At this very moment in time, I guarantee you that there are thousands of individuals who are asking themselves, “how can I improve my low self-esteem”. Most of these individuals might come to the conclusion that some people’s confidence and high self-esteem are simply innate and can’t otherwise be adapted. Wrong. High self-esteem is essentially the feeling or belief that you can rely on yourself and your abilities.
Self-confidence is the trust you have in “yourself” to be able to do something. Only you are responsible for your self-confidence and only you can fix it. Therefore it is important to learn strategies that will help you build and develop your self-confidence.
In this article, we will discuss how you can deal with a lack of self-confidence.
1. Block Out Thoughts About Failure
If you think about failure all of the time, you will become stressed and anxious. This negativity and anxiety are poison to low self-esteem and should try as much to avoid it.
The reason behind this is that your actions are only a reflection of your thoughts. So if you have constant thoughts of failing, this will bring failure for you. Likewise, if you have constant thoughts of succeeding, this will bring you success.
2. Focus On The Positives
Everybody has weaknesses, but everybody also has strengths. Strengths are far greater but simply get overlooked. By focusing on your strengths and your positives, you will feel better about yourself and will build your self-esteem.
Take Joe for example:
Joe is the captain of the basketball team. His team and coach trust him to make the final shot which will win the game. Joe faces a moment of low self-esteem and self-doubt but then reminds himself that he is a good player and he can make that shot. This way Joe gains enough self-confidence to go and win the game.
3. Engage In Self-Care (Love Yourself)
Life is not just about being hard on yourself, cut yourself some slack and allow yourself to grow. By being kind to yourself you will not just gain self-confidence but you will give you yourself room to fail, which will in reverse give you confidence.
As Cecelia Tran once said:
Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause.
4. Spend Time With Positive People
By surrounding yourself with people who are positive, you will not only increase your low self-esteem but will also become happy. Positive people are in a sense, stimulating. Their positivity is contagious and will help motivate you towards success.
Here is one real-life example:
Say you have the opportunity to hit the game-winning shot.
In Scenario #1 your whole team supports you and believes in you, and thinks you’ll get the shot in.
In Scenario #2 your team doesn’t believe in you at all and thinks you will miss for sure.
Which scenario would you personally feel more confident in?
The answer is Scenario #1.
When there are positive people around you, you will have more self-confidence and therefore it is important to only surround yourself with positivity.
5. Change Your Perspective On Life
You must try and comprehend the idea that in reality, you share a lot of similarities with the most confident individual in this world. But the one key difference is that the confident individual has become who they are by realizing an important element: no one really cares.
Everybody on this earth tends to spend most of their time thinking about themselves and what affects them mentally, physically, and spiritually.
So truthfully if everybody is really thinking about themselves, ask yourself two questions:
- Who are you really scared of?
- Who are you really pleasing?
I’ll give you an example.
You’re just about to give a presentation at work, but while you wait for your turn, what do you think of?
Yup, you got it. You only think of yourself.
But now let me ask you this,
when you go up and start presenting, what are the people presenting next thinking about?
Yup, right again! They’re thinking of themselves.
No one in this fast-paced world has much time for anybody else anymore. So just relax! Take a big breath and slow down. You will notice that the world isn’t really a scary place. Everyone is focusing on similar things and goes through similar stresses. Therefore, what you think of yourself is the only thing that matters. Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.
As Malcolm S. Forbes once said,
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.
Final Words
Many people have low self-esteem. To improve your self-esteem you simply need to develop a more positive mindset. Start “doing” rather than just dreaming. Understand you are special, you are unique and that only you have the power to define yourself and determine your level of confidence.
Good Luck on gaining improving your low self-esteem and facing your lack of self-confidence! Feel free to share any experiences in the comments below!
