Top 7 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem

Everyone needs to feel a sense of self-worth and healthy self-esteem in order to live a successful, contented life. While some people look to others and their material success to gauge their own self-worth, the most important assessment is how you feel about yourself.

There are many things you can do to boost your own self-esteem. By taking the steps to build your own self-worth and well-being, you’re practicing the best form of preventative medicine possible.

Here are the top seven ways to boost your self-esteem:

1. Do things you love. The more time you spend doing things you love to do, the better it makes you feel. Doing the things you enjoy causes your brain to produce higher levels of endorphins, which are chemical in the brain that increase your sense of joy and well-being.

   Engaging in activities we love also helps us recall other times we’ve done them, and those memories increase our self-esteem. Our favorite activities are often things we do well, which is a factor in increasing our self-esteem.

1. Strengthen your strengths. When you exercise your strengths, they become stronger and your self-esteem rises as well. We all like to feel proud of the things we excel at and those things cause us to feel better about ourselves.

   Spend time working on, building, and renewing your strengths, and your inner approval rating will soar.

1. Surround yourself with positive people. Positive energy is like an electrical charge as it spreads from one person to the next. When you spend time in the company of positive people, your own attitude will lift to match theirs, and you’ll be charged from their energy.

1. Measure your worth based on yourself, not on others. Everyone sees the world based on his or her own biases and circumstances. When someone pours negative thoughts on another person, it’s a greater reflection on their own deficiencies than the person they’re attacking.

   Basing your self-esteem on another person’s opinions is never a good idea. Instead, take your value from what you know to be the truth about yourself from the inside out, not the other way around.

1. Believe in yourself. Trust in your ability to achieve whatever you set your mind to accomplish. When you believe that you’re capable of attaining your goals, you unleash the ability to do so from deep within you, so trust in the process.

1. Set your thoughts on the things you want to attract. Albert Einstein determined all things are made of energy and energy attracts more of the same energy. Focusing your thoughts on the things you desire in your life keeps the energy of those things moving toward you.

1. Speak affirming thoughts to yourself. We’ve all heard the phrase “act as if.” Affirmations work on that principle. Instead of saying, “I want to be happy,” say, “I am a happy person.” Say it out loud everyday.

   You’ll begin to reprogram your subconscious to believe it as the truth, and soon you’ll be feeling that truth every day.

These simple steps to boost your self-esteem are easy to put into practice in your day-to-day life. Start today and build your self-worth and self-esteem into the foundation of your character. Your life will never be the same.

The Silver Lining of Rejection

Getting rejected, whether it’s for a career position or in a relationship, can be one of the most challenging events you’ll ever experience. So it may be hard to believe that there is a silver lining when it comes to rejection, but it’s true! There are some positives about being rejected.

Consider these points whenever you’ve gone through an experience involving rejection:

1. You get a “do over.” A rejection likely signals an end of something. Perhaps it’s the end of a romantic relationship. Or maybe it’s the end of going through a tedious process of a job search.

• Whatever the case, when a rejection occurs, something new is about to begin. Maybe you’ll be able to date again. Perhaps you’ll settle back in to your current job with renewed efforts.

• You get to start over when rejection occurs and that can be a real “plus.” Recognize it.

1. You have time to reflect on the rejection. You can ask yourself, “What part did I play in this situation?”

• When you ponder how you behaved, the actions you took, and how you might have affected others throughout whatever transpired before and during the rejection, it can be enlightening.
• Take a few moments to think about how you conducted yourself through the situation. Be glad for the time you now have to increase your self-awareness.

• Figuring out anything you might have done or not done can help you with a different approach in the future.

1. Ask yourself, “What, if anything, do I want to change about myself?” If you wish to change something about yourself, go for it! Especially after a rejection, it’s good to re-focus back on yourself for a while.
2. Acknowledge the fate aspect of the situation. Perhaps it was fate. There may be something more fulfilling, enticing, or adventurous waiting for you around the next corner.
3. Take the bull by the horns and make some plans for your future. What life goals do you have? What do you need to be doing right now to get closer to achieve them? Put some plans into place so you know exactly where you’re headed.

• Use the clarity you have after the rejection to motivate you.

