“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

Your belief in yourself is what determines the amount of success you achieve in life. That’s why it’s so important to cultivate a strong sense of self-confidence and self-worth. 

When you cultivate unshakable belief in your own ability to succeed in life, the setbacks and obstacles you encounter on your journey won’t stop you from achieving your dreams. You KNOW you will be able to overcome them, and your magnetic self-confidence will make it easy for you to attract the resources and people you need to do so.

And there’s no better time than at the beginning of a brand new year to learn how to build self-esteem and confidence – so you can launch into the year equipped with the unstoppable mindset you need to achieve great things in the months ahead!   

How to Build Self-Esteem in 5 Steps

The good news is, there are some easy steps you can start taking today to increase your self-worth and cultivate high self-esteem. 

By making these steps a priority this month, you will strengthen your confidence and self-belief while dramatically boosting your abilities to accomplish more in the year ahead.  

1. Identify Negativity Around You

You are what you surround yourself with! If you spend a lot of time around negative people whose comments encourage you to think badly about yourself and the world around you, that will have a huge impact on your sense of self-worth, resulting in low self-esteem. 

The same goes if you spend a lot of time listening to negative, angry, and depressing news on television or online. 

Remember that you can’t change what other people say or do, or the events that happen in your life. But you CAN change how you react to them! 

That’s why I encourage you to avoid negative people, places, and events that darken your mood and outlook and avoid falling into the “negative self-talk trap” yourself. The universe responds to the energy you put out into the world – so if you are sending out negative vibes, you will attract negative people, experiences, and energy in return. 

I guarantee you will experience much more joy and fulfillment, and achieve much better results in life if you consciously surround yourself with positive people and work to cultivate a positive mindset. This is the first and most important step for learning how to build self-esteem and start believing in yourself. 

2. Use the Power of Positive Thinking

A positive mindset isn’t something you’re born with – it’s something you can consciously cultivate. This is important if you want to know how to increase your self-esteem! 

Positive affirmations are a great tool for building self-confidence and a powerful way to overcome any negative emotions or low self-esteem issues you might be struggling with. 

Simply put, a positive affirmation is a statement that you repeat to yourself several times a day to activate your subconscious mind to assist in creating the reality you want to experience. So if you want to visualize yourself as a person who is capable of achieving your goals, you say something like, “I am so happy and grateful that I have [achieved this goal] and am [having this experience].” 

By telling yourself this every day, you will begin to believe what you are telling yourself and will cultivate the high self-esteem you need to make your affirmations a reality! 

3. Take on New Challenges

The best way to convince yourself that you are capable of achieving success is to actually achieve it! In other words, set goals for yourself and then accomplish those goals. 

It’s okay to start small and work your way up to bigger goals – the important thing is for you to say “I am going to do this thing,” and then DO that thing so you can see yourself as someone who commits to a goal and then achieves it! 

Because when you successfully take on new risks, you will become a more confident person and will be inspired to take on even BIGGER risks. And the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward you will experience! This is another incredibly powerful tool for building self-confidence.

4. Acknowledge Your Successes

We, humans, tend to obsess over our mistakes and failures and forget about all of the incredible things we achieve, experience, and survive in our lives. 

But if you’re seeking to learn how to build self-esteem, it’s critical that you take time every week (and at the end of every year) to review and acknowledge all of your past successes. 

When you remember everything you’ve accomplished and endured, it allows you to see yourself as someone who is capable of achieving big things and increases your willingness to take on new challenges. And that, in turn, will boost your self-confidence and sense of self-worth.

On a related note, when others compliment or congratulate you for your successes, don’t be afraid to accept it and say “thank you.” Too often we want to diminish ourselves and say “it was nothing, really.” But acknowledging your accomplishments is the key to high self-esteem and self-belief. 

5. Take Care of Your Well-Being

When you feel good in your mind, body, and spirit, it’s so much easier to feel positive about yourself and your capacity to achieve your goals in life. That’s why it’s so important to take good care of yourself! 

This means getting enough sleep so you have the mental sharpness to make good decisions and the energy to get stuff done. It also means eating right and getting enough physical activity to keep your body healthy and strong, and doing what you need to do to feel spiritually connected to others and the world around you. 

All of these things will increase your self-esteem and sense of self-worth so you are able to believe in your ability to achieve anything you can imagine. 

Boost Your Self-Esteem in the New Year

What do you want the year ahead to look like for you? What are you hoping to accomplish? And do you have an unshakeable belief in your ability to achieve those goals? 

If your answer to that last question isn’t an unequivocal “yes, of course!” then I strongly encourage you to learn how to build self-esteem and make it a primary focus this month. It’s only when you believe that you are capable of achieving your goals that you will ACTUALLY become capable of achieving them!

The good news is, I’m here to help – with my free Positive Thinking Guide, you will learn how to build self-esteem and train your brain to believe in your ability to accomplish anything you set your mind to. 

You can grab your free copy here: Jack Canfield’s Positive Thinking Guide. 

It’s the best gift you can give yourself to kick off the New Year right!