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8 Ways to Believe in Yourself When You Work for Yourself
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Believing in yourself can be a struggle for anyone. When you work for yourself, that struggle is often intensified.
As a self-employed person, you don’t have a boss or coworkers to give you professional feedback. You may feel like you’re working in a vacuum. You’re sometimes not sure whether you’re that good at what you do. All of this can really negatively impact your belief in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, though, who else is going to?
Whether you’re a freelancer with clients you work for or an entrepreneur with people working for you, believing in yourself is extremely important. Here are 8 tips that can help you believe in yourself when you work for yourself.
How to Believe in Yourself When You Work for Yourself
1. Think positively
A positive frame of mind is so very important in every aspect of life, especially when it comes to believing in yourself. If you don’t think positively about yourself, it can be hard to get motivated and pretty impossible to believe in yourself.
2. Surround yourself with positive people
Along the same lines, surrounding yourself with positive people can also help you believe in yourself. If your self confidence dips, you can turn to the positive people in your life to help lift you back up and feel better about yourself again.
3. Distance yourself from naysayers
It can be really hard to believe in yourself when you have someone in your life who doesn’t believe in you. If there are naysayers in your life, cut ties with them. Hopefully you’re not married to them. Life can be too difficult if you’re with people who only bring you down.
4. Learn from others
Find other people who’ve achieved what you want to achieve. Get to know them, in person if possible or even by just following them on social media. Not only will you learn how they achieved their goals, you’ll see that it can be done. This will help you see that you can do it too.
5. Do something you’re good at every day
Whether during work, during play or during relaxation, spend time every day doing something you’re good at doing. This will help you realize that you have skills and talent, which in turn will help you to develop and reinforce belief in yourself.
Related: What to do when you don’t have enough work
6. Meet short-term goals
Long-term goals are important. Short-term goals are important too. Keep a list of daily and weekly goals and check them off as you accomplish them. This will help you to be more productive, and you’ll be able to constantly see that you’re someone who can achieve your goals.
7. Take care of your health
Care about your physical health. Eat well, exercise, get enough sleep, take vitamins. Do whatever you need to do every day to make yourself as healthy as possible. Taking care of your body will help you realize you’re someone who’s got a lot of worth.
8. Get in a good frame of mind
Your overall frame of mind is ultimately the most important part of believing in yourself. Take steps to get in – and then maintain – a healthy, positive, balanced mindset and believing in yourself will be quite easy.
Believing in yourself in so important in all parts of life. It can mean the difference between succeeding or not succeeding as a freelancer. So believe in yourself!
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Images by Gerd Altmann and congerdesign
Sabina Lohr is a lifelong freelancer turned entrepreneur who created World of Freelancers to help others discover how to work for themselves online and live the freelance lifestyle. She’s always really enjoyed the freedom that freelancing brings, including several years on and off of working online while traveling and living abroad.
I also work for myself and sometimes it’s difficult to stay motivated. There are some great tips here. Maintaining a positive frame of mind is key for me.
Thank you! A positive frame of mind is very important in every situation.
Having a positive mindset and positive people around you can be really beneficial. I’m a student right now and not sure if I would work for myself but these tips are great. Great post!
Thank you, Anissa. Positivity is so important, I totally agree. I wish you the best with your studies!