1. What did you learn from the experience? Jot down what you learned about yourself, the situation, the other person involved, the interview process, or whatever else it may be.

• Perhaps you learned to prepare more for your interviews in the future. Maybe you discovered you should have listened to your gut when it told you not to get involved with that person. Perhaps you realize now that you gave too much in a situation without expecting anything in return.
• Figure out what you learned from the process. You will undoubtedly be able to use that information later.

1. Get to the point where you can say, “It was worth it.” Every life experience gives us something. After you figure out what you learned, then you can acknowledge that whatever you went through was worth it.

The silver lining of rejection allows you a “do over.” You get time to think about the part you played in the situation. You get an opportunity to make changes in yourself and acknowledge that fate took its course.

You have a renewed option to make plans for your future and determine what you learned from the experience. Ultimately, the silver lining is that you can say, “It was worth it.”

Learn to move forward with confidence and purpose after a rejection. Rediscover your passion for life. Renew your efforts to discover the pathway toward the life of your dreams!

Six Ways to Increase Your Clarity

Having clarity is important to achieving goals and attaining any significant measure of success. With clear goals, you know what you want and how to go about getting there.

But what if you’re not feeling much clarity? What if you can’t make up your mind about what path you should choose, and your decision-making seems muddled? This is actually a very common challenge and happens to the best of us from time to time.

Fortunately, moving from a sense of uncertainty into full clarity isn’t particularly difficult.

All you need to do is take few simple actions, and clarity will follow:

1. Take responsibility. The power in taking full responsibility for anything is that you give yourself the power to change it. If you believe that something is inside of your control, you can always find a way to have what you want. You’ll never be stuck.

• Clarity is something that you ultimately create, not something that happens to you. If you’re currently not as well practiced at creating clarity as you would like, resolve that you’re going to work on this.
• Start by making a decision and then sticking with it until success is achieved. Since you get better at making decisions by being aware of your priorities, you may need to spend some time contemplating what’s most important to you.
  

1. Use your past. Your past is a tool that’s always available. Your level of clarity hasn’t always been constant. There have been times in your life when things seemed much clearer than they are right now. There have also been times when you felt more uncertain.
   
2. Visualize. You may think that things have to be a certain way before you can feel clear. Having everything “just so” can make focusing easier. However, even when things aren’t perfect, you can still choose to make a decision and stick with it.

• Instead of waiting for the ideal circumstances, visualize what your life would be like if they were in place. What would you know that you don’t know right now? How would you feel? Visualization can help you make decisions as though things are actually already the way you want them to be.

1. Write down your goals and review them. Having a written objective will help you stay clear. First of all, you have to make some decisions to even have a goal in the first place. Second, by reviewing that goal every day, you’ll keep reinforcing that objective. As you do this work, your clarity will become a little greater each day.

• Reviewing your goals first thing in the morning and last thing at night should work well for you.
  

1. Believe that an okay goal is better than no goal. Many people get stuck making a goal because they believe they have to come up with the perfect goal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Don’t spend too much time or energy creating the goal. Just pick something that feels good to you and start working on it.
2. Focus on one project at a time. Having a high level of clarity is easier if you’re only focusing on one thing at time. After you’ve achieved several goals, then you can try working on several goals simultaneously. Avoid spreading yourself too thin, especially at first.

As you can see, you can do many things to increase your level of clarity. The best news is that you don’t have to wait; you can get started today. As you increase your clarity, your life will seem easier and easier. Before you know it, you’ll achieve goals you never even thought you could set for yourself. Now that’s progress!

Identifying Your Potential

Discovering what makes you tick is integral to identifying your own potential. Knowing what you’re good at and what you want to do in life will make your life more satisfying and fulfilling.

If you’re struggling to figure out your strengths and ability to accomplish things, perhaps it would be helpful to take some time to get in touch with your own potential.

Consider these questions and suggestions to help you identify your potential:

1. What do you love to do? Write it down. Include tasks such as “make my car shine” as well as activities like “complete a 10-page quarterly report on my project at work.”

• Your passion in a specific area will enhance your abilities to achieve in related activities. If you love to listen to guitar music and you’re taking lessons, you’ll no doubt be motivated to try to play your best and produce lovely music.

