85% of people suffer from low self-esteem, lack of confidence, or just a general feeling of not being “good enough.” That's 17 out of 20 people who are afflicted with enough self-doubt to make success difficult and life hard.
It starts in childhood: Something is said that makes you feel inferior, or you interpret something to mean that you are somehow “less than.” You replay it in your mind until it becomes a fixed grove winding deeply throughout everything you think and everything you do.
Low self esteem and lack of confidence affects your life on every level. But so does finally learning - deep down inside where it counts - to really, truly, finally love yourself. It's transformative. It's simple. But it takes lots and lots of practice to over write all of that bad programming you've endured in the past.
I just read a 99 cent Kindle book that can totally change the way a person thinks about him or herself. The author hit rock bottom. He was sick of the misery and the pain.
So he got out of bed, staggered to the desk and wrote the following in his notebook:
“This day, I vow to myself to love myself, to treat myself as someone I love truly and deeply – in my thoughts, my actions, the choices I make, the experiences I have, each moment I am conscious, I make the decision I LOVE MYSELF.”
After that moment he began telling himself, “I love myself.” He said it when he woke up, throughout his day and when he went to bed. He said it like a mantra in his head, over and over again.
Things gradually changed for him. His body healed. His life got better. Fantastic things started to happen for him. And through it all, he kept repeating to himself, “I love myself, I love myself, I love myself, I love myself.”
Even if you don't think this will benefit you, I want you to consider trying it anyway. You don't have to believe it, you just have to say it over and over again to yourself. It's a practice. You won't see a miracle the first day, but you will begin to notice subtle changes in the way you feel and the way you view your business, your connections and your life.
Despite being a quick read, “Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It” by Kamal Ravikant has much more to offer than I can write here. I highly encourage you to get it and share it with your loved ones.