7 Powerful Tips To Boost Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the value we place on ourselves and how we perceive ourselves. Having good self-esteem will make you more confident and more self-assured. Just feeling confident and assured can be the difference between attaining success in our life or failing at things we are very well capable of succeeding in. Low self-esteem holds us back from exploring all the opportunities that life throws your way. More often than not, having low-self-esteem is the gateway to depression. So how do you boost your self-esteem? Here are 7 very powerful tips that will make you feel more confident about yourself:

1. Say No to Generic Negative Self-Talk: We engage in self-talk all the time without even realizing it. In our head, we are constantly talking to ourselves and berating or congratulating ourselves for every small event that takes place. A good mix of both positive and negative self-talk is good. The positive self-talk will motivate you, while the negative self-talk will stop you from being impulsive and making mistakes. However, too much of anything is bad. There should always be a balance between the positive and negative. The first step in solving any problem is identifying it. Try to be aware of your self-talk and analyze if it is positive or negative. If your self-talk is mostly negative, then that is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Whenever you feel that your inner voice is being too critical or too negative, question the self-talk. Ask yourself if there is any evidence for to support the negativity. Ask yourself if there is a positive spin to things that you are forgetting. Look at the situation from a third person's point of view and evaluate. Most of the times, you will find that you are being too harsh on yourself and the situation is not as bad as your inner voice says. To avoid negative self-talk, force yourself to think about the positive side of things. There is always a silver lining in every situation. Try to find that silver lining and hold onto it. If you feel that negativity is becoming too much, close your eyes, clear your mind and take a few deep, cleansing breaths. This process may seem very difficult in the beginning, but if you stick with it, you will find that your self-esteem is improving.
   

2. Get Exercising: It is a well-known fact that exercise releases endorphins in your body and endorphins are the feel-good hormone. Regular exercise has multiple benefits. Not only will it make you healthy, exercise is the best way to clear your mind. When you feel like your self-esteem is taking a hit, engage yourself in some rigorous exercise. This will help clear your mind and you will definitely feel good about yourself after the exercise. A lot of times, you have low self-esteem because you feel that you don't look good enough or you feel lethargic. Both of these problems can be solved by exercise. Also, when you feel like you can't do anything right, just completing a workout will improve your mood. We feel let down when we can't solve a problem. If you take a break, do some exercise and come back to the problem, you will have a new perspective on it that might help solve the problem.

3. Avoid Falling Into The Compare-and-Despair Rabbit Hole: Every person is unique and everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses. When you compare yourself to another person, you are not doing yourself justice. The circumstances faced by both of you are completely different and so are your strengths and weaknesses. Comparisons are only valid when it is done between two people who have faced the same problems, have the same abilities and same pitfalls. But no two people are alike in all aspects. Everybody has their ups and downs in life. When you compare yourself to someone else and feel bad about yourself, your self-esteem reduces. This will, in turn, affect your ability to perform in the area you made the comparison. This is a vicious circle and it is like a rabbit hole. You keep going further and further down it. The only way out of it is to stop comparing yourself to others.

4. Handle Mistakes And Failures in a More Positive Way: Everyone makes mistakes. But instead of beating yourself up over the mistake, try to learn from it so that you can avoid making the same mistake in future. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. If you never make mistakes, you never learn. It is easy to blame yourself and feel bitter and resentful. And it is alright to feel that way about a mistake. But don't let it bog you down. Bitterness and resentment shouldn't be the only things you feel about a mistake. You should find joy in what the experience taught you. When you make a mistake, try to identify ways in which you could have avoided it. Note down what you learned from the experience. This will make you a better person in the long run and help boost your self-esteem.
   

5. Celebrate Small Things: We tend to ignore the small things in life and focus only major victories. While it is important to celebrate the major victories, it is also important to celebrate the small things in life. You may not come across major victories every day, but you will definitely find something small to feel good about and celebrate every day. It can be something as small as completing a mile-long run or cooking something from scratch or completing a puzzle or finishing a book, the possibilities are endless. When you celebrate these small things, you keep your morale up and this will have a positive effect on self-esteem.

6. Identify Areas of Authentic Strength or Competency: Every person has their own strengths. Identify your strength and focus on that instead of your weaknesses. If you are unsure about your strengths, there are a number of genuine quizzes you can take, both online and offline, that help you identify your strong suit. Another way to identify your strengths is by talking to your family and friends. Even if you haven't noticed what you are good at, they most definitely have and they will always help you out. Concentrating on your strengths and pursuing a career that utilizes your strength will definitely boost your self-esteem.

7.Be Patient: Sometimes it feels like only bad things are happening to you and you are failing at everything. At times like these, it is important to be patient and let things pass. Always remember that bad times don't last. Things will always get better if you just pull yourself through the bad times. When you feel like you have low self-esteem, practice the tips given above. Nothing happens in an instant. Even the tips given above will need time and patience to show results. Patience can solve a lot of problems. And it is better to be patient and wait than to get frustrated that things are not happening the way you hoped and feel bad about it. Always remember that is winter is here, them spring isn't far behind. All you have to do is wait patiently for spring.

Everybody has experienced low self-esteem at some point in their lives. At times like that, follow the tips given above. They will definitely boost your self-esteem. Self-esteem is how you view yourself and this is completely within your control. You can train yourself to be an optimist, to think positively about yourself, to exercise, to not compare yourself with others and to truly identify your potential. Once you do this, you will realize that your self-esteem has improved by elaps and bounds.