These Are the 4 Quickest Ways to Improve Your Self-Esteem

If you’ve ever wished that you could hold yourself in greater esteem, you aren’t alone.

21:23 03 February 2023

It’s estimated that up to 85 percent of people have issues with low self-esteem. That’s the vast majority of the world’s population – so if you spend most of your time feeling as though the people around you seem much more confident and put together than you, you can comfort yourself by realizing that we’re all in the same boat.

With that being said, it never hurts to make positive changes in your life that can help to give your self-esteem a quick boost – and some of the changes that you can make are actually surprisingly easy. You’d be surprised how quickly you can begin to see a compounding effect from just doing a few simple things that help you to feel better about yourself. You’ll feel more open and receptive to new situations socially and at work, so you’ll experience greater success in those situations. Because of your greater success, you’ll feel even better about yourself – and things will continue to improve.

Do you sometimes feel as though improving your self-esteem is simply a lost cause because you don’t know where to begin? We disagree. Make one of these changes right now and watch your confidence soar.

Quit Smoking

If you’re a smoker, we can guarantee right now that nothing could possibly increase your self-esteem more quickly than quitting. Smoking is an absolutely terrible habit because it creates problems in every area of your life. The constant exposure to nicotine – a powerful stimulant – leads to lethargy. Between that and your reduced cardiovascular capacity, you probably rarely exercise and avoid taking part in sports. You worry about the way your breath and clothes smell, so you’re more guarded in social situations. High cigarette prices cause you to spend all of your spare money on your smoking habit instead of putting yourself in a good place for the future.

Smoking affects your self-esteem on so many levels – it’s not surprising at all that being a smoker correlates so strongly with having a poor overall mental state. This is the 21st century, though, and it’s no longer necessary to quit smoking by going cold turkey or using awful nicotine replacement therapies. Just grab a vape kit and some vape juice, and you’ll be on your way. Make the commitment that you’ll stop smoking immediately upon receiving your first vape kit – and within a few days, you’ll wonder why you ever smoked.

Lose Weight

Do you ever feel unhappy about the way you look? Just like the issues that people often have with their overall self-esteem, you definitely aren’t alone there. Surveys suggest that nearly half of all people feel unhappy about their appearance at least occasionally. This is another situation where even the people who seem the most put together actually go through exactly the same problems as you.

It may sometimes seem impossible to feel better about the way you look, but there’s actually one thing that can improve your self-esteem in this area surprisingly quickly: You can lose weight. One of the reasons why many people fail to maintain a healthy weight is because gaining or losing weight is such a slow process. If you’re overweight, it didn’t happen overnight – it’s the result of years of less than optimal choices. Fixing the issue won’t happen overnight either. One certain thing, though, is that going on a crash diet is almost always a recipe for failure.

Instead, you should start with just one small change. Eliminate one junk food from your diet like beer, candy or sweet soda. Look for opportunities to move your body more – take the stairs to your office instead of riding the elevator. Go for a walk around the block or play outside with your dog after work. Reevaluate your situation after a month, and you’ll probably find that you’ll weigh less than you do today. At that point, you might feel inspired to make even more changes.

Have Your Clothes Tailored

Do you ever find yourself envious of certain people around you because they seem to wear their clothes much better than you do? Why do some people seem to fit so perfectly into every outfit when you struggle every time you shop for new clothes?

Here’s the secret: Just about everyone has something about their body that they’d like to hide or minimize to the fullest possible extent – even the most attractive people aren’t perfect. So, why do some people always seem to be more put together than others? It’s very likely that they’re having their clothes tailored.

In the past, people generally had their clothes made specifically for them. Today, though, clothing usually comes in standardized sizes because that makes production cheaper. The problem with buying clothes off the rack, however, is that standardized sizes never fit everyone perfectly. Clothing alterations are surprisingly affordable, and it’s very worthwhile to bring your best outfits to a tailor. You’ll love the way you look and feel when your clothes are modified to flatter your unique body.

Start Preparing for the Future

When you evaluate your financial situation, so you sometimes feel a bit down about yourself because you don’t have a solid plan for the future? One of the reasons why people don’t invest is because they only think about the short term and assume that they can’t earn significant returns because they don’t the capital to make large trades. If you want to build a nest egg for the future, though, you shouldn’t be thinking about short-term trades at all. Day trading isn’t investing – it’s gambling. If you want to invest, you should have a time horizon of decades rather than weeks or months.

Do you want to become a millionaire? It’s actually shockingly easy. Don’t try to pick winning stocks – just invest in a stock that tracks the entire market. On average, the market gains 10 percent per year. There are good years and bad ones, but the market always goes up given a long enough time horizon.

How long does your time horizon need to be? The answer is 30 years. At an average growth rate of 10 percent per year, you’ll need to contribute $484.77 per month. That’s a little over $16 per day. To make things even easier, you can even use a service that automatically takes the money out of your bank account every day and invests it in a total-market fund for you. You probably spend at least that much on things that you don’t really need anyway. If you just cut a little of your unnecessary spending, you’ll hardly notice that the money is gone – and you’ll be contributing toward your future financial security. That’s a great thing for anyone’s self-esteem.