Having positive self-esteem is a great asset. This is because it is something that stands you in good stead across all areas of life. A healthy sense of self-worth can provide what is needed to give you the confidence to apply for a job. And then follow through with a great interview. It can also enable you to communicate better and have more rewarding interpersonal relationships.
People have varied levels of self-esteem that can shift in different contexts. However, it’s something that, as an individual, you can decide to pro-actively work upon. This post outlines the results of growing your self-esteem and some suggestions to get started on improving your self-esteem.
What is Positive Self-Esteem?
Positive self-esteem works in two ways. Firstly, it moulds our expectations of how we are to be treated by those around us. And secondly, it directs how we interact with others. Therefore, at its base, positive self-esteem is about how good you feel about yourself and how deserving you deem yourself to be of all that life has to offer.
Being confident in yourself stems from feeling like you are accepted and belong. This impacts your ability to make decisions about the goals you set for yourself. And how self-assured you are that you can achieve them. Being able to set goals helps you to feel more in control over your life. Furthermore, goals assist in providing us with purpose and their accomplishment boosts self-esteem.
5 Signs of Healthy Self-Esteem
- Feeling accepted and a sense of belonging.
- Having a purpose.
- Being confident in self-expectations and abilities.
- Able to make decisive decisions.
- Comfortably interacting with others.
What Causes Low Self-Esteem?
People have varied levels of self-worth. This can be for several reasons. Low self-esteem can stem from an unhappy childhood where someone experienced a lot of criticism and little positive support. Poor academic performance can diminish how confident you are. Experiencing abuse and poor treatment from those around us often results in a loss of self-esteem. Such that our self-esteem is damaged, and we are left questioning who we are and our life’s purpose. Ongoing stress, such as that derived from financial instability or relationship breakdowns, can erode self-confidence. As well as ongoing medical issues such as mental illness, chronic pain and serious injury or disabilities.
Why Improve Your Self-Esteem
How you view yourself can largely determine how satisfied you are with your life and what you believe is possible. Viewing oneself positively enables one to be better at dealing with life’s adversities and more easily enjoy accomplishments. Research shows that there are long-term benefits to having a good sense of self-worth. Specifically, good social relationships, and more success when studying and within a career. Improved self-esteem also positively impacts physical, mental, and emotional health as well as results in less anti-social behaviour.
How to have Higher Self-Esteem
As a result of those around us, our environment, and our accomplishments, self-esteem can grow or ebb throughout our lives. This also means that feelings of self-worth are something that can successfully be improved upon.
How to Build Better Self-Esteem
Positive experiences give you internal satisfaction as well as help boost your self-worth. Learning something new, or improving upon an existing skill, is an excellent way to do this. Additionally, studying and upskilling can give your career a competitive edge and open you up to numerous new opportunities.
4 Ways Upskilling Increases Positive Self-Esteem
- Advances Communication Skills can improve how we say what we say to others. Thus, it can help us to articulate things in a clear, professional manner which is more easily understood by others. Part of being able to communicate better is learning how to understand others better. Which, in turn, increases our self-awareness and thereby self-confidence.
- Develop Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving abilities to engage, weigh up and assess new material develops critical thinking. Interacting with new material in this way helps to advance problem-solving abilities. These two skills are invaluable when we need to weigh up the pros and cons in order to make decisive and self-assured decisions.
- Expand Future Prospects is directly correlated to increasing life and work opportunities. It puts you in a position where you have more options to choose from. And knowing that you have a good skill set boosts your confidence to try new things and tackle challenges head-on.
- Improves Confidence: Upskilling increases our confidence in our abilities and skillset. This results in us being more able, and likely, to be proactive and initiate change both professionally and socially.
Upskill Yourself with SACAP Global
SACAP Global provides a selection of short online courses, designed to assist with personal and professional development. Browse the SACAP Global selection of online short courses and micro-credentials to select how you can improve and expand your skill set. Or simply realise your true potential by registering for the Building Positive Self-Esteem micro-credential.