Self-Esteem n Motivation-huh

Once we believe in ourselves,we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight,or any experience that reveals the human spirit

One of the things that held me back from pursuing my dreams for many years was fear of failure … and the lack of self-confidence that I needed to overcome that fear.Its something we all face, to some degree, I think. The key question: how do you overcome that fear?By working on your self-confidence and self-esteem. Without really thinking of it in those terms, thats what Ive been doing over the years, and thats what helped me finally overcome my fears, and finally pursue my dreams.I still have those fears, undoubtedly. But now I know that I can beat them, that I can break through that wall of fear and come out on the other side. Ive done it many times now, and that success will fuel further success.

Some ideas to help you-

1. Groom yourself This seems like such an obvious one, but its amazing how much of a difference a shower and a shave can make in your feelings of self-confidence and for your self-image. There have been days when I turned my mood around completely with this one little thing.

2. Dress nicely iFyou dress nicely, youll feel good about yourself. Youll feel successful and presentable and ready to tackle the world. Now, dressing nicely means something different for everyone … it doesnt necessarily mean wearing a $500 outfit, but could mean casual clothes that are nice looking and presentable.

3. Photoshop your self-image Our self-image means so much to us, more than we often realize. We have a mental picture of ourselves and it determines how confident we are in ourselves. But this picture isnt fixed and immutable. You can change it. Use your mental Photoshopping skills, and work on your self-image. If its not a very good one, change it. Figure out why you see yourself that way, and find a way to fix it.

4. Think positive One of the things I learned about two years ago, what how to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. How I can actually change my thoughts, and by doing so make great things happened. I tend to call negative thoughts false lies. I work hard at filling them daily with "truths" I already know about me

5. Kill negative thoughts. Goes hand-in-hand with the above item, but its so important that I made it a separate item. You have to learn to be aware of your self-talk, the thoughts you have about yourself and what youre doing. Well, I soon learned to recognize this negative self-talk, and soon I learned a trick that changed everything in my life: I would imagine that a negative thought was a bug, and I would vigilantly be on the lookout for these bugs. When I caught one, I would stomp on it (mentally of course) and squash it. Kill it dead. Then replace it with a positive one. (Cmon, I can do this! Only one mile left!)

6. Get to know yourself- When going into battle, the wisest general learns to know his enemy very, very well. You cant defeat the enemy without knowing him. And when youre trying to overcome a negative self-image and replace it with self-confidence, your enemy is yourself. Get to know yourself well. Start listening to your thoughts. Start writing a journal about yourself, and about the thoughts you have about yourself, and analyzing why you have such negative thoughts. And then think about the good things about yourself, the things you can do well, the things you like. Start thinking about your limitations, and whether theyre real limitations or just ones youve allowed to be placed there, artificially. Dig deep within yourself, and youll come out (eventually) with even greater self-confidence.

7. Act positive- More than just thinking positive, you have to put it into action. Action, actually, is the key to developing self-confidence. Its one thing to learn to think positive, but when you start acting on it, you change yourself, one action at a time. You are what you do, and so if you change what you do, you change what you are. Act in a positive way, take action instead of telling yourself you cant, be positive. Talk to people in a positive way, put energy into your actions. Youll soon start to notice a difference.

Be kind and generous- Oh, so corny. If this is too corny for you, move on. But for the rest of you, know that being kind to others, and generous with yourself and your time and what you have, is a tremendous way to improve your self-image. You start to feel good about yourself, and to think that you are a good person. It does wonders for your self-confidence, believe me.

One important key to success is self-confidence. A key to self-confidence is preparation. – Arthur Ashe

9. Get prepared.-Its hard to be confident in yourself if you dont think youll do well at something. Beat that feeling by preparing yourself as much as possible. Think about taking an exam: if you havent studied, you wont have much confidence in your abilities to do well on the exam. But if you studied your butt off, youre prepared, and youll be much more confident. Now think of life as your exam, and prepare yourself.

10. Set a small goal and achieve it- People often make the mistake of shooting for the moon, and then when they fail, they get discouraged. Instead, shoot for something much more achievable. Set a goal you know you can achieve, and then achieve it. Youll feel good about that. Now set another small goal and achieve that. The more you achieve small goals, the better youll be at it, and the better youll feel. Soon youll be setting bigger (but still achievable) goals and achieving those too.

I hope some of these ideas can help and also get you thinknig on some more ideas to help you with self esteem

@HarveyM @Pat @KrinkTheMellowUnicorn @Laura @Amelia @dancingRainbow45 @InvaderStitch @eviesweet @AutumnLeigh