How to Boost Your Self-esteem and Confidence

How often have you listened to that inner voice within you - a word of praise “aren’t you special!’, a positive reinforcement about yourself ‘go for it, you can do it!‘, or even an outright discouragement ‘you are just not worth it!’. This is your self-esteem speaking. Self-esteem is one’s appraisal of one’s worth. Self-esteem is an index of the amount of confidence and satisfaction you have in yourself. Self esteem is the collection of beliefs we have about ourselves.

This voice speaks in two ways - it can be positive and reassuring for some - for those who have a high self-esteem. At the same time, for those with a low self-esteem, this inner voice constantly criticizes, pulls them down, and negates their achievements.

The characteristics of a low self-esteem individual are all too evident, degrees, of course may vary - non-risk taker; looks for approvals externally; fears rejection; insecure, anxious, nervous with others; irrational beliefs.

Why is self-esteem so important? How we feel about ourselves affects how we act and react. A high self-esteem is as essential as oxygen, as uplifting as the fragrance of fresh roses, as warm as the golden sunshine - so very vital to a healthy life and state of mind. A low self-esteem can result in self-doubt, stress, anxiety, relationship problems, underachievement , spiraling down to a lack of interest in life itself

Self-esteem is derived from many factors - our goals in life, achievements, place in the world, how we relate to others, our successes/failures, how we perceive others seeing us, to name a few. Our self-esteem develops and evolves throughout our lifetime- beginning right from our childhood- and is constantly being influenced by our interactions with different people and activities.

A positive self-esteem reinforces your confidence. If you have confidence, you tend to respect yourself. This further translates into a respect for others, improved relationships, confidence in one’s achievements, willingness and drive to pursue happiness, success etc. Confidence in self-helps you cope with situations in a positive light, to accept failures with a shrug, gives you the courage to try again.

A positive self-esteem and confidence walk hand in hand both are essential towards having a healthy and fulfilling life. Therefore, it is very essential to focus on building a positive self-esteem for oneself, in order to avoid the feeling of being incapacitated in our daily lives. Find below a few tips on building a positive self-esteem, which is by no means an exhaustive list.

Give yourself positive feedback - don’t put yourself down
Do not dwell on your mistakes
Celebrate your strengths
Be yourself - in all situations
Set realistic goals for oneself
Expand your comfort zones - try new things

Like most things in life, this cannot be achieved overnight, but taking a small, confident step at a time. At every small measure of success, praise yourself, set a next achievable goal, things are looking up surely.

Goal Setting For Beginners

Do you have goals? Well, most of us do. It might be a daily goal, a weekly goal, even a yearly goal, but we have goals. However, not everyone knows how to properly set goals. This article aims to educate the goal-setting novices out there on how to properly set goals.

Setting goals for yourself is like creating a road map to get to your destination. In goal-setting, your destination is succeeding in accomplishing your goals. This means you have to write down your goals on a piece of paper so you can start to get organized. This step allows you to concentrate on your goals rather than leave your ideas scattered throughout your mind.

The first question you have to ask yourself is: Is my goal something that I would really like for myself or is it just something that looks good to other people? This question is crucial because many people make the mistake of setting a goal just to please other people. A good example of this is a college student who chooses a course so that his parents will praise him. What he should actually do is to go where his heart leads him. This means that the goal should match the individual’s personal value system.

Second, a goal should correspond with the other goals you have set for yourself. Like the example we gave above, a college student must not take courses that deviate from the career path he is creating for himself. Not only is this a waste of money but it also opposes the purpose of goal setting – which is to keep his life organized. Deviating is dubbed non-integrated thinking.

Third, set goals for the 6 aspects of your life, which are: Mental and Educational, Physical and Health, Financial and Career, Social and Cultural, Spiritual and Ethical, and lastly, Family and Home. This guarantees that you will maintain a balanced life as you evaluate and amend the basics of your daily life. This step also lessens the level of non-integrated thinking.

Fourth, create goals that emphasize positive thinking rather than negative thoughts. We create a list of goals partly because we want to program our subconscious mind to follow our instructions. This part of our mind – the subconscious – was made solely to follow instructions. So if you want your subconscious to follow positive thinking, think of positive instructions to give it. (Positive thinking is also a useful tool for our development in daily life as a person.)

The next step is to define our goal in a detailed fashion. For the college student who is trying to choose a course, he could write down: “I want to study BA European Languages with a major in German and a minor in French” rather than just state “I want to pick a course in the College of Arts and Letters”. You will notice that the more detailed statement serves to provide the subconscious mind with detailed instructions to follow. Your final outcome becomes more and more definite as you provide more details in the instructions you write down. The subconscious mind works more efficiently if the final outcome is defined well.

In the sixth step, do not downgrade your goals – keep reaching high! That way, if you do not reach your goals, at least you reached a level that is higher than you imagined you could reach.

Lastly, you ought to list your goals on paper. Read your list often so you can focus on them one by one. If you concentrate on accomplishing your goals, it is probable that you will be able to get to where you want to be in life. As you review your goals, it is also possible that you may have to revise your list but that’s okay. Stay flexible if circumstances warrant it.

Reach Your Goal by Affirming and Visualizing!

Your thoughts determine whether you reach your goal or not. If you are constantly in a negative state of mind or succumb to fears and doubts, then your goal will remain far from your reach. But if you feed your mind with positive thoughts and imagine yourself having reached that goal already, then you are almost certain to reach it!

