The Care and Feeding of Self Esteem and Why It Matters

By Dana P. Rowe, PCC, CPCC, CPQC

In order to succeed in life, you need a healthy mind and body. The two go hand in hand. If your mental wellbeing is not stable, then chances are that your physical health will suffer as well. In this post, I want to talk about self-esteem and why it’s so important for creative professionals, especially those who are just starting out.

But first, let me ask you a question: How much time do you spend worrying about your self-worth? Do you feel like a fraud or worry that other people will find out how “unworthy” you are? What if I told you that all these negative thoughts were actually holding back your creativity and happiness? That they were making it harder for you to reach your goals in life? Then would this be something worth paying attention to? Absolutely! In fact, research shows that the best way to build confidence is by doing things that make us feel good about ourselves, which can lead to success and happiness.

Here’s the thing: A lot of us grapple with negative self-talk, and those pesky insecurities can really hold us back and make it hard to take action on the things we want in life. We wind up doubting ourselves, second-guessing our ideas, and even procrastinating on the very things we know would make us happy.

All that results in very low self-esteem.

So let’s talk about self-esteem, where it comes from, and how you can maintain it in a healthy way that will help you achieve more of your goals instead of weighing you down.

What Is Self Esteem?

Self-esteem is the opinion we have of ourselves, the value or worth we place on ourselves. A person with high self-esteem feels worthy, while someone who has low self-esteem views themselves as unworthy. Several things influence our self-esteem, including social comparisons, personal accomplishments/failures, praise from others, reflection about how other people view us compared to how we view ourselves, etc.

 

Why Is Healthy Self-Esteem Essential?

For creative professionals, it’s crucial to have healthy self-esteem because, without it, you are less likely to create your best work. You’ll lack confidence in yourself and your abilities; therefore, you’ll take fewer necessary risks for evolution and growth.

Self-esteem also plays a vital role in our relationships with other people. We may feel uncomfortable or awkward around friends or colleagues who trigger feelings of inadequacy or unworthiness within us. Likewise, we may be overly sensitive and respond negatively to both criticism and praise because we don’t feel like we are good or worthy enough.

What Can We Do About It?

How can you start building healthy self-esteem so that you can be your best creative self? Here are five steps I’ve found to be really effective for kickstarting healthy self-esteem:

1) Make a List of Your Strengths

This one may seem obvious, but it’s important enough to warrant its own number one spot! If you aren’t familiar with any or all of your strengths, this exercise will help define them.

It’s also important to remember that strengths are not the same as skills. You can have several different skills, but they may become a strength or weakness depending on what you do with them. For example, using Photoshop well is definitely a skill but having an eye for color and design, so you know which colors work together, is a strength!

To make this list, grab some paper and think of one thing you’re good at in each category below:

Creative Skills—Sculpting, Filmmaking, Painting, Writing, etc.

People Skills—Confidence, Maintaining relationships, Public speaking, etc.

Life Skills—Time management, Nutrition & wellness knowledge, etc.

An important thing to remember is that you are good at many, many things. Don’t let the suggestions above limit you. This is no time to be shy, add categories and strengths — try to make your list as complete as possible.

 

2) Make Your List of Strengths Visible

The next step in building self-esteem is making your list of strengths visible. Whether you hang it on the wall behind your desk or on your refrigerator door, having these strengths within eyesight will keep them top of mind and remind you that you are capable of doing great things! Get creative with this part — consider creating a collage or vision board of your strengths so that they’re even more noticeable.

3) Keep Track of Daily Wins

For the next seven days, make a note when something positive happens related to your creative work (i.e., publishing an article online). These may seem small, but they add up quickly! Celebrate with yourself at the end of the week for these little wins because they are the stepping stones to bigger goals.

4) Notice Your Negative Thoughts and Replace Them

Negative thoughts come up in everyone’s life-some more than others. This is only natural, but it’s our job to notice when they happen and replace them with something more positive. This can be challenging if you have a habit of being negative.

5) Meditate

This one can be a big hurdle if you’ve never tried mediation before or feel that you “just don’t have time.” I highly recommend trying meditation, even if it’s just for 10 minutes a day. It does wonders! Many apps will guide you through a meditation session, so you don’t have to spend money on a class.

 

Nurturing Self Esteem as You Go Forward

As we grow and mature, our experiences in life shape the way we view ourselves. It’s tempting to try to build self-esteem by acting like someone else or getting validation from others. Still, it’s important to remember that self-esteem is about valuing who you are on the inside and not what other people think of you.

Self-esteem can be built in a variety of ways:

It’s important to remember that high self-esteem is not a prerequisite for success or reaching our goals, but having high self-esteem can help us achieve those goals faster because we’ll feel more confident and motivated along the way.

Don’t expect to master this new way of being overnight – keep working at it and take encouraging steps toward building your confidence so you can achieve more in life while feeling good about who you are inside and out!

 

 

What Does This Mean for Creative Entrepreneurs?

For starters, it means taking action is one of the most effective ways to build self-esteem. It also means daring yourself to do things like speaking up at an event even though you feel shy or pursuing more gigs as a musician, even when there are times you doubt your talent. It means pushing yourself to get out of your comfort zone and daring to revel in your uniqueness.

 

It means being kind to yourself when you make mistakes, being compassionate with yourself if you have a bad day or miss a deadline, and not beating yourself up over every little thing that goes wrong.

It means taking care of yourself by eating properly, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, giving back through volunteer work or donations, meditating, or using other coping strategies for stress.

Remember, self-care isn’t selfish – it’s what makes us stronger and equips us to achieve our goals!

Self-esteem is a crucial aspect of success and happiness. The best way to build self-esteem is by taking action and practicing esteemable acts – which have the potential to have a tremendous impact on your life. For this type of change to happen, you’ll need the courage to stretch past your comfort zone. I hope these tips will help inspire you to take steps towards feeling more empowered and capable!

Thank you for reading this post! I’m grateful you spent some time with me today! If you’re looking for more posts like this one, be sure to check out the rest of my blog posts for Creative Artists and Entrepreneurs here.