5 Tips for Building Confidence and Self-Esteem

Building confidence and self-esteem is something that everyone should work on. There is nothing that gives you confidence more than success. I do not mean some remarkable success, but even knowing that you have managed to keep your desk tidy for a week can be a "success-event" for you.
1. Review Past Successes Often
One important factor in building confidence and self-esteem is taking five minutes to jot down or just re-envision past successes. Even if you have to go back to third grade to hoist them out again! I can remember one day in primary school that my teacher pinned my drawing up on top of the blackboard. The compliment she gave me on my first effort to draw an apple-tree, remained with me throughout school, and made me confident about art for the rest of my life. Everyone can remember moments when a friend, teacher or parent complimented them, however commonplace the incident was.
2. Learn to Compliment Yourself
It has been my experience when working with people that not many have great self-esteem and I believe it is the one area that we should consider, before charging on with goals and other success strategies. I have seen beautiful young women say that their nose was too short, their legs too long, their eyebrows too high etc. when often, I myself, was thinking "What a beautiful girl that is." People often think much better of us, than we do ourselves, so in building confidence and self-esteem, you can begin by learning to compliment yourself although, this thought may, at first, shock you.
3. Watch Your Own Self-Talk
The next point in building confidence and self-esteem is to watch what you say about yourself. Catch yourself, saying things like, "I made a mistake, as usual." "Just my luck that the tickets were sold out." "Glad you enjoyed the cake, I'm not good at cooking,"etc. Also, you must watch what you are saying to yourself. Are you unconsciously chastising yourself by saying, "I knew I would mess it up. Can't I do anything right for once?" Often your self-talk is much harsher than the criticism from others and it is definitely more repetitive!
4.4A0-105 practice exam Take Action and Challenge Yourself Everyday.
Learning to take some action that challenges you, is another vital point in building confidence and self-esteem. I have been teaching English for years to foreign businessmen, and one of their huge blocks was answering on the phone in English (for them a foreign language.) During the course, I would always slip in a little unexpected "authentic" phone call. It always surprised me, that after they had done this a few times, their anxiety about it dissipated. If they didn't understand, they learnt to ask the person speaking to repeat himself. Take a little action everyday to do something that you are a little shy of doing, whether it is taking over-ripe tomatoes back to the store, or telling your neighbour to turn down the volume of his t.v. after 12.p.m. because you need to sleep.
5. Learn to Program Your Subconscious Mind
Lastly, in building confidence and self-esteem, do not forget to learn to program your subconscious mind by repeating and saying out loud, positive affirmations. For years, the Self Growth movement has been advocating this, and yet how many people do it? Determine to practise these five tips, and you will find that slowly and surely, you will build confidence in yourself. The astounding thing is, that when you respect yourself, you find that others will respect you too. This, after all, is a Universe of Reflection.190-827 The Universe will reflect back, that which you give out.