You know none of us were born perfect, and we all experience times of self doubt, uncertainty and insecurity. Whether you tend to experience this more often than not is only something you can answer. Since we all wish to live better lives I have put together some self esteem boosters you can use to help improve your daily life and lead to a much happier overall life experience.

1. Say nice things about yourself

How often do you get compliments from others? I’m betting more often then you actually SAY nice things about yourself. On a daily basis pick something you think you did well and compliment yourself about it. It doesn’t need to be a huge thing, nor does it have to boost your mood a lot. Just make sure its something done well, and practice this as often as possible.

2. Get in shape

Make a goal today to get in the best shape of your life. Exercise on a daily basis, go for walks, hike, bike, lift weights, play a sport, or anything else that is active and you enjoy. This will help you feel better and improve your mood.

This is one of the best ways for building self esteem.  Self esteem self help has never been easier than this.  Sure it will take time, but the payoff is immediate.  Knowing that you are taking care of your body really helps you feel better about yourself.

3. Get a make over

Grab a positive friend that makes you feel good, now its time to get dressed up. Grab a camera and with your best clothes on take pictures of yourselves. Make sure you have fun getting your hair done, putting on your makeup (or each others). Take all sorts of pictures, fun, funny, sexy, serious, and the like. Next go through the developed pictures and discard the ones that YOU feel are not good looking or you don’t like. Keep the rest and when you feel down look at them to remind yourself you are good looking and can have fun.

4. Make personal time

One day a week take some time out for yourself. Mark it on a calender, tell others, whatever you need to do in order to make it feel special and important. Whether you reward yourself with a little bite to eat, reading a book, watching a movie, or having a friend over, make sure you take the time for yourself each week.

When you are constantly taking care of other peoples needs it’s easy to forget about yourself.  This can easily lead you to feel down and unloved.  Making personal time is a great way for you to remember how to feel better about yourself, and build self esteem.

5. Write down your positive attributes.

With a piece of paper and pencil handy create a list of all the things you believe others would sincerely appreciate about you. These do not have to be life changing, gigantic, things, they can be as simple as, always has a smile, warm greeting, etc. Keep this list within easy reach so you can refer to it when you are feeling down.

Increasing self esteem with this is made easier when you refer to the paper often.  In fact it’s a good habit to write positive traits down even when you feel good.  In addition, reading the list when you feel good may help you to recall them more often when you start to feel bad.

6. Use affirmations to boost your mood and self esteem.

Get yourself a business card or 3×5 card and write one or more positive statement on each. Something nice and simple like: “I am great just the way I am” or “I love, accept, and approve of who I am today”. After writing these down make sure to refer to it when you feel down and repeat it out loud to yourself morning and night. Continue saying them to yourself until you feel positive and feel uplifting emotions.

7. Compare yourself with no one else.

Instead of saying “If i were that good, or I wish I was like that person”, compare and compete only with yourself. Look at where you are and simply improve the aspects that you want to improve. Comparing yourself with others will only lead you to feeling inferior and inadequate as you find people that you believe you can’t defeat.

When you stop comparing yourself with others you begin to accept who you are.  In doing so you will be able to live more in the now, and take action towards accomplishing your goals.  Improving self esteem along the way will increase your view of yourself and help you get better results.

8. Talk positively about yourself instead of insulting yourself.

There’s no way to build high positive self esteem if you are constantly berating and tearing yourself down.  Help with self esteem must start with you.  You can’t expect others around you to “give you” self esteem, it’s something that comes from within.  

As a kid you had it, it wasn’t until you became an adult that you started to believe you didn’t have any.  This happens because you believe you are worthless, and this leads to you feeling miserable.  These emotions then cause you to “see” experiences as validation to your belief.  Accept who you are and this cycle will slowly but surely end.

9. Control your mind.

Whatever thoughts predominantly fill your mind are the experiences that you will have in life. They will become your reality and affect your actions and behavior. Instead, let your mind be filled with positive material by attending workshops, reading books, and listening to tapes on self esteem.

10. Set aside one hour of personal development time each morning.

Start your day off good by doing things like meditate, visualizing your day, reading uplifting material, listen to or read motivational material, or exercise.  You can find a lot of help with self esteem from many different self help books.  Getting in the habit of reading an educational book will help you to reach your goals.

11. Communication is key.

How you communicate with everyone around you, and most importantly how you speak with yourself, will determine the quality of life you live. Simply stated what you focus on expands. So what you think about you bring about in your life. You manifest these thoughts into being through communication.

You can improve your self esteem by asking questions instead of making assumptions.  If you start to feel insulted by others, ask them what they mean instead of letting your emotions get the better of you. If those you spend your time with cause you to feel bad about yourself, it’s time to let go of them and find others to hang out with.

12. Your home should be your sanctuary.

Make sure your home life is how you truly want to live. Fill your home with great music, good friends, good books, anything that is uplifting and empowering.  I can’t think of a better place for work at overcoming low self esteem then at home.  If you do not have an uplifting home environment find a place outside the house that you can use to work on yourself (taking time for yourself, reading books, etc.).

13. Sit quietly more often.

When is the last time you sat in a quiet space for even a few minutes? Most likely its been a while. Learn to enjoy sitting quietly for about 10 minutes a day. Use this time to ponder what is truly important in life. What brings you real peace, happiness and joy? What in life makes you feel more energy than before? What drains your energy? What brings enjoyment?

14. Spend time with people that will uplift you.

The people you spend time with are a reflection of your perspective, self-esteem and beliefs. If you are always around people that complain, you probably are doing the same, acting like a victim to events around you. If you are constantly insulted by others and you just sit back and take it then you probably don’t think much of yourself. Whatever the case, listen to what you and those around you say regularly, if its not the life you want to live look for others that are living how you want and associate more with them.

Conclusion

Learning how to improve my self esteem was a long road full of many hard trials.  The challenges we face are all specifically designed for us individually to learn from.  No one else is like you, nor could they learn from the experiences you have.  Take it upon yourself to put these into action today.  You can use one or more, just make sure you use them now.

Leave a comment below telling me what self esteem boosters you have used to help improve and change your life?