Self esteem is the individual’s internal judgment of their own value. It is the sum total of all one’s own beliefs about themselves including their strengths and weaknesses, abilities and failures, and future expectations. Self esteem encompasses various psychological states including personal achievement, motivation, personal opinion, self-confidence, and self image. It also encompasses a persons’ relation to other people, their level of involvement in life, where they see themselves in five years or more, how they see themselves now, what they expect to get out of life, their goals and aspirations, and their ability to be successful at things they want to do. In short, it is a person’s belief about themselves and their worth as a person.
The following tips for improving your self-esteem might help you raise healthy self-esteem levels. The first tip is to do something for yourself once in awhile, even if it is just a little time doing your favorite hobby or reading a good book. We all need to take care of ourselves sometimes. The second tip is to make sure that when you are around people, you are making a lasting impression on them. If you don’t take the time to make a lasting impression, no one will.
To build healthy self esteem, it is important to understand and appreciate who you are. By itself, your self-worth will be based largely on your self-concept. According to Rosenberg Self Esteem experts, self-concept is the “index of everything that is known, perceived, valued and disapproved of about you” and it is the “key to your long-term success.”
One way that we can improve our self-acceptance is to be aware of how negative we are talking to ourselves in private. For example, in my years as an executive, I heard countless examples of clients talking to themselves negatively. Some of these included the idea that they were too small, some that they needed to be more assertive, while others talked about the need to have a lot of money. Most of the time, when these conversations occurred, there was no place for the speaker to leave space between the statement and what he or she was actually saying. This often resulted in unintentional feedback to their low self-esteem.
The next tip is to learn how to deliberately use positive words. One way to do this is to start using words like “very,” “lighter,” and “fast.” Instead of using “you are” to address yourself, start using “I” or “we” and “me.” Another effective technique that Rosenberg Self Esteem experts recommend is for clients to use adjectives more than nouns when describing themselves; for example, instead of calling someone fat, clients should instead call him or her “thin.”
To build a healthy sense of self-esteem, clients must also learn how to cultivate self-compassion. Studies have shown that the way that we feel about ourselves impacts our health and performance. Compassionate people are not threatened by their weaknesses. Rather, they take opportunities to improve themselves by working at their strengths. This is one of the most important aspects of positive psychology and self-help because it helps clients increase their self-confidence, which improves the quality of their relationships. In sum, building self-confidence, enhancing self-compassion, and building a healthy sense of self-esteem are all components of healthy psychological change.