In honor of International Women’s Day, we’d like to talk about 12 Steps to increase your self-worth. Why? Because all women deserve to become their best selves. Let’s get started! 

Self-worth exists at the very core of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

It impacts everything from how you see yourself, how you manage your relationships with other people, and just how much belief and confidence you have in your abilities.

Low self-worth can have dire consequences such as:

• Negative feelings that put you in a state of perpetual anger
• Fear
• Shame
• Sadness
• Guilt
• Anxiety
• Depression

While these can badly affect your quality of life, the tips below will help you take charge of your own self-worth!

1.  Minimize Negative Inner Self-Talk

Self-talk basically is the inner voice in your head that comes from the dialogues you have with yourself.

While a critical inner voice can help us stay motivated to our goals and making smart decisions, it can be quite harmful when this voice becomes overly negative.

Minimizing this negative self-talk can greatly boost your self-worthiness.

To contain this negativity, you need to realize that the thoughts and feelings in your head may not be the reality. You need to stop being your own worst enemy and critic. It’s time to shift your perspective and start thinking as a friend to yourself.

You won’t tell a good friend you don’t think they’ll ever succeed. Will you? So, why say things like these to yourself?

2.  Being More Positive

Once you’ve tried to minimize negativity, it’s time to boost positivity.

This is important because your opinion about yourself matters a lot. Both of these processes are vital to helping you evaluate and shape your self-image and perception, both of which are important to increase your self-worthiness.

According to Coaching Online, feeling more relaxed and confident in your abilities will help boost positivity. On days when you have flashbacks of missed opportunities or feelings of regret, it’s important to not let these weigh you down. Rather, take a conscious effort to shift your thinking and actions towards a more positive direction.

3. Be Proud of Yourself

When you’re proud of yourself, you are more likely to have a great passion for life.

People who are proud of themselves feel much more content and grateful, and often turn out to be excellent motivators for other people. Above all, these people have a strong sense of self-worthiness and self-esteem. But how exactly can you learn to be more proud of yourself? Here are some tips to help;

• Acknowledge your successes, no matter how small they seem.
• Be proud of your efforts so far as well as how far you’ve come.
• Don’t judge yourself with your failures because failure in itself means you’re trying.
• Finally, visualize yourself achieving the successes and goals you crave as this can help boost your self-confidence.

4. Practice Affirmations

Practicing affirmations and making it a regular habit can help boost your sense of self-worth, and this is based on a well-established psychological theory. These positive affirmations can go a long way to help reinforce your competence and self-confidence.

5. Kick Anxiety Out of Your Life

Studies have shown that women are twice as likely to experience anxiety disorder compared to men. While hormonal difference has been identified as one of the common causes of this, letting it linger for far too long can take a toll on your mental health.

Some ways to avoid anxiety include:

• Taking conscious actions to worry less and avoid overthinking about the future.
• Talking through your worries with friends, relatives, your family doctor, or a counselor.
• Dedicate more time to yourself to meditate or have quiet moments, and
• Sleep more often and get more rest.

6. Give Yourself Time to Heal From Pain

Emotional pain, like physical pain, also needs time for recovery.

For some people, the pain could be so much that it consumes them to the point where it’s all they can think about. This emotional state can mess up with our sense of self-worthiness, so recovery is quite important. The other important thing is that you will pass through the doorway of grief to heal these emotional and mental wounds. So, running from this would be counterproductive. It’s always better to give yourself the time, space, and energy to overcome this pain.

7. Change Your Attitude Towards Yourself

Your self-perception can impact your attitude towards yourself.

And because you need approval from yourself more than from anyone else, you’ll need to start developing good thoughts, feelings, and attitudes towards yourself.

Eliminate thoughts that belittle or put you down and give way for more encouraging feelings and attitudes towards yourself. You’ll need to see value in yourself before you can make others see it.

8. Surround Yourself With The Right People

Studies have shown that feelings and emotions such as anger, fear, guilt, happiness, and more are transferable. So, you must avoid surrounding yourself with people who can project their own negative feelings onto you. Rather, surround yourself with people who have positive views about life who can inspire positivity in you. Remember, negativity will only drag you back.

9. Don’t Make Your Self-Worth Dependent On Others

Self-worth is more about how you value yourself than how others see you. So, there’s no reason why societal expectations and other external influences should be the standard by which you define yourself.

People who have a deep-seated sense of worth pay little to no attention to what people say about them. Doing this will help you avoid negativities that could affect your self-esteem.

10. Go Out On Dates

Going out on dates can help boost your self-confidence, according to a study by a university professor. If you can fit more of this into your routines, seeing yourself through the eyes of the people who care about you on these occasions can help boost your self-worth. This is probably because it can help you to better appreciate your unique qualities and perspectives.

11. Exercise More Often

Science says regular exercise can also help boost your self-image.

According to reliable data, exercising more often can help you feel and actually look much stronger and self-assured. It’s also believed to help relieve stress and boost your overall health and sense of well-being.

12. Love Yourself More

We can’t stress this enough, but self-love is directly proportional to self-worth.

The more love you develop for yourself, the more value you tend to attach to your person. So, getting back your self-love is vital towards boosting your self-worth.

Building your self-worth is a gradual process that will take time, depending on where you are, mentally. As you take action to build your self-worth and start believing in yourself again, understand that you need to be patient with yourself. Be more compassionate and forgiving towards yourself. And be generous to yourself. Having a strong sense of self-worth is not vanity. It’s pure sanity, and every woman should have it!

What do you do, or like to do, to boost your self-worth? Please share with us in the comments at the bottom of this page. We want to hear from you!

About the author: Bijan Kholghi is the founder of www.coaching-online.org and a life coach with special psychological education in Hypno-systemic coaching. His teacher Dr. Gunther Schmidt is the founder of Milton Erickson Institute in Heidelberg (Germany), a direct student of Milton H. Erickson, and a leading figure in psychotherapy education in Europe. His highly effective coaching and therapy method help people getting aware of their unconscious pattern and gaining control over them. This leads to a more fulfilled and happier life.