Feeling Good About Yourself Is As Easy As This 15-Minute Routine

Self-confidence doesn’t always come easy. There are plenty of factors that can stop you from feeling good about yourself that are beyond your control.

Some experiences known to cut down your self-esteem happen before you even realize they’re damaging your psyche. For example, if you grew up under the influence of someone disapproving or dismissive of everything you did or achieved, that probably reduced your self-confidence. The same goes for a parent or parental figure who simply didn’t pay attention — these childhood memories are still a factor in you feeling good about yourself today.

Of course, youth isn’t the only time when self-confidence can be shaped. Today’s media is also guilty of perpetuating a cycle of low self-esteem. Images of airbrushed, impossibly thin models have become the beauty ideal when they’re barely attainable expectations. This desire for perfection is yet another of the many causes for low self-confidence.

With these in mind, it’s time to break down the mental barriers you have built up over time. Something as simple as the following 15-minute morning routine can start your day off on a confident foot. If you take part in the routine each and every morning, you might just find you’re feeling good about yourself — better than you ever have before.

Drink a Glass of Water — Slowly

Starting your day with a tall glass of water serves many body-bettering purposes. First of all, it will restore your body’s hydration levels lost while you slept. When your body is well-hydrated, you function and feel better, so it’s essential in that way. Slowly sipping it means you’re starting your day out at the right speed, too: Fast-paced or rushed activities only make you feel less settled and secure, which won’t do anything to aid your quest for confidence.

Come up With a Plan

There’s nothing more stressful than waking up and having no clue what’s on for the day ahead. Even worse is going out into the world without having some semblance of a plan for what you’re doing that day. So, set aside a few minutes in the morning to figure out what it is you have to do and what you need to accomplish. Then, you can confidently check items off your to-do list.

Crank the Feel-Good Music

Everyone has at least one song that makes them feel really, really good. Figure out what that song is — or, even better, come up with a feel-good playlist — and play that while you get ready for the day. You could take it up one more notch by playing that music while you take part in an early morning workout, since exercise can really help build your self-esteem.

Make Your Bed

Making your bed does more than give your room an orderly appearance, although that’s a nice enough side effect to convince some people to do it. If you set your mind to make your bed every day and follow through, that means you start your day out on an accomplished foot. In other words, you’re priming yourself for a successful, feel-good day if you decide to do something and achieve it right off of the bat.

Dress to Impress Yourself

Sliding out of bed and into something that makes you feel comfortable is another key to maintaining a day’s worth of self-confidence. Beauty is only skin deep, of course, and building your self-worth will require more than a good outfit. However, ill-fitting, worn-out or otherwise undesirable wardrobe pieces won’t do anything to boost your self-esteem.

Make Up a Mantra

Morning is the perfect time to remind yourself what you love about you. Come up with a little mantra you’ll repeat to yourself each morning that brings to light these traits. You could also recite a pre-prepared mantra meant to build self-confidence. Reminding yourself “I am enough,” or “The only approval I need is my own,” will set the tone for a day that’s all about you — as it should be.

Think About the Good

In a similar vein, your self-confidence comes from all that’s great and wonderful about you. You can widen this net, though, and spend some time each morning remembering what you have and what you’re grateful for.

This is a practice that will cement you into a positive mindset for the rest of the day. Even if all the things that make you feel grateful aren’t directly related to you and your accomplishments, they’ll still make you feel good about your life and what you have. There’s no better state of mind than that for tackling the day ahead.

Stick to Your Routine Every Day

Finally, it’s vital to be steady in following your self-confidence routine. Consistency will be the key to results, and once you start to see that confidence trickling in, you won’t want to let it go. A quick feel-good morning routine is all it takes to hold onto that little light you find for years and years to come.