Your self-worth and self-esteem have a huge impact on your life. Knowing your worth makes a big difference in how you respect and treat yourself as well as how you interact with other people. Your self-worth affects your behavior, habits, actions, and emotions, all of which make up a good chunk of your life, so it’s important to put in the effort to improve your self-worth and self-esteem.
Even if you have high self-worth and self-esteem (which is wonderful!) there is always room for improvement.
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Important Disclaimer – I am NOT a trained medical professional or qualified therapist. If you are struggling with feelings of depression, anxiety, or suspect you may be suffering from a medical illness, please consult a trained medical practitioner or professional counselor or physiologist as soon as possible.
Let’s dive into 10 powerful ways you can improve your self-worth and self-esteem.
1. Get to know yourself better
How well do you know yourself? You probably know your favorite foods, favorite television shows, and the like. You might know if you are an introvert or an extrovert.
You can probably name some of your bad habits and make a list of things you are good at in your job.
But do you know how you react under different types of stress and pressure? Do you know how you respond under circumstances like grieving, disappointment, or sadness?
Do you know what makes you happy? What brings you joy? What gives you a sense of personal satisfaction? Do you know what you value most in life?
This isn’t about something being right or wrong or about passing judgment on yourself. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It’s about knowing yourself and being brave and courageous enough to dig deep past the basic (and let’s face it sometimes more superficial) side of ourselves.
Get to know yourself better. Dig deeper. Knowing yourself better is a good way to help improve your self-worth and self-esteem.
Related post – 10 Ways to Have More Confidence
2. Take a deep dive into your identity
Imagine if you constantly tell yourself – I’m a lazy person.
When the loungeroom needs cleaning and you would rather watch television, you might find yourself debating in your head about what you are going to do. Which voice do you think is going to win that battle, the one that’s saying, I’m a lazy person or the one that is saying you should clean up.
What chances do you think you have of getting your loungeroom clean?
If you often feel like you are fighting a battle with yourself this could be why. On one hand, you have – who you want to be. On the other, you have – who you believe you are.
Notice I didn’t say who you are but who you BELIEVE you are.
More times than not you will take action based on the person you believe yourself to be.
You will take action based on your identity or self-image.
I recently discovered Jim Fortin online and started to listen to his podcasts. Jim is a very recent find, so I’ve only listened to 2 podcasts so far but I’m really enjoying what Jim has to say about how our identity affects our actions and more to the point how we have such a hard time changing our behavior, no matter how strongly we want to change our lives.
For another excellent insight into how changing our identity can change our lives for the better, James Clear, the writer of Atomic Habits (a brilliant book about habits) has two great articles on identity that are a fascinating read.
- How to Change Your Beliefs and Stick to Your Goals for Good
- Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals this Year
Since I’ve only started to research this particular topic, I’m looking forward to learning and writing more about identity in the future, so stay tuned….
