Motivational Monday: 3 Ways to Build Your Self-Esteem

3 Ways to Build Your Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the value or worth that people attach to themselves. It is important because it helps to protect you against the stresses and struggles of life. Although everyone experiences failure now and then, high self-esteem gives you the confidence you need to overcome whatever difficulties you may face and to forge ahead.

As a parent, you are especially concerned about your children’s self-esteem. You want them to acquire a positive self-image based upon a sense of accomplishment and mastery. However, that also applies to you as an adult. You also need to raise your self-esteem and build up a larger sense of self-worth. In addition to your words, your behaviour – the example you set - is especially conveyed to your children.

Here are the 3 Ways to Build Your Personal Self-Esteem:

1. Build your self-esteem just before going to sleep at night. The mental images you conjure up just before going to sleep will most likely be replayed and reinforced during sleep. Instead of worrying over problems or what happened during the day, use the minutes before going to sleep to flood your mind with positive thoughts about yourself and your achievements.

2. Visualise those times when you really felt good about yourself. Practice building your self-esteem with the same dedication that you would devote to any skill you want to develop such as learning a new language or learning some new dance moves. Recreate in your imagination those times when you really felt good about yourself. When you are relaxing, think about the times when you felt your most worthwhile. Perhaps you made a good presentation, or spent time with a loved one. Build your self-esteem to the point where you can say with sincerity, “I like the person I am!” “I feel good about myself!”

3. Build the self-esteem of others. There is great truth in the adage, “the more you give the more you get.” In each of your relationships - with your spouse, your children, a coworker, a friend – you send messages that either enhance or diminish the other person. You cannot help but reinforce your own self-esteem when you let others know that you value their worth. So how do you build the self-esteem of others? You tell them you love them, if indeed you do; you listen to what they are saying; you express genuine feelings you have about them; and, you convey your interest by words and actions.