‘Where are you in your life now?’ is a question of the past. Nowadays, you are judged by your ambition to get ahead in life. ‘Where do you see yourself five years down the line?’ is the question any interviewer will entertain you with. And it is where the world is heading. Gone are the days when the background you belong to mattered, today your dreams and aspirations make you stand out.

Achieving dreams was never easy for the most successful of people, but one thing that kept them going was self-confidence. Yes, if you are confident enough on yourself and your dreams, no external forces can make you lose. Then again, not everyone is gifted with trust upon one’s steps or a few instances of failure might instil a fear in you. So, here are some sure-fire ways which will help improve your self-confidence!

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1. Don’t Let Others Tell You What to Do

It is indeed crucial to take control of your life if you want to achieve great success. Of course, you cannot do without guidance of elders, yet, do not let that guidance overpower your decisions. Whatever you have achieved in your life is because you are a rational person and the ‘rational you’ can very well asses the practicality of the situation and decide what is best. Therefore, do not let what others say or do, influence what you want to become in life.

Hence, by developing the ability to deciding for yourself and not letting anyone else influence you is the key to improved self-confidence.

2. Excel At What You Do

Whatever you do, do it like a pro. Tell the world that no one in this world can do your job, better than you. Yes, it is crucial to excel in a field as it adds to your confidence. If you are good at your job, people will respect you and you yourself will feel more secure at your job. People will look forward to your opinions and value them, making you more confident already!

3. Look at Failure in The Eye

Failures are a part and parcel of life. Everyone fails at one aspect of life or another. Hence, it is OKAY to fail.  Then again, you have to bounce back after one failed attempt and stare your shortcomings in the face and work hard to overcome them in order to emerge victorious the next time.

You never lose the war until you accept your defeat, therefore never lose hope and persevere until you become the best. Keep all the negative thoughts at bay because it will take the world a million screams to care about where you are lacking, don’t let anyone or anything make you feel bad about yourself. Go out there and think as positive as you can till you reach the zenith of positivity and confidence.

4. Learn to Command Yourself

Discipline and correct body language will take you places. Can you imagine a confident person with a slouched posture, gloomy face, and a dull personality? I wonder if you can because a confident figure that crosses my mind is of a smartly dressed person with a smiling face and bright personality, someone whose very appearance makes it clear that he means business.

Likewise, you should also learn to command yourself, no matter how you are feeling from within. Even if you are as nervous as scared as a goat in the slaughterhouse, don’t let that show on your face. Hold a straight posture, dress the part, and don’t let that smile fade away. Make an eye-contact with the person you are talking to and show them that you are in for getting heard and are not leaving without that.

5. Find A Reason to Smile Through Tough Times

Sometimes, life can be tough. The chain of failures in professional as well as personal life leave you depressed and out of wits to deal with so many issues at one go. In these situations, the first thing you need is a little boost in self-confidence. Therefore, sit up right way and list out the things that make you feel happy about yourself, they may be your accomplishments, your family, or anything good you did on the way to work. These things will give you a reason to smile and compel you to put in some more efforts to bring colors back to your life.

In the nutshell, the one sure-fire way to improve self-confidence, is to work on your personality and thinking to make this world a happier place for yourself.

Low self-esteem is one of the most common outcomes of depression. Depression is a condition that impacts the emotional, mental, and physical well being of an individual. It varies in its intensity from being mild, moderate or severe. Self esteem plays an important role as a person recovers from depression. It can make or break a person.

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1. Accept That It Is a Medical Condition and Not Your Fault

Most people affected with depression end up being cynical about their own selves. Understanding the fact that it is a medical condition that can happen to anybody can be very liberating. While guilt will way you down, the right kind of understanding will quicken the healing process.

2. Self-Care

Taking care of one’s own self becomes least important when depression strikes you. The feeling of hopeless that the condition evokes in an individual can drain the interest of a person in his or her everyday mundane life. This includes lack of interest in taking care of your own self.

One aspect of fighting depression is fighting the sense of worthlessness. Hence it is imperative for a person overcoming depression to take good care of oneself. Eat healthy food, take time to groom yourself and make yourself feel good.

3. The Power of Senses

Depression often numbs your senses. The sense of smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing are affected during these trying times. One do-it-yourself remedy is to do things that soothe your senses. Turn on music that will enliven your spirit. Aromatherapy oils could be handy. Bergamot, lavender, roman chamomile and ylang ylang are known for their anti depressant properties. They can be used in a relaxing bath. Sometimes even the smell of your favorite food can lift your spirits. Keep comfort food handy. 

