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Do you know the difference between the two terms self-esteem and self-confidence? Self-confidence is having confidence in one’s abilities or skills. Self-esteem is directly related to how you feel about your inner-self. You can be both confident and inferior. There is a big difference between the two.
Let’s find out more!
What is Self-Confidence?
Self-Confidence is the way you tend to project yourself onto others. An experienced footballer will have confidence in his or her football skills. Football is a skill learned through practice. You can build confidence through multiple skills. Confidence grows through practice and performance seen by others. Confidence is how you feel inside and what other people notice in you.
However, even if you are sure of your abilities, you may not feel safe. People can tell you how good you are, even if they are still not sure about your strengths. Confidence is embodied in the skills developed and presented to the world.
What is Self-Esteem?
Self-esteem is the way one sees themselves from the inside and is invisible to the outside world. Self-esteem is the result of who you are and your personality. Self-esteem comes from believing in your inherent goodness. For people with ADHD, this seems fierce. The idea is that we came into this world and were created out of love.
If you want to have high self-esteem, you must feel love and worthy of yourself. You need to express your feelings of love for other people, such as your spouse, children, playing musical instruments, reading and expressing this feeling. Feel the kind of self-love in your heart.
Difference between Self-Confidence & Self-Esteem
- Self-Confidence depends on situation to situation. You might be good at counting, hosting a party, or playing basketball. At the same time, you may not have confidence in your ability to cook or sing.
- Self-Confidence is the level of confidence that enables you to complete a given task well.
- Self-esteem is your overall impression of yourself, and self-esteem is a form of self-love. Generally speaking, this is how happy you are with yourself. You can have a lot of self-confidence and low self-esteem. The situation may also be absolutely opposite.
- Self-confidence is easier to cultivate. Confidence is the result of preparation and success of your abilities and skills. For example, if you are fully prepared for your exam, you will have confidence in your ability to successfully solve all the questions and pass the exam. To some extent, you will build confidence in this field of education. This is how you build up your self-confidence.
- Self-esteem is impossible to build through achievements, but self-confidence can be built. A wall full of trophies and awards can help boost your self-confidence, however, it has little effect on your self-esteem and you might not feel internally satisfied with yourself. You can perform something successfully without appreciating your inner-self.
Cultivating confidence is work, but the work that needs to be done should seem crystal clear. If you want to perform a free kick safely, shoot 100 times a day until you have sustained success. By becoming a perfectionist in the ability you are constantly trying to improve, you will build confidence in that area of your life.
When you learn to love yourself more, you can develop high self-esteem. When you learn to upskill your abilities, you can develop high self-confidence.
How to Boost Self-Confidence & Self-Esteem?
1# Self-Acceptance
Regardless of the situation, accepting yourself more will help you feel good and better about others. We all make mistakes. By practicing self-acceptance, you can:
- Recognize that mistakes which are a part of learning
- Recognize that you can solve problems in different ways or change yourself to achieve different results
- Look at your behavior critically and try not to criticize
- Change yourself in your own situation.
2# Learn About Yourself
Pay attention to feelings or thoughts that increase or decrease self-confidence or self-esteem. Determine your strengths, skills and achievements.
Be honest and think about what you are proud of, no matter how small it is. Think about what they mean to you and why they are important to you. Think about what you want to change or improve about yourself, and how to do it.
3# Dynamic Thought Process
Pay attention to the language you use when talking to yourself or describing yourself to others. We are often kinder and more generous to others than ourselves. Acknowledge and challenge your inner critics.
Focus on making you appreciate your information and reject information that makes you feel negative about your value or skills. Use self-talk and positive affirmation to re-plan your thinking process.
4# Adapt to Changes
You may want to change your life to increase your self-esteem and self-confidence. Think about what you can change to improve how you feel about yourself. For example, you can change your studies, work, relationships, or develop new skills.
Develop a plan for you including:
- Define specific goals that will challenge you.
- Break down each goal into achievable steps.
- Build and evaluate your success after each step.
5# Follow Positive Influences
Spend time with people who like you. Avoid people who are always negative or critical, but don’t distance yourself from real social contact. Listen to everyone, but do not believe what everyone says.
6# Reward Yourself
Celebrate your achievements by practicing self-esteem and self-confidence. Take time to enjoy the experiences and activities you hold dear.
7# Share
If you can, please tell a good friend what you are doing. Their support and feedback on the changes made is invaluable. You can also help others see your own abilities and value.
The Bottom Line
Although self-esteem is usually formed at a young age, it fluctuates throughout a person’s life. Part of the reason for this hesitation may be a high degree of confidence in one’s own career, family role, or creative activities.
In short, don’t think that having self-confidence in a certain field automatically leads to better health. Building self-esteem means working hard on self-acceptance and self-esteem, rather than constantly trying to “repair” yourself by trying to do better.
