What are the steps to high self-esteem?
Independent Learning,  Individual Development,  Psychology

What Are The Steps To High Self-Esteem?

What are the steps to high self-esteem? We look at the ways someone can manage and overcome low self-esteem. Find out more about the steps you can take in everyday life to improve the way you think and feel about yourself.

Managing Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself or your overall sense of self-worth.

Everyone experiences periods of doubt or uncertainty, but if these feelings persist for a long time, they can lead to problems such as depression or anxiety.

Some common symptoms of low self-esteem include anxiety, difficulty focusing on tasks, and feelings of hopelessness or sadness.

While life experiences often influence self-esteem, it is possible to boost it at any age.

What Are The Steps To High Self-Esteem?
What Are The Steps To High Self-Esteem?

This page describes some strategies for improving your self-worth, including engaging in healthy behaviors, cultivating supportive relationships, and focusing on personal growth.

With time and effort, you can improve your self-esteem and build a more positive outlook on life.

Steps to Improve Self-Esteem

Low self-esteem can adversely affect many aspects of life, such as your relationships, job performance, and overall health.

However, there are steps you can take to improve your self-esteem and feel more confident.

Here are the steps you can take to improve your self-esteem and boost your confidence based on cognitive behavioral therapy:

1. Identify circumstances that can diminish self-esteem

Take some time to figure out which situations can cause your self-esteem to drop. Likely scenarios might include:

  • Making a presentation in a work or school environment
  • Dealing with an issue at home or work
  • Challenging interactions with a partner, family member, colleague, or other close contacts
  • Adjusting to life changes such as job loss or an adult child leaving home

2. Becoming aware of Beliefs and Thoughts

Once it has become clear which situations affect your self-esteem, you need to pay close attention to the thoughts and beliefs you have related to this matter. This includes your self-talk and how you perceive situations.

Your thoughts can range from positive, to negative, to neutral. Your beliefs can be grounded in facts and reason or irrational and based on false ideas.

Reflect upon whether the beliefs you have are true. Would you be comfortable saying the same things to a friend? If not, don’t say it to yourself, either.

3. Control Negative Thinking

Your initial reaction to a situation is not the only way to look at it. Ask yourself if your opinion stands true when held against facts and logic. Perhaps there is a different perspective to consider.

Note that it is challenging to recognize the errors in your reasoning. Old thoughts and beliefs might be seen as facts, even though they might be based on mere opinions.

Also, keep an eye out for thinking patterns that could lower your self-esteem.

  • Seeing everything as either good or bad
  • Focusing on the bad and discarding the good
  • Transforming positives into negatives
  • Concluding negative ideas with zero evidence
  • Confusing feelings for fact
  • Using negative self-talk

These are all processes that can harm you.

Stay alert and practice becoming aware of when you think like this. Shift your focus to believing in yourself and exploring the positive aspects of whatever you face.

4. Better your thoughts and beliefs

Replace any negative or untrue thoughts with optimistic, realistic thoughts. Here are some great techniques you can use:

Remind yourself that optimism is critical. Be nurturing and compassionate to yourself. Instead of believing things won’t work out, have faith in the positive.

Remind yourself, ‘It’s tough, but I can do this.’

Grant yourself forgiveness. Everyone makes missteps. However, these missteps don’t equate to permanent flaws; they are just brief moments in time.

Assure yourself, ‘I made an error, but that doesn’t automatically make me a bad person.’

Eliminate “should” and “must” statements. If your thoughts are full of these words, you’re putting too much strain on yourself. Erase these words from your dialogue.

It may lead to a healthier assessment of what you expect from yourself.

Focus on the bright side. Think about the aspects of your life that are working out. Remember the skills you have used to cope with troubles.

Take stock of what you’ve learned. What can you do if you experience a bad situation the next time you face it to secure a more fruitful result?

Rebrand your negative thoughts. View negative thoughts as prompts to attempt new, healthful practices. Question yourself, “What can I think and do to handle this a little better?”

Encourage yourself. Acknowledge the progress you have made to make positive improvements.

Tell yourself, “Even though my presentation may not have been perfect, my colleagues asked inquiries and stayed interested. That was my goal, and I made it.”

5. Identify troubling conditions or situations

Think about the conditions or events that generally have the effect of lowering your self-esteem.

Afterward, become aware of your thoughts about them. Use the above techniques to help guide yourself towards more positive thinking surrounding these circumstances.

Also, try to stick to objectives that are well within your scope. When attempting tasks that are too difficult for you, your successes will be few and far between, which can easily take a toll on your confidence.

And finally, be sure to take regular breaks and allow yourself to enjoy the small victories you accomplish.

This will help to remind you that you can win and will re-energize you to try again.

6. Analyze your thoughts from a different perspective

It is easy to get overly attached to your thoughts and let them affect your self-esteem. However, the key to improving your low self-esteem is to take a step back from your thoughts and analyze them from a different perspective.

Perceiving your thoughts as words, instead of having them control your behavior and feelings, can decrease their power and help you start to accept your worth as an individual.

7. Embrace your feelings

Sometimes your thoughts can be complicated and overwhelming, making it difficult to deal with them. Instead of resisting or succumbing to the pressure of these thoughts, you should endeavor to accept and welcome them.

Recognizing your thoughts’ power can help you take back control and lessen their influence on your behavior.

Getting Started with building high self-esteem

Beyond the steps above, don’t forget to give yourself the care and attention you deserve. Take time to nurture your body and mind through nurturing activities like eating a healthy diet, exercising, or enjoyable activities.

Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you, and don’t waste your time on toxic relationships.

With practice and consistency, you’ll recognize your worth and let your confidence and well-being naturally soar.


We hope this article was able to answer your questions about: What are the steps to high self-esteem?

If you want to discover more information about improving self-esteem, follow the link to our other pages on this topic.