STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING YOUR SELF-ESTEEM

1. Attack those prejudices which lead you to undervalue yourself.

2. Acknowledge your qualities and don’t discount them.

3. Accept compliments as signs of acceptability, rather than deflecting them, recognizing that they matter.

4. Stiffle the inner critic by thanking it and apologizing to it.

5. Put the inner critic and the exaggerator in a box with the lid shut.

6. Bury the judge within you that applies double standards – an unfairly strict standard to you, and a generous standard to others.

7. Do not let the judge bias your expectations or make negative productions.

8. Do not let it make you impervious to success and susceptible to failure.

9. Put it in the same box as the critic.

10. Do the best you can, but don’t berate yourself for not being perfect.

11. Make the ideal a guide but not a daily standard.

12. Do not be a perfectionist, just aim at better self-esteem.

13. Evaluate yourself independent of your achievements.

14. Spend time with people who make you feel good.