Boost Your Self-Esteem with Daily Action Steps
Developing your self-esteem starts when you decide to care more about yourself, to love yourself more, and to be kinder to you.
Knowing your values and then living in harmony with those ambitions will drive you toward higher self-esteem, and when you do positive things every day to boost your self-esteem, you’ll start feeling more confident in no time. Today, we share some simple, daily actions steps you can do to improve your self-esteem, starting now.
Take Care of Your Body and Mind
If you want to love yourself, you have to start treating yourself with respect and support. Take care of your body, as it is what takes care of you.
Feed yourself healthy food that provides your body with the nutrients it needs. Get enough sleep, enjoy life, and spend time with people you love. Taking care of your mind as well as your body is essential to putting yourself high on your priority list.
Smile
When you are frowning or stone-faced, you are sending signals to your brain that you should be unhappy. Smiling send the opposite signal, helping to elevate your mood and lower your stress. Even if you don’t feel happy, making yourself smile can change that and improve your outlook. Others will see you more positively, too, which boosts how you think about yourself.
Dress as You Want Others to See You
Presenting yourself in a positive way makes you feel better about how you look, which can contribute to your overall self-esteem. When you wear clothes that make you feel good, you stand up straighter and act prouder, which projects an image to the world of how you want to be treated. Choose clothing or styles that show your personality and make you confident about sharing yourself with the world, too.
Grow in Your Competence
We base our self-confidence in large part on how good we are at certain things. When you feel like your abilities are lacking in a particular area, this affects your self-esteem and confidence. If you want to elevate your judgment of yourself, work on getting better at something.
If you know you are not good with other people, work on how you communicate with others as well as your body language. If you lack confidence in your work performance, focus on developing one new skill that would help you perform better. Growing your competence helps you build your self-esteem.
Visualize Your Best Self
Create a mental image of your most confident self, the self you imagine has the highest esteem. What does this person have to be proud of? From where does he or she draw their confidence? Create a vivid mental image of this person so that you can work toward achieving this goal.
Do Something Scary Each Day
Those with high self-esteem are often not afraid to take risks. When you are confident in yourself, you don’t worry so much about failing or about what others might think. Learning to do small things that scare you, just a little, can help you develop this confidence in your ability to do things that are risky.
Learning to take smaller risks in everyday situations, where the stakes are low, can give you the confidence you need to take more considerable risks later that can help you achieve your goals.
Final Thoughts
There are many more things you can do on a daily basis to boost your self-esteem. Exercising, writing in a journal, connecting with friends and loved ones, setting goals for yourself, and improving your knowledge in a specific area are just a few more.
Anything you can do to nurture yourself, respond to your needs, and value who you are can help you build your self-esteem and become the more confident person you want.
Raise Self-Esteem: Become Your Own Best Friend
Self-esteem requires that you value and care for yourself and your interests above all others. The only person in your life that will ever be able to make you truly happy is yourself. When you learn to value yourself, to become your own best friend and best advocate, you will be able to achieve and maintain an elevated level of self-esteem.
If you would like to form a better relationship with yourself, to become your own best friend, we have some suggestions. Learning to build a strong relationship with yourself means you have self-love as well as respect yourself. Here’s how to start.
#1. Be a Cheerleader for You
Learning to praise yourself, instead of always waiting for others to do it, is a wonderful way to become a friend to yourself. Your friends cheer you on and encourage your efforts, even when you don’t always succeed, and that’s what you should be doing for yourself, as well.
#2. Practice Self-Acceptance
When was the last time a good friend berated you for your lack of ability in some area of your life? If they are any kind of friend, never! So, why treat yourself that way? Learning to accept yourself, in the same way you accept that your friends are not perfect, is a healthy way to build self-esteem. When you learn to accept yourself, you can focus on productive ways to improve your life and carry out your goals instead of criticizing yourself all the time.
#3. Focus on Your Worthiness
Your friends help you feel worthy of love and inclusion. That’s also what you should be doing for yourself. And always relying on others to boost your self-worth is an unhealthy practice. The only person that can make you feel happy and worthy is you. Start today by telling yourself all the many reasons why you deserve happiness and love.
#4. Learn to Laugh at Yourself.
Laughing at yourself is a healthy way to acknowledge your quirks, funny habits, and strange thoughts. We are not suggesting you sit around and mock yourself all day. But learning to take yourself a little less seriously can help you get more enjoyment out of life.
#5. Become Better at Self-Comfort
We all appreciate when a good friend comforts us and makes us feel better after a distressful event in your life. But, learning how to do this for yourself is really important for your self-esteem. Learning to provide yourself comfort in healthy ways that boost your confidence can keep you from turning to negative behaviors, like overeating or gambling, to feel better about your situation.
Self-sabotaging behaviors are misguided efforts at self-comfort which can ultimately make you feel even worse about yourself. Learning how to comfort yourself in healthy, productive ways means you don’t rely on others to feel good and you are attending to your needs, which makes you feel worthier and more respected.
#6. Get to Know Yourself
Yes, you spend all day with yourself, but do you really know what’s deep down in there? Or have you been keeping those thoughts locked up for so long you forgot they were even there?
Getting in touch with your deeper motivations, understanding the source of your fears, and clarifying your values and beliefs are all critical to self-acceptance and moving past negative behaviors that result from low self-esteem. Getting to know yourself in a more profound level is the only way to learn to love yourself more and to value all aspects of who you are.
Final Thoughts
Becoming your own best friend means you’ll have unconditional love and support, a positive cheerleader in your corner when times are hard, and someone who can help you find the positive in any situation. All these are essential to building your self-esteem and learning to trust and love who you really are.
This post is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered therapy. This blog is only for informational and educational purposes and should not be considered therapy or any form of treatment. We are not able to respond to specific questions or comments about personal situations, appropriate diagnosis or treatment, or otherwise provide any clinical opinions. If you think you need immediate assistance, call your local doctor/psychologist or psychiatrist or the SADAG Mental Health Line on 011 234 4837. If necessary, please phone the Suicide Crisis Line on 0800 567 567 or sms 31393.