Before you can even set a goal, first acknowledge that we all live in a universe overflowing in abundance. Lack and poverty are mainly brought about by thoughts of lack and poverty. But in reality the universe has more than enough for everyone, if only we ask and believe. So before you think about you want, affirm the universe’s abundance, that it already has what you want even before you ask for it. Surely, then, you will have it once you ask! For your subconscious mind to totally accept this as fact, recite an affirmation everyday, like “The universe can give me anything I ask for,” or something along these lines.

After having the proper state of mind, you can then start asking. Write down your goal. Make it very specific. See the outcome very clearly in your mind. Experience the outcome of your goal in your mind. If it is your dream job, imagine walking through the office, talking to people, sitting at your desk and doing the work you love. Use not only your sense of sight, but whatever is applicable in your imagined scene. Do your visualization everyday, ideally upon waking up and before going to sleep.

Partner your visualization with an affirmation – affirm that you have what you want right now. You can say “I am happily working in my dream job,” or something like that. Soon, you will attract events or circumstances that will lead to your dream job – or you might get an inspired idea on how to get your dream job.

Do your affirmations and visualizations everyday and you will surely reach your goal.

Remember, Live your Life By Choice, Not By Chance.

Turn Your Thoughts into Reality!

Is there anything you desire that you feel you cannot have? Is what you want always far from your reach? Anything you want is yours for the taking if you can just tap into the power of your mind. With imagination and belief, you can turn your thoughts into reality. Below are some tips to help you turn your thoughts into reality.

Desire it. Passion is a strong bridge between you and what you want. Ask yourself – how much do you really want this thing you are thinking of? Is it something you can do without, or something you are really passionate about? Passion is power.

Be specific. Be very clear about what you want. What you get is only as clear as what you want. If you want a house, see it very clearly on your mind – the architectural design of the interior and exterior, the garden, and more. Set a deadline. When do you want to have that house?

Visualize. This is arguably the most powerful tool of the mind. Be the director and leading actor in your own movie. Walk through your dream house, see the sights, smell the scents, feel the feeling of being there. The subconscious brain does not differentiate between a real experience and an imagined experience. So, once you vividly imagine a scene, you are close to letting it manifest into reality. Visualize daily.

Believe. Fear and doubt stand in the way between you and your dream. Should you feel any doubts, believe that the universe will give it to you. The universe is overflowing in blessings and abundance if only you ask and believe! What you believe, the universe gives. If you believe that you will get it, the universe will give it to you. If you believe you won’t, then the universe won’t give it to you.

Take inspired action. From your daily visualizations, you may suddenly get a spark of an idea of how to get the house. Or you might meet a person who knows where you can buy your dream house. At these moments, don’t hesitate. Act!

Follow these steps and you will prove that you can indeed turn your thoughts into reality!

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How to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Confidence

How often have you listened to that inner voice within you - a word of praise “aren’t you special!’, a positive reinforcement about yourself ‘go for it, you can do it!‘, or even an outright discouragement ‘you are just not worth it!’. This is your self-esteem speaking. Self-esteem is one’s appraisal of one’s worth. Self-esteem is an index of the amount of confidence and satisfaction you have in yourself. Self esteem is the collection of beliefs we have about ourselves.

This voice speaks in two ways - it can be positive and reassuring for some - for those who have a high self-esteem. At the same time, for those with a low self-esteem, this inner voice constantly criticizes, pulls them down, and negates their achievements.

The characteristics of a low self-esteem individual are all too evident, degrees, of course may vary - non-risk taker; looks for approvals externally; fears rejection; insecure, anxious, nervous with others; irrational beliefs.

Why is self-esteem so important? How we feel about ourselves affects how we act and react. A high self-esteem is as essential as oxygen, as uplifting as the fragrance of fresh roses, as warm as the golden sunshine - so very vital to a healthy life and state of mind. A low self-esteem can result in self-doubt, stress, anxiety, relationship problems, underachievement , spiraling down to a lack of interest in life itself

Self-esteem is derived from many factors - our goals in life, achievements, place in the world, how we relate to others, our successes/failures, how we perceive others seeing us, to name a few. Our self-esteem develops and evolves throughout our lifetime- beginning right from our childhood- and is constantly being influenced by our interactions with different people and activities.

A positive self-esteem reinforces your confidence. If you have confidence, you tend to respect yourself. This further translates into a respect for others, improved relationships, confidence in one’s achievements, willingness and drive to pursue happiness, success etc. Confidence in self-helps you cope with situations in a positive light, to accept failures with a shrug, gives you the courage to try again.

A positive self-esteem and confidence walk hand in hand both are essential towards having a healthy and fulfilling life. Therefore, it is very essential to focus on building a positive self-esteem for oneself, in order to avoid the feeling of being incapacitated in our daily lives. Find below a few tips on building a positive self-esteem, which is by no means an exhaustive list.

Give yourself positive feedback - don’t put yourself down
Do not dwell on your mistakes
Celebrate your strengths
Be yourself - in all situations
Set realistic goals for oneself
Expand your comfort zones - try new things

Like most things in life, this cannot be achieved overnight, but taking a small, confident step at a time. At every small measure of success, praise yourself, set a next achievable goal, things are looking up surely.

Remember, Live your life By Choice, Not By Chance.

www.selfimageimprovement.com