4. Follow Your Passion

Do things that give you happiness. Something that you have always wanted to do but never got to do. If you are a go getter, even challenging yourself with something adventurous can make you stronger and build your confidence.

5. Talk Positive

A part of overcoming depression is overcoming hopelessness. Hope is what keeps the human life going. So, every time you feel hopeless keep reminding yourself that hope is a reality. It is there and that’s what keeps the world going. The very fact that you are fighting back depression and that you trying hard to bounce back to normal life shows you are a strong enough to get there. You are a winner.  Compliment yourself for your victories and move on to being a better you.

6. Surround Yourself with Positive People

Depression is not something everyone understands. Very few people understand the real facets of depression and empathise with those dealing with it. You can avoid a lot of disappointment when you accept that not everybody understands. It makes life easier. On the other hand, surround yourself whenever possible with people with a positive outlook. Be around those that genuinely care, offer practical advice, offer you help when required and celebrate your success.

7. Set Goals

The symptoms of depression are physical as well as psychological. While medications can take care of the physical symptoms to a large extent, it’s the individual’s resolve boosts his or her morale. So, setting goals with time frames can be a good idea, especially if you are looking at improving certain areas that lackluster.

8. Laud Yourself

This is one condition that requires a lot of grit and tenacity from the side of the person going through it. Constantly keep commending yourself for where you are now. You might have a long way to go but be grateful that you have come a long way from where you started.

9. Help Someone Else in Need

This is a sure stress buster. When you help someone going through the same condition that you do or may be even some other traumatic experience, you get stronger. There is nothing happy than making someone happy.

10. Learn Something New

The human brain has this amazing capacity to restructure every time it learns something new. Learning something new can stimulate the brain cells to reorganize themselves. The neuroplastic nature of the brain enables individuals to overcome depression through conscious mindful practices and therapies.

The ebb and flow of depression can only be understood by those going through it. However, the fact that an individual decides to overcome this phenomenon is a winning sign in itself.  Dark as it may seem the light at the end of the tunnel is real. All it requires is self resolve, tenacity and a good proportion of self worth.

All of us have faced the situation where however hard we think; our minds just refuse to have that burst of creativity. Creativity is a sleeping dragon inside all of us. Those who choose to poke and tickle it can unleash its effects on the world and reap its rewards. Others, who sit idly under the impression that they are not creative, will always remain the same. So, for those of you who have not tickled your dragon yet, here are 5 simple yet effective ways to boost your creativity.

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1. Be Happy

This may seem like some pretty farfetched advice but it does have scientific evidence to back it up. Researchers have found out that people who consider themselves happy are more likely to be creative than others. Think about it yourself, have you ever come up with a mind-blowing idea when you are brooding over something that happened or when you are angry with something? The answer will 100% be no. When we are happy our minds are free and not restricted. A volley of different thoughts floods our minds. Reduce stress, breathe in and out and unleash the dragon.

2. Do what you love

Often, those who lose themselves into their work never struggle for creativity. Loving what you do is the key for that. Albert Einstein used to say that he used to be so involved in his work that he often forgot to eat meals. Being deeply involved will ensure that you are always able to think out of the box. Taking a break from your routine work and spending time doing what you love can also help the creative circuits in our brains. It can be as simple as listening to some music, playing with a pet, cooking something for yourself or even taking a stroll in the park. Unwinding our brain is important for helping it relax and think better.

3. Psychological Distance

Distancing yourself from the problem at hand is the best way to trick your brain into powering up all its engines and running on full speed. This is similar to how a doctor cannot operate on his own relatives. The stress of going wrong is so much that he will not be able to put in his best. Fundamentally it comes down to the fear of failing. When we do something for ourselves, we are always afraid of the consequences. Tricking our minds into believing that the problem we are working on is someone else and not ours will make us think better and more creatively.  One study shows that artists who thought that their paintings will be used by others to create stories created much more “creative” paintings than others.

4. Exercise and Yoga

We end up on a creative road block when our minds have been squeezed and crushed till the last bit of creative juices have been taken out from it. To rejuvenate ourselves and replenish these sweet juices, exercising and yoga helps. Exercising is proved to relax our minds and free it up a bit so that we can work on the task at hand with new vigor and stamina. A 30-minute exercise a day can do wonders to our productivity. Yoga on the other hand, relaxes your mind and body completely and relieves stress. This also improves creativity drastically.

5. Unplug

Relaxing our mind is as important as working it. The best ideas hit when we aren’t worrying about the problem and just relaxing. Isaac Newton came up with the groundbreaking discovery of gravity when he was just sitting under a tree. Sometimes the best ideas may come while we are in the shower or driving or just sitting by the pool sipping a drink. Sit back, relax and allow your brain to weave its own magic.

