In every aspect of life, it’s believed that one has not only to believe in themselves but also work on their self-esteem, and without this, chances are that it can have a negative impact on your career and life in general. Learners, employers or any other person in society can have issues with self-esteem due to different reasons. Experts therefore, believe that working on it becomes vital as it helps one excel in their lives. Jean Marie Habimana, director of operations and partnership at Ready for Reading (RfR), the organisation in Kayonza says self-esteem is the opinion we develop about ourselves in terms of our ability to meet the many challenges of life, and achieve happiness and success, therefore coming up with strategies on how to improve becomes essential. What are the strategies? Habimana says to start with, one need to always come up with a list of your strengths or positive qualities that they possess. According to him, knowing your strengths helps increase your self-awareness, as it give you a new appreciation for traits you previously undervalued in yourself. “People who understand their strengths have a better grasp of what makes them unique and how their personality impacts their team. This also helps when it comes to improving their lives in general,” he says. Protais Turatsinze, an educator for adult education says apart from just focusing on your career and other life activities, it’s also important for one to develop consistent self-care activities. He explains that how one treats themselves everyday influences how we value ourselves, and this could be as simple as eating a healthy diet, getting optimal amounts of sleep, doing regular exercise. He notes that in addition to this, keeping a record of all of your accomplishments is also important. He says this could include trophies, awards, certificates, diplomas and many others. “I believe everyone has a habit of keeping track of all the tasks they haven’t had the chance to get to. As time goes on, it can eventually lead to a negative mindset about accomplishing goals. “Celebrating those small goals can induce happiness instantly. If you are celebrating your achievements, more of what you want becomes clearer,” he says. Meanwhile, Turatsinze says asking for feedback from people who know and appreciate you is also important as far as developing your self-esteem is concerned. He explains that this is one of the best ways to improve yourself, by simply becominng honest and accurate feedback from people who know and value you in all aspects of life. Habimana says indulging in activities you enjoy is also a very crucial strategy for developing self-esteem. This, he says could include anything you love doing like reading, advancing your career, working out and so on. Besides, he says quitting comparing yourself to others is important as this vice might lead to doubting your capabilities. Instead, he advises that one should strive at comparing themselves to themselves and look for the progress they have made in their pursuit of competence and success. Also, it’s recommended that one set themselves up for success as well as seek out situations and opportunities where you have a high probability of success.
