Having high self-esteem can be one of the greatest things in the world. However, if you don’t have high self-esteem, you may find that you’re struggling in areas like your social and work life. Here are five tips for you to increase your self-esteem.

Take a Self-Esteem Inventory

For many people self-esteem is an elusive quality. But often self-esteem issues can be narrowed down. Take a self-esteem inventory.

A self-esteem inventory can be used to help you adjust your self-esteem. These inventories help you identify areas in your life where you feel you are struggling or have a weakness. Once these areas are identified, a life coach can help you change the way you view your trouble areas.

Change the Story

Often low self-esteem results from poor self-perceptions and negative self-talk. Change the narrative in your head in order to change the self-esteem that results from negative self-talk.

Sometimes changing the narrative in your head takes practice. You may catch yourself saying things like “I’m stupid” or “I wish I wasn’t lazy.” Changing your story means changing the thoughts and breaking these habits. Next time you catch yourself saying things like, ”I’m stupid” you need to identify why you feel that way and change your thoughts to reflect the actual situation.

If you catch yourself saying or thinking negative things about yourself, positive affirmations may be helpful. Positive affirmations are things that you say about yourself every day. These things need to be positive and self-fulfilling. If you are constantly telling yourself you’re stupid, a positive affirmation to combat that would be to tell yourself you are smart, 10 times every day.

Take a Timeout

If you get caught up in a whirlwind of negative self talk, the best thing to do is take a timeout. Take a few steps back from your thoughts and write them down in an unusual way, like with your nondominant hand. These exercises allow you to analyze your thoughts and observe them without automatically believing them. Next time you are stuck feeling low try writing your thoughts down with your nondominant hand to see how it allows you to analyze your way of thinking.

Gratitude Diary

When you are struggling with low self-esteem, positive affirmations may not be enough. One step further from a positive affirmation is a gratitude diary. A gratitude diary is a way to help you break the habit of negative self-talk.

In a gratitude diary you will sit down every evening to write three things that you appreciate about yourself. When you begin your gratitude diary your appreciative qualities may be hard to find. But as you practice, it will become easier.

Outside Influences

Not everything about self-esteem has to do with internal dialogue. There are many external elements that can affect your self-esteem. Identifying the external elements that are affecting your low self-esteem and changing them when possible is a great way to gain self-esteem. Think about your daily situations and the areas of your life causing the most stress or low self-esteem. Brainstorm ways to change those circumstances and see how that affects your emotional health.

If you’re not sure what external sources may cause you to have low self-esteem or confidence, make a brain storm bubble map. Write down your negative feelings and link any actions or activities associated with them. Once you have these activities associated with your negative emotions you can link them to people or circumstances that you can change

Here is a brain storm bubble map I made listing 10 common negative feelings. Next to the bubbles, write down actions, things that happened or activities associated with that particular emotion.

 Download your brain storm bubble map:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tscvq4ydqi69hkq/Negative%20Feelings%20Bubble.pdf?dl=0

 

Trying these five tips to improve your self-esteem will allow you to be more confident in your ability to manage your internal dialogue and emotions. Allowing yourself to take control over your thoughts and emotions enables you to feel better about your circumstances and situations. This will lead to better self-esteem and overall confidence in your ability to manage what life has to throw at you.