"Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your handbrakes on" - Maxwell Martz.
You can define self-esteem as a person's confidence in their own abilities and self-worth. Having a strong feeling of confidence in ourselves is essential for our motivation and success. On the other hand, Low self-esteem can leave us feeling depressed and defeated.
The good thing is that no one is born perfect with a limitless supply of self-esteem. Instead, there are some practices and mindsets that differentiate mentally strong people from the rest.
Let's take a look at the top 10 tips that can help us boost our self-confidence.
1. Pay attention to your appearance
How you appear on the outside and how you feel on the inside often go hand in hand. When you look your best, you automatically feel more confident, and this also reflects on your mood, thoughts, and self-esteem.
Pay close attention to your dressing and your body image. This does not mean that you should spend massive amounts on clothing and strive for perfectionism, instead take care of your body and dressing, so you look decent enough to feel confident in yourself.
2. Question your inner critic
You might be a kind and supportive character for your friends and family, but often, we ignore the one person who deserves most of our love and support, and it's our own self. Observe yourself and see why you don't think good about yourself. Are your doubts and insecurities accurate? Are you too hard on yourself?
Mindfulness means being observant of your thinking and the impact it has on you. Be mindful of your own thoughts and the effect they have on you. Try to be nice to yourself and challenge any negative thoughts or insecurities you might have.
3. Avoid the Compare-and-Despair Trap
Sometimes we're totally content with the way we are living our lives, but then we see someone else who seems to be doing better, and this crushes our confidence and contentment with life. Comparing your life with others almost always ends up making you feel bad. It's never a just comparison, and it only leads to negative self-talk.
Don't fall for the trap and understand that everyone's life is different. And sometimes, other people are not as happy as they present themselves to be. Everyone has problems, but you don't know about all of them.
4. List your accomplishments
When we're feeling down, our mind tends to focus more on the negative. This can make us forget about all the good things in life and the accomplishments we have achieved so far.
Try to write down all of your achievements and successes throughout your life and how proud it made you feel. Keep that list as a reminder for you to see that you did it in the past, and you can do it again.
5. Nobody's perfect
Every human, even the most successful ones, fail and make mistakes in their life. Mistakes and failures are our best teachers and help us learn and grow. We should understand that no one is perfect, and everyone struggles in their journey.
Realize that your tendency to be perfect is an unrealistic goal that only leads to more stress and disappointment from life. Always strive for the better, but understand that it's alright to have flaws and failures because every human has them.
6. Exercise and Move
Staying inactive and isolated for long periods not only severely impacts your physical health but your mental health too. Try to occupy yourself, and spend your free time in useful activities or hanging out with people that lift you up.
Exercise might seem like a simple activity, but it has profound impacts on your mood and how you feel. Exercising for even 30 minutes everyday has proven to have enormous benefits on not only our physical health but our mental well-being too.
7. Pursue your passion
Maybe the reason why you're not doing that good in life is that you're not interested in what you do. Focus on what you really want to do in life and what your interests are. When you follow a passion, you find automatic motivation, and you tend to do well in things that bring you joy.
Try to change your careers or master a new skill that comes more naturally to you. As you progress in your desired field, you will experience a boost in your quality of life and confidence and self-esteem.
8. Let go of negative people
If you have people in your life that are always pessimistic and try to bring you down, then you need to get rid of them immediately. Having negative people in our lives can really influence our moods, behaviors, and self-confidence.
Instead, try to surround yourself with positive and supportive people that value you and help you in tough times. Positive people not only boost your self-esteem but also make your lives much more comfortable.
9. Be Kind with Others
When you are kinder and supportive towards other people, you tend to be kind and helpful with yourself too. What you put out in the world will one day turn back to you.
When you treat others kindly, they also return the same respect. This starts a positive feedback loop that only increases your confidence with time.
10. Stop worrying about what others think
Start living your life the way you want it to, not as how other people want you to live. Be willing to adjust and shape your own self-image and don't pay much attention to what others think of you.
Make a firm promise to yourself that you will only do what you truly desire and make choices based on what would make you happy in the long run.
Don't try to please everyone, focus on what truly matters, and understand that only you know what's best for yourself.
Conclusion
Having a strong sense of self-esteem can have a huge impact on how we live our lives. Using these tips above will help you see what things are keeping you back and how you can increase your self-esteem to live more confident and successful life.