Self-esteem is all about having a good perception of yourself. It can considerably enhance your quality of life and enable you to achieve career success on your terms.
Understanding your self-esteem will help you better understand how you view yourself, how you value what you have to offer others, and how to accept what you deserve. This article defines self-esteem and examines its advantages towards your career development.
What is Self Esteem?
Self-esteem is your assessment of your worth. It is the feeling and acknowledgement that comes from knowing your capabilities and values, and believing in your ability to achieve success and do what you set your mind to. This leads to a sense of self-worth.
Self-esteem helps you appreciate yourself more, which makes it easier for you to handle duress, worry, and anxiety at work. It also makes you see yourself as deserving of your achievements.
Failure, stumbling blocks or other issues that occur in your career will not faze you when you operate on a high level of self-esteem. Moreover, it will lead to better handling of criticism and help you get better at your craft.
Self-esteem is brewed from having a good sense of self-awareness as well as having a clear understanding of who you are, what you want and why you do what you are doing.
In fact, when you build self-esteem, it aids your career success.
Why Self Esteem is important for Career Development
Increased Professionalism
Your work will be of higher quality. You will be more effective and more productive if you feel good about yourself. Your drive to succeed at work comes from a firm belief in your own abilities.
When you know the ins and outs of your work, the feeling of high regard you have towards what you know you have to offer will help improve your delivery and make you known as a top leader in your field.
Greater Confidence
As a professional, a constant battle of impostor syndrome often occurs where you feel like a fraud because you feel you have achieved a certain feat too easily.
This impostor syndrome may come from an idea of perfectionism, leading to constant self-doubt.
Understanding your self-worth enables you to develop self-assurance, self-trust, and self-value, all of which support and enhance your total sense of self-worth and help you accept that you’re deserving of the accolades you receive from others.
Career development
There are times when people do not want to apply for opportunities because they do not see themselves as worthy of those roles even though they can function just fine.
Gaining self-esteem can help you grow in your work by enabling you to make better judgments as well as trust your judgment, which is a crucial leadership skill. This could aid you in getting a promotion, a pay boost, or new employment.
Positive state of mind
A famous Henry Ford quote states, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” Our input most times determines our output.
It is important to be gentle with criticizing your own work, minding the kind of information you feed your mind and the opinions you form about yourself. You need to equip yourself with the right kind of mindset if you want to advance your career.
When you have confidence in your judgments and skills, your mental health improves and you are more likely to compliment yourself than to criticize.
Improved connections with team members
A rise in self-esteem enables you to feel more upbeat, motivate yourself, and inspire others, which helps you develop relationships with other coworkers.
Conclusion
Believing in yourself proves to do a lot of things for you, especially at times when you don’t get support from others. Consciously working towards building great self-esteem will not only be beneficial to you, but also to those you work with since you can’t pour from an empty cup and being a source of inspiration to others is a positive place to be.
Rodiat Ajuwon is a graduate of Anthropology with a keen interest in human development.