aboutpersonalgrowth

Building Self-Esteem

Overcoming low self-esteem is very important because feeling unworthy diminishes your self confidence. When your self worth is low, you are very cautious over your actions, decisions and interactions. You become timid, fearful and hesitant. You stunt your personal growth and don't get to make the most of your potentials.


When your self-esteem is high and healthy, you develop inner strengths and self respect. You believe in your abilities, and feel that you are capable of achieving your goals and succeed.


You feel attractive because you have developed self acceptance. It does not matter what others think of you. It is what and how you feel about yourself that matters. And you don't easily judge people


"High self-esteem isn't a luxury. It's a necessity for anyone who has important goals to achieve." - Jack Canfield


Overcoming Low Self Esteem


bullet2 Self examination.

If you had been brought up with critical parents and were surrounded in a negative environment, it is likely that you have developed low self-esteem. You may have eventually built up a habitual pattern of self disapproval, fault finding and self condemnation.


You do not have to go back in time to examine yourself. You can start right here and right now. Explore your present thoughts, emotions and responses. Look at your behavior, your attitudes and your good or bad habits.


You must let go of your painful past that you have emotionalized and, until today, looks, sounds and feels so real in your mind. Question these beliefs and thoughts and challenge your answers. Start looking at another point of view, somewhere you have not looked before. And at things you have not noticed, with new eyes and a curious mind.



bullet2 Change your thinking pattern.

Interrupt your negative habitual patterns of thoughts. Take a different approach. Write down your past achievements and successes instead of your frustrations, losses, and failed attempts. This will help your subconscious to see and internalize a new set of beliefs.


You can change your attitude and mental programming. Interrupt, stop and challenge the present disempowering thoughts and images that are going on in your mind. Replace them with inspiring pictures and positive words.



bullet2 Take deliberate and conscious effort to monitor your self talks.

Have you been listening to yourself lately? Really listening to that chatter? These voices are one of the main causes for your low self esteem and lack of self belief.


Sometime, somewhere, someone or even you have said that you were not good enough. You believed these words. From then on you keep saying them over and over again inside, without your conscious awareness.


If you don't snap at those voices, you will keep on believing in your "I can't" and "I'm not good enough" mentality.


What you say to yourself affects your emotions. Your emotions affect your actions. Get rid of those negative self criticisms and replace them with positive affirmations. Your own voice is more powerful that those outside yourself.



bullet2 Make a firm decision.

Have you thought about how you are going to live your future if you allow yourself to believe that you do not deserve something better?


You have a choice "To be or not to be".


You can choose to become a person with a healthy and high self-esteem. You can decide to succeed and become more and a better person. Or you can choose to wither and atrophy until it is time for you to go.


You can decide to influence or be influenced. You do not have to depend on other people's opinion. You can take advice but you make your own decisions.


With a firm decision to build your self-esteem and take action, you will improve and regain your pride and dignity.


Remind yourself that when you change in how you see and regard yourself, you will begin to like yourself. By the law of attraction, people will like you. Your relationships will improve.


When you feel better about yourself, you will enhance your self image. Your confidence will heighten.


With a healthy self-esteem your motivation to act upon your goals becomes easier because you believe in you. Your life will turn around for the better.


Start today to make that change. Write down your goals. Plan your strategies. Take constructive action steps. Start believing in yourself.


Additional Resources


Self Esteem Hypnosis.

Self Esteem Workbook


Read Related Self Esteem Articles.



bullet2 What is self efficacy?

Self-efficacy is defined as having a core belief or conviction about one's abilities, efficiency and effectiveness. Self efficacious people have the initiative, a high level of confidence, considerable amount of self-esteem, think analytically, and are action oriented and persistent.



bullet2 Why is personal responsibility and accountability important.

Personal responsibility is an obligation to oneself. It is your individual duty to ensure your good character and behavior irrespective of how you were brought up and what kind of conditioning you have received.



bullet2 Controlling and dealing with your ego

Ego is an inflated pride that belongs to a pompous and conceited person. You can sense an air of arrogance in his presence. He misunderstands or is plain ignorant of the real meaning of self worth.



bullet2 What are your personal values

Personal values are anything you hold as important, dear and worthy. Your values are the things that you think are morally right and commit yourself to regardless of the outcome.



bullet2 The solutions to a negative body image

Your body image is the picture of yourself that you have created in your mind and believed to be true. The mirror and other people's opinions won't make you change your impression about your physical appearance.



bullet2 Developing self concept.

Everyone was born without any self concept or identity except that we were either a boy or a girl. How would you explain the reason why later in life, some people identify themselves as introverts, shy or whatever labels they carry with them?




bullet2 The importance of physical appearance.

The importance of physical appearance shouldn't be refuted. It has a big influence on how people react to you especially if you want to give a good first impression. People have lower opinions toward you if you portray yourself as someone who puts little attention to how you look.



bullet2 How to get rid of inferiority complex.

People who have inferiority complex keep seeing and thinking that other people are better than them in every way. They make comparisons. They think that they are not attractive, tall, smart, etc. compared to others.



bullet2 How to overcome the constant need for approval.

When you were a child, it was expected that you ask for approval and consent before you do something. And you needed validation to confirm whether your behavior and actions were acceptable.



Your Response or Comment

What do you think?

Enter Your Title

Tell Us What You Think! [ ? ]

Upload A Picture (optional) [ ? ]

Add Picture Caption (optional) 

Author Information (optional)

To receive credit as the author, enter your information below.

Your Name

(first or full name)

Your Location

(ex. City, State, Country)

Submit Your Contribution

Check box to agree to these submission guidelines.


(You can preview and edit on the next page)

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Give It A Try  Not rated yet
I am going to give this a try. Thanks for sharing!

thanks for helping  Not rated yet
In my opinion, they are good points and i need to work harder on my self-esteem and by reading your points about it I'm able to do so without backing down ...



Return from self-esteem page to about personal growth homepage.




Subscribe to
About Personal Growth Newsletter

Email

Name

Then

Don't worry - your e-mail address is totally secure.
I promise to use it only to send you Personal Growth information.


selfesteemworkbook



Subscribe To
This Site

XML RSS
Add to Google
Add to My MSN
Add to Newsgator
Subscribe with Bloglines



Copyright © 2005 - 2010 About-Personal-Growth.com. All Rights Reserved.