7 Tips on How to Build Self-Esteem (+ a Bonus Tip)
The term “self-esteem” is often used to describe a person's sense of self-worth. Self-esteem involves a variety of personal beliefs about who you are such as your appearance, belief system, talents, and behaviors. Healthy self-esteem leads to a balance of confidence and humility. Unhealthy self-esteem leads to a lack of confidence mixed with either egotism or self-loathing.
How can you improve your self-image? Start by implementing a few of these 7 tips.
7 Tips on How to Build Self-Esteem
1. Read personal development books. Spend at least 15-30 minutes a day reading personal development books. Not only will you polish off 20 or more books in a year (a huge accomplishment), your view of your value and worth will be positively shaped.
2. Listen to personal development podcasts. Listen to at least one personal-development podcast a day. You can do this while getting ready in the morning, during your commute to work, or while exercising.
3. Talk to yourself differently. Whether you want to admit it or not, you talk to yourself. Since you're already having a conversation with yourself, stop cutting yourself down and start building yourself up. This book will show you how.
4. Get in shape. It's hard to have a healthy self-image when you don't feel good physically. Our bodies and minds are more connected than we often realize. Staying in shape gives you energy, makes you feel happier, and gives you a sense of accomplishment.
5. Hang out with encouraging people who are going places. Toxic people poison your view of life. Hanging out with positive people who are going places will encourage you to do the same.
6. Learn and grow. Learning and developing new skills helps you feel more alive and excited about life.
7. Accomplish one big thing each day. By saying “accomplish one big thing each day,” I don't mean you have to accomplish something ginormous every single day. Instead, focus on accomplishing one little thing each day that moves you a step closer to something ginormous in your life. If you take this approach you will eventually achieve that “big thing” you want to accomplish. In other words, BIG is little and little is BIG.
One Bonus Tip
As helpful as these 7 tips are for building self-esteem, they all fade in comparison to this bonus tip.
Self-esteem is often defined as confidence in one's personality and abilities. However, as a person who follows Jesus Christ, I believe it is best to define self-esteem as having humble confidence that I am who God says I am.
- I am humble because before God provided salvation to me by grace through faith in Jesus, I was totally ruined by sin (read Romans 8:6-8). In other words, anything good in me is not because of me, but because of Jesus.
- I am also confident because, as stated above, God saved me by His grace (read Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet not only has He saved me by His grace, but He also equips me to live for Christ (read Philippians 1:6) and to do the good work He has set out for me to do (read Ephesians 2:10).
Therefore, I am thankful that my self-esteem is not dependent on my personality or abilities because both are fickle and unreliable. Instead, my self-esteem is based on knowing that the God “who began a good work in me will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6).
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Want More?
BIG is Little and Little is BIG. This means if you want to achieve the big things in life, like amazing relationships, great health, financial independence, and a fulfilling career, then you must focus on doing the little things right day in and day out. And if you do the little things right day in and day out, the big things are practically guaranteed!
This FREE RESOURCE shares 10 little habits you can add to your life that successful people practice daily to achieve big results.