I Can and I Will
This is the attitude students need today. A positive outlook coupled with hard work and perseverance can put you on the road to success.
Unfortunately, students nowadays fall prey to low self-esteem and low morale. The question now is how to improve students’ self-esteem?
Before we answer this question, we should look at the reasons students suffer from low self-confidence. The causes could be one or many. They could be some of the following
- Bullying or harassment from peers or seniors
- Consistent poor academic performance
- Problematic relations
- Medical issues
- Constant comparisons
- Unable to achieve perfection
The next step is to identify if you are a victim of low self-esteem. Sometimes you may not even be aware that you are suffering from low self-confidence. You may think that this is just your personality and let it slide away without helping yourself.
Are You a Victim of Low Self-Esteem? Do You Suffer from One or Any of The Following Characteristics?
- Feeling inferior to your peers
- Unable to mingle with friends and family
- Critical of your own self
- Always have a negative attitude about yourself and life
- Blame yourself for everything that goes wrong
If you feel any of the above or experience any similar feelings, then sadly, you are a victim of low self-esteem.
Students usually go through such phases in their lives. So, it is not uncommon to go through this feeling of low morale.
However, it is important to find ways to boost your confidence whenever you feel low. Students need to take extra care to ensure that they don’t feel low. Students being vulnerable to such feelings can easily fall prey to unwanted distractions during their low phase
12 Expert Tips On How To Improve Self Confidence in Students
1. Set up Realistic Goals
Setting up realistic goals is one of the best methods of how to build confidence in students. When you set up realistic goals and achieve them, it automatically improves your self-confidence.
The moment you achieve a goal you feel confident that you can achieve the rest too. So, set realistic goals, achieve them, and in the bargain, improve your self-confidence.
2. Develop Skills
Developing new skills and enhancing old skills can help in improving self-confidence. Learning new skills are some of the activities to build self-confidence.
It shows that you can achieve things that were not even in your vision or purview. You can develop tangible as well as intangible skills to develop self-confidence. Communication skills, listening skills are all skills that contribute to developing self-confidence.
3. Discover Your Hidden Talents
Another way of how to boost confidence in students is to try and dig out old, rusted, and forgotten talents.
When you re-discover these talents, you become confident that you still have the talent even though you have not practiced it in a while. Discovering hidden talents helps to improve self-confidence.
4. Affirmations and Confirmations
The first and foremost rule in building self-confidence is to be positive. Never think negatively in any situation. Especially during exams.
Preparing for an exam can be tiring and exhausting. At times you may feel that the task is mammoth and may give up. This is the first mistake students make.
Remember giving up is not the solution. Always think positively and work towards your goal. Keep telling yourself that you can do it.
The positive aura that you create helps you to overcome obstacles. Chant positive affirmations throughout the day. I can, I will, I am confident. These positive affirmations boost your morale and help you to get through the day.
5. Stop Comparing
Do not compare yourself to a friend or family member who has created a niche for themselves. Your journey is yours. Never wish to be someone else. Every minute spent wishing you were someone else, is every minute spent wasting yours.
At the same time, you must try to draw inspiration from the person you admire. Drawing inspiration from another and comparing yourself to another are two different things.
An inspiration motivates you whereas comparison demoralises you. The only person you should compare yourself to is yourself, try to be a better person than you were yesterday.
6. Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Sparkle
As a student, you come in contact with different people throughout your school and college life. This experience of meeting new people every moment can at times confuse you.
Some people may be friendly while others not so. Some may be encouraging while some may be discouraging. Whatever the type you are in touch with, never let anyone’s negative comments affect you.
Do not let anyone dull your sparkle. You are here to only shine. Bright, very bright.
Don’t give up because of what someone else said. Use that as a motivation to try harder.
A bully in school or college may be doing so because of his/her own insecurities. Rise up and beyond the situation. Learn to face negativity as well as accept praise.
7. Accept and Appreciate Yourself
When you achieve something, however small it is, you must learn to appreciate yourself. Pat yourself on your back. This is a self-motivation technique that helps.
Also appreciate your own qualities. It is a good idea to write them down and remind yourself every day that you have these special qualities in yourself.
Sometimes a chronic medical issue can hamper your morale. In such situations always remember you are not alone. Look for professional help to overcome your fears and anxieties.
8. Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk
Although you must learn from mistakes from the past, never dwell upon them. Learn from them and make amends for the future.
The only real mistakes are the ones from which we learn nothing. It’s not about the mistakes you make but how you correct them that defines you. You must forget the mistake but learn from them.
9. Don’t Worry Be Happy
Worrying doesn’t change anything, it just messes with your mind. So, don’t worry. It does not serve any purpose.
Your own experience can tell you that worrying does not lead to anything positive. The best test to overcome your worries is to try to recall what you were worrying about a year ago today.
You will notice that you have passed the date and you had simply worried over nothing. So, experience today without worrying because tomorrow you will wonder why you worried so much.
10. Seek Help
Sometimes talking to someone can boost your morale. One of the ways of how to improve students’ self-esteem is to talk it out.
You can use professional help or even talk to elders or parents to overcome low self. Sometimes listening to positive sermons from a spiritual leader can have a beneficial impact on you.
Some references of motivational speakers that could inspire you are mentioned below.
- http://www.naseerkhan.in/
- https://anandmunshi.com/
- https://www.simplylifeindia.com/deepak-chopra.html
11. Exercise for The Mind-Body and Soul
Believe it or not, feeling fit is one of the best ways of how to improve self-confidence in students. When you are going through a low phase, you may think that exercise is the last thing you want to do.
However, it is a proven fact that exercise helps overcome depression. According to excerpts from The Primary Companion, The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the authors Lynette L. Craft, Ph.D., and Frank M. Perna, Ed.D., Ph.D. have stated “Data regarding the positive mood effects of exercise involvement, independent of fitness gains, suggest that the focus should be on the frequency of exercise rather than duration or intensity until the behavior has been well established”.
Scientifically, exercising releases natural cannabis-like brain chemicals (endogenous cannabinoids) and other natural brain chemicals that trigger a positive feeling in the body.
12. Eat Healthily, Cut the Junk
Lifestyle habits can have a positive or negative impact on your mood. Bringing in good life-changing habits can work positively for you and help you overcome low self-esteem or depression.
A study was conducted on 166 individuals out of which 31 were administered dietary remedies. The dietary group demonstrated significantly greater improvement.
The results of the study indicated that dietary improvement may provide an efficacious and accessible treatment strategy for the management of this highly prevalent mental disorder, the benefits of which could extend to the management of common co-morbidities.
Unfortunately, in this pandemic, the word POSITIVE has a different meaning altogether. When you hear COVID POSITIVE you shudder to think of the consequences of the virus.
Let’s not forget that beyond the pandemic, there is a whole new world waiting to see the REAL POSITIVE YOU.
Conclusion
Self-confidence is an important aspect of any personality. It is only with self-confidence you can accomplish your goals. Therefore, it is necessary to build our self-confidence. Remember, find a way or make one.
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