Your habits, or the things you repeatedly do without conscious thought, play a crucial role in your personality and wellness. As you navigate through life’s challenges, your habits affect your self-esteem by either building your confidence or tearing you down. Good habits require practice, but they will help build your self-esteem, confidence, and wellbeing.
Positive habits help you grow as a person. You need good habits to succeed in life. Developing good habits like these can boost your self-esteem and help you achieve success.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness means being present in the here and now, not worrying about the past or future. Because the human brain is designed to remember past experiences and to dream and plan for the future, mindfulness takes practice. Mindfulness is a habit that helps you focus on the present situation without complicating your response or decision with negative issues from the past or fear of the future.
To develop the habit of mindfulness, ask yourself these questions:
- How does this situation affect me at this moment?
- How does this situation make me feel?
- What can I do right now to change this situation?
Staying in the moment affects your self-esteem by helping you reflect on what you feel. Mindfulness also enables you to focus on what you can control. In any situation, you have control over yourself and your reactions.
Many people practice meditation to help develop the habit of mindfulness. Meditation requires setting aside time to develop this habit consciously. The more you practice, the easier it will be, and the stronger your habit of mindfulness will become.
Setting Goals
Your self-esteem is tied to your ability to create and achieve goals. Goals help give your life structure and meaning. When you accomplish a goal, you increase your self-confidence and self-esteem.
To improve your self-esteem, your goals must be measurable. Otherwise, not being able to reach your goals will negatively affect your self-esteem.
Achieving your goals requires having a plan and breaking your goal into manageable steps. Each time you complete a step, your self-esteem increases.
You can build the habit of setting goals by writing your goals down. By writing your goals, you help commit yourself to achieve them. Start by writing your goals for the day. If you’re a busy person, the goal of spending 15 minutes by yourself to meditate or relax is realistic and achievable.
Increase your goals as you develop your habit. You may want to increase the time you spend on self-care or add a new goal, like spending more time with your family. As reaching your daily goals becomes a habit, you build your self-esteem.
Positive Surroundings
Scientists have determined that your surroundings affect your self-esteem. If you spend your time with negative people or always hear negative messages about yourself, your self-confidence will suffer. Over time, negative input can cause you to have a negative personality and outlook on life.
Get into the habit of spending time with positive people. Surround yourself with motivational objects like posters or pictures of your goals. Read books or listen to podcasts about how to achieve more in life. Displaying mementos of your previous successes can also help increase your self-esteem.
Many people find that having an orderly work or living area is more positive for them than working or living in a mess. Developing the habit of keeping your area clean and neat not only provides positive surroundings for you, but it also builds your self-esteem, knowing you have control over your environment.
Gratitude
Gratitude is a habit that affects your self-esteem by building a positive mindset. Researchers have found that gratitude builds self-esteem by helping a person feel connected to others and by limiting negative self-talk. When a person is grateful, they feel worthy of what they’ve received and are willing to show kindness to others, taking positive actions to increase their self-esteem.
Gratitude can replace negative self-esteem. Many people spend their lives apologizing for every slight they imagine they cause. Apologies are necessary, but people often default to an apology instead of thanking someone. Imagine you dropped something on the floor, and a stranger picked it up for you. Do you apologize for dropping it and disturbing them, or do you thank them for helping you?
Your reaction is based on your self-esteem and whether or not you feel like you bothered them. The habit of gratitude helps improve your self-esteem so you can accept help from others.
The habits of mindfulness, setting goals, being in positive surroundings, and gratitude strongly affects your self-esteem. Good habits build your self-esteem every time you complete a positive step toward your goals.
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