Everyone is a creative thinker. We just need to believe we are and the rest will fall into place.

They say that with the right mindset, no achievement is too big to consider. Well, that is very true. And the only unfortunate part of it is, the reverse is true as well, that with your own mind working against you, every task you accomplish seems petty. Inferiority complex is no less than a dire disease which can ruin your life forever. An inherent inferiority complex refers to one which makes you think all of your peers surrounding you are in some way better than you, and you will never be good enough for a particular thing. This can have various underlying reasons, most of which are not your fault and therefore are all the more painful. But fear not! That is the sole reason we here have compiled a list for you guiding how you can fight this creeping complex and have the better life you deserve to!

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1. Positive Self Talk

We’re here to realise the power of self, how much we can do to help every situation, beyond our belief. So unsurprisingly, our list starts with what we can do to help our inferiority complex. We can talk, talk, talk ourselves out of it, we can talk ourselves good into feeling better, we can emerge successful and happy at the end. Positive self talk can start from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, telling ourselves how we did well at work, how we saved a relationship, how we have amazing dressing sense…the list can go on and on. And by the end of a period, we will definitely find we have helped our situation a bit. So, the next time you are feeling down in the dumps, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you all to keep talking well to yourself.

2. Quitting Comparing

Comparison mostly happens without seeing the whole picture, and at a glance, everyone can seem either worse or better than you. It is misleading, and it can be dangerous to hinge your peace of mind on facets of other peoples’ existences. We just saw in the previous point, how our self can provide answers to everything – so why drag anyone else into this? Peace!

3. Praying

God has everything under control. He can provide all the answers if you ask him earnestly enough. He can show you why one person was created one way and another person differently. He can show you why you look, work, think the way you do, why somebody else does it differently, how they weren’t made to be compared in the and how the two are neither better nor worse compared to each other, and first place. Praying to God can take you right away from your inferiority complex, and fast. It is highly recommended that all of you do it for the best results.

4. Taking up a new hobby

You know how you can show yourself you are better than the thing you thought you weren’t good enough to get? By proving how you are unexpectedly good at some other stuff! Go ahead, go bungee jumping, or take violin lessons. Who knows, this time of life may actually emerge to be one of the brightest patches for you!

5. Writing

Writing is a measure that has been used throughout history for self betterment. And nowadays, writing is so much easier – with offline journals and online blogs, feedback is also always at hand. You can discover your own thought processes through it, and figure out where exactly you went wrong, so you can correct it the next time round. And there’s no saying that you won’t create great literature in the process!

Feeling inferior to a part of your life is a very damaging thing to feel, and there can be consequences which increase that feeling and make life harder. Some sure-fire ways are getting otherwise engaged and communicating your thoughts to feel better. If they don’t work, seeking out professional help is always the right way to go. Remember, close ones are and will always be there for you. Don’t hesitate to seek help and be happy!

Do you feel that somebody is mocking you? Do you think that your stammering problem is a piece of embarrassment for you in public? Do you think people only notice your face without make-up and laugh at you? Do you hide yourself behind the bars because you feel that you are not good as gold? Do you ever give a thought about raising your self-worth? Pointing yourself out for everything and misleading yourself by stabbing yourself with the low confidence dagger is what you will continue to do till the end, if you don’t develop self-esteem. Just answer me if someone scolds you for something that you have not done, then will you stand like a statue and nod or you will respond wisely? Have you come across this phrase when you face such situation, and your friends say “Dude, why didn’t you strike back? Don’t you have a little bit of self-respect left in you?” How do you feel then? So, if you are also one such coward and you are unable to figure out what fuels the advancement of such low esteem in you, here are 5 major reasons that will clarify your doubts:

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Have you have given a thought to the questions like what are you? Why have you come for on this planet? What is the motive that inspires you to live? What is the ultimate destination of your life? Have you thought in which direction is the river of your life flowing? What is it that you yearn for? Do you feel that the reason you took birth cannot be fulfilled because you are not dexterous enough to reach it? Have you been through a situation where you stop valuing yourself because the circumstances around you compelled you to believe so? Why do you never stop blaming yourself for the things that are not in your control? You know why I am pouring so many questions on your head altogether? The answer is that every day you come across miserable life situations which make you doubt your potentiality and as a result you develop low-esteem. But you must realize that you can only be a respectful fellow in your own eyes when you build self- admiration for yourself. Here are 5 reasons that tell you that self-esteem makes you a better person in life:

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