1. Listen to what others say about you. Although you’ll have your own concept of who you are and what you’re good at, paying attention to what others say to you about you will offer insight into some of your talents and skills you might not have considered.

• What other people see as your strengths will most likely be areas that you perform well in. You gain valuable information by listening to others’ comments about you and to you.

1. What is your dream career? Throughout life, you’ve perhaps thought about more than one or two careers you’d enjoy. Maybe as a child, you wanted to be a doctor. During your adolescent years, you loved archeology and thought you’d go in to a related career. But now, you’re an adult in the working world. Is this the job you truly want?

• If you’d rather be doing something else, what would it be? Let your mind go. You want to work on a cruise ship that travels from one Caribbean island to another. You dream about working in the fashion industry. Maybe you’ve always wanted to own a restaurant where you cooked for everyone.
• The point is that when a particular idea has stuck with you over the years, you’ll no doubt be highly motivated to make it happen and fulfill your potential.

1. Surround yourself with people you love. People whom you love and who love you inspire you to go for what you want in life. They nurture, support, and encourage you.

• Ensure you have plenty of loving, caring people around you to provide inspiration to fuel your potential.

1. Can you find a mentor? A mentor is someone who’ll help you cultivate your greatest joy, interest or talent. They’re usually a person who excels in the area that you’re interested in pursuing. An effective mentor can help you identify and even fulfill your potential.

• When you have a role model who thoroughly knows about a subject that’s close to your heart, you’ll push yourself to learn more and excel in your chosen area.

Once you know what you love to do, you’ll be closer to identifying your potential in life. Also, being in touch with your own strengths and having supportive people, including a mentor, around you will help. Focus on discovering your own potential to create the life you desire.

Discovering Inner Strength

Even though life can be a fantastic ride, sometimes it can also knock the wind out of your sails. When tough times trigger your insecurities, you can discover an inner strength that will get you through practically anything.

Try these ideas to get started:

1. Reflect on the tough times you’ve had before. Ask yourself how you got through it. What did you do? What did you think? What did you tell yourself? Your resilience will become evident as you do this exercise and give you real hope for the future in dealing with other obstacles.

• Recognize that you’ve made it through those difficult situations. Then think about what you’re experiencing right now. Is the current situation similar to or much different from your other tough times? Use what you’ve learned from your past challenges.

1. Learn to talk to yourself in positive, encouraging ways. This will help you build up your inner strength.

• As if speaking to your own best friend, tell yourself what will most help and encourage you. What do you most want to hear? What do you need to hear to help gather your strength? Is there something specific you’re hoping will happen?
• Practice providing yourself with encouraging, uplifting messages. The messages you give yourself can be less than helpful or they can propel you through the roughest of circumstances.

• Talking to yourself with respect, care and positivity builds your inner strength so it’s there when you need it. When the going gets tough, you’ll have yourself to fall back on.

1. Allow yourself time to think through whatever the situation is. It’s okay to feel confused.

• What are your ideas about how to weather the storm? Examine all the solutions you can come up with. Explain to yourself what you’ll do and how you’ll do it.
• A sense of your own resourcefulness can be found in your ability to problem-solve through challenging situations.

1. Consider who you regard as role models or mentors. You selected those people because you respect and admire them. They’re strong enough people that you want to emulate them.

• Think about their strength of character. How do you know they have it? What does that strength look like? How does it manifest?

1. Reflect on what you’ve done or been through that you’re most proud of. Was it making it through college although you had to work while you attended classes? Maybe it was moving out on your own for the first time and figuring out you could take care of yourself.

• Even though you might have felt afraid, uncomfortable, lost, or confused, you discovered your internal resources and made it through those experiences.
• When you examine what you did to handle those situations and how you made it through, you’ll recall your inner strength.
• You can get in touch with your own resourcefulness by re-visiting those events that bring you pride.

1. Sometimes, you’ve just got to “fake it till you make it.” You can probably recall a time when you felt afraid or weren’t sure you could succeed, but you stood up and met the challenge head on.

Discovering your inner strength is possible, even in the toughest of times. Following the steps above will help you discover your courage and resourcefulness. And with this self-understanding, you can handle anything!