Do you envy your superstar colleagues bursting with self-esteem and a “can-do” attitude? Would you like to increase your confidence levels?
Self-esteem is a set of beliefs you have about yourself. These beliefs are based on experiences you’ve had and messages you’ve received from others especially in your early childhood.
Sometimes you lack confidence due to various early experiences: feeling as the odd one at school or not getting the parental approval you were seeking. Other examples later in life might include workplace failures or being in abusive relationships.
Whatever the reasons for low self-esteem, there are ways to improve it in order to become a success at the office! Here are a few tips to help you give yourself a boost!
What Triggers You?
What makes you feel like you are not at your best? What situations, comments or places trigger feeling less confident? A difficult work situation, live presentations, sales conversations or yearly reviews with your boss? These are the situations where you might have a low opinion about your abilities and your chance for a better future. It is important to identify these areas in your lives so you can be prepared to handle them. Knowing where the issues are stemming from is the first step in making sure that our self-esteem is not eroding blindly.
Not Just Black And White
Often times, we tend to see things as positive or negative only. But there is almost always a middle ground. If you don’t succeed at a task, for example, that doesn’t mean you are a total failure!
Retrain your thinking so that you are not generalizing with each accomplishment or failure. If you made a mistake in the financial calculation of a project and you caught the mistake: you can view this as a failure but also can see it as a success in reviewing your work. No one is perfect and there are times when you won’t be able to accomplish a task 100% for the first time. When this happens, remember all your other achievements so your thinking doesn’t become too one-sided.
Forgive Yourself
Everybody makes mistakes and truly successful people make even more! Without mistakes you would never learn! Please remember that mistakes are just nature’s way of moving us closer to our ultimate goal.
Having some successes and some failures is part of life, so when the inevitable happens, forgive yourself, learn from your mistakes and move on! Getting stuck in feeling incompetent is not going to get you to where you want to be. Be kind to yourself and treat yourself with compassion like you would treat a friend.
Focus On Your Success
It is much easier to notice and remember those moments of failure, isn’t it? How many times do you forget about the small successes in life? Be sure to take note of all of your accomplishments. One great way to do this is by keeping a Success Journal. When you are feeling a bit down or low, you can open up your journal and remind yourself of all you have achieved. Read your journal for an instant self-esteem boost!
The benefits of improved self-esteem can help in just about every area of life!