Raising Your Self Esteem
Using goals in raising your self esteem? I realize that when a person decides to conquer an issue with low self esteem, that in itself is a goal. I want to show you how goal setting can be a means of raising your self esteem, not to have you setting a goal of high self esteem.
Confusing? Well, keep reading!
Self esteem is the value that you have of yourself. This value is based on your beliefs and opinions, whether they are correct or incorrect. A large portion of our beliefs were set in our childhood, often without our even noticing, Like water slowing eroding the Grand Canyon, our beliefs were slowly forged into the value we place on our self.
I hope your caught the “slowly” part. When we deal with beliefs and values, change may not happen as quickly as we want. These beliefs, values, and opinions have been solidified by habits. And we all know how hard habits can be to break!
Most people that deal with lower self esteem have statements running through their thoughts along this line, “I can not do anything right.”, or “I am a failure.”. True, they may have failed at something somewhere in the past, but that does not make them a failure as a person, or a person that can not do things right.
Start by changing your focus from the negative to the positive. You can do this by setting some goals for yourself. Do not be vague here! Small obtainable goals will greatly boost your self esteem. If you do have a large goal, then break it down in manageable steps. Take the time to write out your goals. I can not emphasize how important it is to write them down.
You may pick weight loss as a goal. (I chose this example because I am currently working towards this goal, so what follows is what I have done!) This is a good one, and a healthy choice. Break this down into smaller goals.
- I will eat a healthy breakfast each morning. I did not set to change my whole eating regime at once! And I wrote down three easy things to eat for breakfast, nothing fancy.
- I will exercise at least four times a week.
I chose in home walking DVD’s because I can watch something else while exercising! I also set a goal to work out at least ten minutes regardless. I have yet to stop after ten minutes, I keep going.
Once you master breakfast, work on lunch. Each day that you meet these small goals, you have come closer to making new habits and you have shown to yourself that you are not a failure!
Pay attention to what your thought statements say about yourself. Look closely at your negative self talk and see how you can choose small healthy goals that will prove those thoughts wrong! Each day that you meet your goal is a day to celebrate!
Will there be days when you don’t quite reach the goal, sure there will be. But now I have plenty of days where I have reached my eating or exercising goals and I know that tomorrow is another day that I can show to myself and the world just how good I am!
I am rewiring my thoughts, my value of myself, by changing one habit at a time. Is this happening overnight, no-of course not. But, make no mistake it is happening. And raising your self esteem can happen too, one small goal at a time!
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