspects of building self-esteem. Whenever that doesn't happen, you either pretend that nothing happened or you become your own worst enemy. You criticize yourself and you hold a grudge. But both of these approaches have the same fundamental problem. They're focused on preserving the good. You're trying to maintain this fragile image of yourself. You expect to be that perfect, successful person, so you react negatively every time that doesn't happen. You either ignore your mistakes or you tear yourself down, and slowly but surely you chip away at your self-esteem. So what should you do instead? The real secret behind your self-esteem has nothing to do with preserving the good; it's about forgiving the bad. You'll spend the rest of your life making mistakes. We all do. There's just no way around it. So before you can believe in yourself, you have to learn to live with those failures. Little by little, you can boost your self-esteem by actively forgiving yourself each time you say something stupid or make a careless error. Just take a minute to acknowledge what you did wrong and then, no matter what, cut yourself some slack.

You chip away at your self-esteem.

Travel Back in Time Have you always struggled with low self-esteem, or can you recall a time in your life when self-esteem was the last thing on your mind? People go through highs and lows throughout their lives. They start to accomplish their goals by developing healthy habits, so they feel positive and confident until some kind of failure knocks them down a peg. If you find yourself in one of those valleys, try this simple trick to climb your way out. Think back to the happiest time in your life. When were you most motivated? When did you love yourself the most? It doesn't matter if it was last week, last year, or decades ago. Reflect on that point in your life and ask yourself this important question: How did you climb to the top of that mountain? What about that period of your life stands out the most? People like to say they're career-oriented. They focus all their time and energy on work, but their job consistently makes them feel inadequate or insecure. So they think back to their happiest moments and they realize something that changes their life. They feel the best about themselves when they're helping others, not when they're concentrating on their career.

Revisit your past.

My point here is that if you're struggling with self-esteem, revisiting your past is a simple and rewarding way to turn your mentality around, and you might just discover something new about yourself in the process. People want to fit in, whether you're 15 years old or 50. You might think about your social standing more than you'd like to admit. It crosses your mind when you're getting dressed in the morning, when you're walking through the grocery store, or when you're sitting down at your desk, but the more you think about your social standing, the harder it is to build self-esteem. It doesn't matter if you're popular, unpopular, or somewhere in the middle, because it's not about whether you fit in. The best thing you can do for your self-esteem is to stop caring altogether. That's right, do at least one thing every day that separates you from the rest of the herd. It could be a change in your style or some obscure new hobby. It doesn't matter as long as you're carving your path. When you're focused on making yourself happy, you'll discover all kinds of new reasons to cherish your individuality.

Reclaim your values.

For most people, it's not that hard of a question. It only takes a few seconds to prove your values to me, but how long has it been since you've proved your values to yourself? Even though you know what your values are, they might have faded into the background. Maybe they've gotten lost in your habits and routines. You might have forgotten to make time for your family, or you may have lost touch with your passions.

Reclaiming your values

You can remind yourself who you are. You can remember what makes your life worthwhile because that's ultimately where most of your self-esteem comes from. If you know yourself and the kind of person that you are, you can learn to like yourself, so set aside some time every week or every day if you can, to reclaim your values. You might put away work to spend quality time with your family or skip a night out to get back in touch with your creative side. Each time you make these choices, not only do your values get stronger, but you also feel proud to call them your own.

Conclusion 

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. It's all the positive and negative feelings that affect your view of who you are. Recording your life story is a fun and therapeutic strategy that countless people have used. Tell your story to motivate you to maintain positivity in the future. You can boost your self-esteem by actively forgiving yourself each time you say something stupid or make a careless error.

The third step is to set a point of pride, which will help you prove yourself to yourself. People go through highs and lows throughout their lives. Think back to the happiest time in your life. What about that period of your life stands out the most? People feel the best about themselves when they are helping others, not when they're concentrating on their careers.

If you're struggling with self-esteem, revisiting your past is a simple and rewarding way to turn your mind around. Reclaim your values. It only takes a few seconds to prove your values to me, but how long has it been since you've proved your values?