Confidence and self-esteem: improve them and strengthen your business

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Confidence and self-esteem are two things that go hand in hand and affect your business as well. If your confidence is up your decisions will not be based on fear or filled with self doubt.

If your self-esteem is healthy you won’t second guess your business ideas or spend time wondering if you are doing the right thing. 

So how can we get our confidence and self-esteem to a healthy level? Here are some suggestions that can get you started on this journey.

Find the positive in any situation

This one sounds easy but it’s really hard. When something bad happens our brain loves the negative attention and thoughts and loves taking you to that dark place. Instead you need to put up a little fight and think of alternatives on how to look at things in a positive way. You’ll have to practice a lot at first, but then it will become easier.

Here are some examples:

• You overate this week and gained 5 pounds. Try and examine what the trigger was and be prepared for the next time it happens.
• You procrastinated and left the writing of your blog’s articles for the last minute. Realize you have to set up a schedule and follow it so you don’t get overwhelmed again.
• You invested in that pricey course and you haven’t even touched it for months. Make some time now to take the course and implement the strategies right away.
• You’re fighting with your significant other about money all the time. Sit down and brainstorm a new online business (read “13 Easy Online Businesses To Start Today”).

Set yourself smaller, more achievable tasks

It’s well known that when you have a really big job to do you need to break it down into smaller tasks so that it will be more manageable. Sometimes, even if the steps seem small, you might have to break them down into even smaller tasks to be able to complete them in a workday or in a couple of hours if that’s all you’ve got.

Having a task on your to-do list for days or weeks can be discouraging. Are you not capable of doing this one thing? Of course you are, but you might need to simplify it or get help from someone else. Getting help is not a dirty word. Knowing your limitations will help you fulfill your tasks in a better way. Maybe you need to be doing another task more suited to your talents.

Be honest with yourself and your capabilities.

Finish what you start

Getting to the finish line is always a battle. The shiny “new project” energy has disappeared and now you need to finish the entire project.

Here’s the thing. There’s nothing more disheartening or self-esteem destroying than not finishing a project. Your confidence in yourself and your capabilities goes down as well.

This does not mean that you shouldn’t dream big and set scary goals for yourself. It means you have to learn how to manage your workload in order to make enough progress with  your project that you eventually finish it.

When I was writing one of my books I halted midway so I hired a writing coach to help me. She set me up to write twice a day for 10 minutes each session. Those sessions added up and in the end I finished my book. I will admit I didn’t like the afternoon sessions but I had made a commitment and it helped me greatly in the end.

Accept  yourself just as you are

Wherever you are in your life, no matter what the circumstance is, you need to accept it right now. Sit for a few minutes and do an inventory of your life. Health, career, relationships, finances, etc. Tell yourself the truth, and then accept it.

This is the only way you’ll be able to make the decision to move forward and change the things you don’t like. It’s so easy to sit back and complain about our life and all the things that are wrong with it. We want the magic pill and if you allow it, you’ll keep this complaining for the rest of your life and do nothing to get out of that cycle.

So, take stock, accept who you are and if there’s something you don’t like, start making changes. Small changes will add up quickly.

Give of yourself by helping others

Volunteering is a wonderful way to increase your self-esteem, because for that time you get out of yourself and your troubles and focus on helping someone else. It doesn’t have to be at a charity, you can start at home by helping your family members.

Other ways are helping out in forums for topics you like. If you are in a parenting group and something has worked for you, share it when someone asks. If you know how to build websites and someone in the group asks for help you can guide them along.

We tend to live in our heads all the time, obsessively thinking about this, or that, when others could use some of our help, kindness or just a soft word of encouragement.

Practice self-care

I Googled self-care and found this answer. “The practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.”

But self-care involves a lot of activities. From eating the right foods so you are healthy and have enough energy, to giving yourself a few minutes each day to just breathe.

This will be more difficult for those of you that like to take care of others. This was probably meant for you more than anyone else. In order to be able to give the best of yourself to others you have to be well yourself.

Examples of self-care activities are: 

• take a bath
• go for a long walk 
• drink some herbal tea
• write on your journal
• listen to your favorite music
• do some stretching
• text someone you care about

Spend time with family and friends

Why are you working so hard to be successful in your business? Generally it’s to give yourself and those you love a better life. To give them the choices that only money provides. However, putting off spending time with those important people will never get you where you want to be.

Being with those you care about will do more than just raise your self-esteem, it will keep depression away. We need to connect with others to be healthy and balanced.

You don’t have to make it a big deal like going out to a restaurant (which might be expensive) or throwing parties, but playing games at home or just going to the park with your dog will help you breathe some fresh air and relax. Not everything should be about making money.

Do more things you love

Remember all the things you wanted to do when you were a kid? Which of those would you still like to do? Would they make you happy? Put a spring in your step?

As we become busier with our careers or just trying to make a living, we push aside a lot of the things that once made us feel good. Art or playing games, dancing, tending a garden, all things that are set aside because financial security is so important.

Here’s the thing. Just as with self-care, if you don’t have little sparks of joy in your life, it will be much more difficult to succeed.  Burnout is so common nowadays, sometimes people need to change their entire career because of a need to get away with anything to do with their field.

Conclusion

Sometimes I think balance is a myth and that it can never be achieved, but it’s something we need to strive for in our lives if we want to live a full life.

As recommended, start small. A text to a friend to know how they are doing, a 5 minute walk to get a breath of fresh air or bring a family member their favorite food.

I urge you to take action and use 1 of the tips given here and slowly introduce it into your life. You’ll notice a big change soon.