Self esteem can be thought of as an art, and when it comes down to it, it’s one which can be learned to achieve excellent results in any endeavor or area of life. The nice thing is, looking at yourself with a sense of respect for your capacities is something no one can take away from you.
The majority of people who are looking for the answer of how to build self esteem make the common error in thinking that letting their view of themselves fall on the approval they receive from the external world will help their self-image.
For instance, allowing it to rest in the hands of significant others, co-workers, parents or even social media. It’s quite a substantial detriment to a person’s self esteem, which is why our first tip for you is that you can’t win self-respect, but amazingly you can generate it.
The following strategies will work as they’ll remove the negative cycle of the low self esteem feedback loop. If you implement these techniques more and more, you’ll notice more and more positive changes!
Here’s the advice we gathered to build self esteem from experts in the field:
1. Believe in YourselfÂ
At the beginning of a journey for higher self-esteem, it’s good to realize that no two people are alike. As cheesy as it sounds, each person has an individual character and personality that allows them to differentiate from the rest of society.
When we’re young, this can feel like a bad thing because it’s tougher to fit in, but in the journey for self-esteem, one of the first things to know is that you can’t please everyone. Embrace your individuality as best you can because who you are is more than enough!
2. Focus on your strengths and not your weaknessesÂ
It’s easy to look at all the things you think you could be doing wrong. Science has shown that we tend to naturally compare ourselves to others, in the hopes that we’ll easily correct our course.
But, in the days of social media, we have a distorted view of many successes people are putting out there. You get the successes without seeing all the failures it took to get there. Not only does this have a significant toll on your self esteem, but it can drain a lot of your mental energy and willpower.
It’s now shown that making perfection a priority is not as important as it seems. Nobody is perfect of course, so treating yourself like a good friend is an excellent replacement for such an attitude.
3. Stop being pre-occupied with yourselfÂ
Let’s say someone says embarrassing at work like we all do sometimes, and everyone laughed, then they spend the rest of the afternoon replaying the scenario in their mind and beating themselves up about it.
The tragic irony is that most of the time the other people won’t remember the situation even minutes after it happened while it’s affecting you well past the time it happened.
As the saying goes, angels are able to fly because they take themselves lightly. This realization can free up mental energy for more important endeavors.
4. Avoid the comparison trapÂ
If you analyze who you are and what you have accomplished alongside other’s lives and what they have done, then you have a negative attitude on your hands.
You’re putting yourself in a losing position because there’s always someone who has achieved more or is better than you in some aspect.
So let’s substitute that habit with better practices.
Look at all the progress you have been able to achieve so far. Compare your present self to your past self. Concentrate on the small successes that we can easily overlook. It’ll both inspire you and aid you in while you build self esteem.
5. Deal with setbacks more positively.Â
When you’re leaving your comfort zone, on the path to greater success than you’ve seen so far with anything that’s genuinely meaningful to you, then you’ll inevitably encounter roadblocks.
Just because you’ve failed doesn’t mean you’re a failure. You miss every shot you don’t take as the saying goes.
So keep that in mind when you falter and give this a shot:
Instead of treating yourself negatively, challenge that and ask yourself: How might a family member or friend help me in kind of situation? Or how would you support a sibling with something like this?
It allows you to look at your challenges in more favorable light when you talk to yourself like someone who has your best interests in mind
6. Try something new.Â
When you’re trying something for the first time, or if you challenge yourself in a small or more significant way and leave the place of comfort you’ve settled in, then your self esteem automatically rises.
It’s something to admire about yourself, and it helps you find your strength as your beating complacency.
So leave the daily things you’ve fallen into behind. Don’t have expectations, rather have the intention of just seeing if you’ll like the new activity.
Like always, if something feels too tricky then try not to get too frustrated. Smaller, more manageable steps that are more long-term are better than sporadic short-term efforts.
7. Remember your whyÂ
What is an easy way to remain consistent with something? Like we discussed before: to recognize the most motivating purposes for why you’re doing it.
This simple thought experiment of self-reminders with reasons that resonate have done wonders for us. We hope it’ll produce the same results for you.
Ultimately, nothing is more important for what you’ll be able to do in life than how you think and feel about yourself. These tips are the best way to take control of your life and your overall happiness, thank you for reading about how to build self esteem!
