7 Ways To Boost Your Self Esteem

Sometimes you might suffer from low self esteem, even if you usually have no problems with it.

As I see it, there are a few requirements in order to establish and keep a high self esteem: You must feel good about yourself, be true to yourself, and not hide your light under a bushel. But this is sometimes far easier written down than done in reality.

I would love to provide you with some magic pill to boost your self esteem, but I don’t know of any.

However, here are 7 proven techniques to boost your self esteem even long term, that I have used before with success:

1. Stop comparing yourself to others.
   There will always be people who are better at something, and there will always be ones that aren’t. They are all as unique as you, and they all have different premises. I suggest that instead you compare yourself to yourself. Have you improved, even a little bit? You are not perfect (no one is, in fact), and everybody who suggests that you should is an idiot. Period.
2. Just do the best you can.
   That’s enough. Always. You can not do better than you can do - at least not now. You may improve over time if you want, though. And even if you feel that you did not your best, really you did. Maybe you failed - that’s OK, because you learn why and can improve to do better next time - but right now you did your best.
3. Write a list of your former successes.
   Sometimes you may feel like everything goes wrong, and everything you touch falls apart. But is this really true? Maybe you just have a bad day. Writing a list of your former successes will help you to put this into perspective. Even today you had successes, hadn’t you? Maybe they were that tiny, but you did accomplish something.
4. Be yourself.
   Don’t try to imitate someone else. At best, you will be only mediocre compared to the original, and at worst you will make an idiot of yourself. Try to be the best possible you instead. Find out what makes you unique, and express this uniqueness. People will then respect and love you for who you are, because you are a person with a strong character.
5. Make a list of what is important to you.
   And then work on doing what is important to you. This will keep your self esteem high long term, because you will feel important and have something to be proud of. However, I suggest that every few months or so you review that list to see if your priorities have shifted, of if something is coming short.
6. Learn to say No.
   That’s an important skill. Really! You must not always do what others want you to do - but say yes often enough to not get fired if you want to keep your job Seriously, this will ensure that you don’t overburden yourself, and value yourself and your time. When you say no, don’t do this from below the requesting person, but at eye level.
7. Put yourself first.
   No, I don’t want you to become an egoistic asshole. But sometimes putting yourself first can be the most altruistic thing you can do. They say that you can only express to others what fills you. If you want to love others, love yourself until you are overflowing with love.

If you have additional ideas on how to boost your self esteem, have a hard time with it, or want to share your own story to inspire others, please use the comment form or send me a private message using my contact form.

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