How to Improve Your Self Esteem With 5 Simple Exercises

Building a healthy self esteem can significantly change many aspects of your life including relationships, career, finances and social behavior. However, improving your self esteem does not happen overnight. If you have been used to thinking negatively about yourself, it can be quite difficult to think otherwise. However, there are exercises you can do every day that can help you learn how to improve your self esteem for yourself:

 1. Think of something you like about yourself.

Let us say you do not exactly earn as much as you would want or as much as your classmates back in college. But think about something about your career or your work routine that you like. Perhaps your work does not require you to work overnight which means you spend more quality time with your family. Realizing this will help you appreciate your job more, and this may improve your productivity and lead to better career opportunities. You can also think about something about your personality that people admire. Are you hardworking, compassionate, creative, thoughtful or kind?

2. Think of something in your life that is going well.

If your career, relationships and friendships don’t go the way you planned, think of something you are enjoying that others may not be. For instance, you may not have a job, but you are enjoying a physically healthy, stress-free life. Write down a list of accomplishments for the past month or the past year. This can help you appreciate yourself more. Remember that no matter how bad things get, you are still a tad luckier than many others.

3. Help someone else.

Find a way to be of service to someone. Babysit, visit a sick friend, help a lady carry her heavy groceries, volunteer in a community project. This will help you see how many others like you can also go through tough times, but they manage to survive. It will also help you see that you are a worthwhile individual, and that people need you wherever you go.

4. Make time to do something you love.

Sometimes, with all the pressures of daily life, we tend to forget the things you really love to do. Give yourself thirty minutes away from your responsibilities to read a novel, tend to your garden, indulge in a piece of calorie-laden cake, or go jogging.

5. Limit your time for negative vibes.

Negative feelings and thoughts are unavoidable. However, you can try to control these thoughts and limit them gradually. Say you think about everything you dislike about yourself for fifteen minutes today, limit it to thirteen minutes tomorrow, then ten, until you manage to keep it at a minimum. When ill feelings crop up after the set time, commend yourself to stop, think of it tomorrow, and look for other worthwhile things to do for the meantime.