Written by: Maya Zack, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
High self-worth means more confidence, resilience, and determines the quality of your relationships. These factors are essential for creating and succeeding in your business as an entrepreneur, whether you’re running solo or leading a team.
This self-value is completely dependent on your past experiences and upbringing.
It’s important to note, however, that self-worth is not the same as self-esteem & confidence, although there is of course a connection between them.
Self-esteem is more connected with your self-image and how you see yourself – which can sometimes go up and down depending on circumstances, emotional states and the approval of others.
Self-worth is not at all tied to abilities, skills, talents or value that you can ‘give’ to others. It’s about self-love and knowing you have value, for no reason at all.
You know you matter, simply because you’re here. This is independent of anything else. It’s about accepting yourself for who you are – both your strengths & weaknesses. So you might have high self-worth but you’re aware that you lack confidence in certain areas.
And this also goes the other way round – you might feel confident about your knowledge, talent or skills but suffer from low self-esteem overall.
For example, you might appreciate you’re intellectually gifted and have high self-esteem in that area but feel like you’re a failure because of lack of fulfilling relationships.
Or you easily express your skills and talents but feel like you need to show or hide particular parts of yourself in order to be accepted or approved of.
So self-esteem & confidence are tied to self-worth but they’re not the same.
A strong sense of self-worth allows you to build more confidence in any less-confident areas of your life & work.
This is because it allows you to believe that you’re able to get better and are worthy of it. So this enables you to have that much-talked about Growth Mindset. The most common underlying sign that you could benefit from working on your self-esteem is the thought or feeling that you’re just ‘not good enough’ – and it doesn’t matter in what area this is, whether your career & finance, relationships or wellbeing. Believing you’re not good enough
This is usually subconscious. You feel or think you’re not worthy enough.
In the back of your mind, you’re telling yourself that goals you consciously want are somehow ‘reserved’ for others who are better suited or deserve them more than you. This belief is a very damaging form of self-sabotage, which prevents you from communicating effectively, taking risks, making decisions, facing challenges, adapting to change, taking ‘failures’ as opportunities, learning new skills… all the things you NEED to be doing as a business owner.
So how to know where you’re at?
Here are 9 signs you’ve got high self-worth
1. You know you’re enough
You have no ‘I’m not good enough’ self-sabotaging beliefs. You know you’re deserving, just as you are, of achieving your goals and you have a firm belief in yourself making that happen!
You also know you’ve already won the grand prize to prove it – you’re alive!
2. You appreciate yourself
You celebrate yourself as you would a loved one, you remind yourself of your inherent value as well as your talents, skills and achievements or learning. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with acknowledging and appreciating yourself and your strengths.
Genuinely confident people know there’s a huge difference between self-love and being an arrogant narcissist nobody likes (‒ and truth is, they don’t even like themselves).
3. You build more confidence in your weaker areas
You acknowledge your less confident areas, and you don’t run away from them.
Thanks to your self-belief and motivation, you know your goals are possible to achieve. So you face these head-on and you love upgrading yourself.
4. You’re not concerned about what others think of you
You’re not so bothered by other people’s judgement, opinions or expectations. You know their opinions are their business, and you like minding your own.
You know it’s only your own validation you need.
Sure, you want to be able to be influential and perhaps likeable, whether when facing potential customers, communicating with business partners or managing your team. But you come into an interaction without the pressure of ‘needing’ anyone’s approval – and you can then connect on a far deeper or more productive level and also be free to focus on getting down to business.
5. You’re more authentic & have better relationships
Now that you’re free from others’ evaluations and wanting their approval, you’re able to express your real self, your true thoughts, feelings and opinions in your own way.
Instead of looking for confirmation, you more genuinely simply want to share, connect and contribute.
The more relaxed & comfortable you feel in yourself, the more you also allow others the same. So you’re not trying to control anyone nor are you controlled by them.
You’re respectful of others and more considerate of their needs, since you know your own worth – so you also know everyone else is just as worthy.
You’re not afraid of disagreements, rejection or criticism. You have no issues around admitting to or apologising for mistakes. So having a firm, confident ‘true self’ means, perhaps paradoxically, that you’re more flexible and open to dialogue, change or feedback, because you also respect others’ right to be themselves.
As a result, you’re actually likely to find you naturally attract more validation from others. And you become a better leader. This can feel rewarding, but again, at the same time you also know it doesn’t ultimately matter to your own opinion of yourself.
6. You’re able to handle challenging situations
As a business owner, there will be many… and you know you can trust and count on yourself and your own resources.
You’re resilient, you have courage to deal with whatever needs to be faced. You focus on things you can control or influence and learn from ‘failure’ (the only failure is the failure to learn!) without attaching any personal meaning to it.
You also feel comfortable asking for help. You see asking for support as a sign of strength, acknowledging you’ve still got more you can learn and areas you can be empowered in. Most high-performers have coaches & mentors.
7. You’re better at learning
A successful entrepreneurial mindset is always learning, always curious. You have no fear of ‘failure’, but instead recognise you’re always in the process of progress & development.
Without fear, limiting beliefs & negative self-talk in the back of your mind, your mind is much more open and available. It’s more like it used to be when you were a child – like a sponge –absorbing far more easily without interruption. Whether it’s new systems, skills, or knowledge – you’re up for it.
8. You enjoy better health
Low self-esteem & confidence very often means higher levels of stress & anxiety as you feel you have less control over things, less power to create what you want.
These can have a huge impact on your body. Whether sleep issues, burnout, lack of focus or motivation or anything else that’s impacting your wellbeing, this will heavily affect how you show up in and for your business.
With high self-worth you have more peace of mind, you’re able to relax and allow your body to physiologically rest, refocus, get clarity, and of course – have higher levels of energy to be more productive.
9. You’re more successful
Your positive and empowering beliefs about yourself, your motivation & energy driving your actions and keeping you focused while connecting better with others, mean you’re always moving forward, you take more risks and you see, look out for and grab more opportunities presenting themselves to you.
And because you no longer seek others’ approval, you have a much stronger sense of personal purpose and meaning – and this is your most powerful driving force, which is far more likely to lead to your success.
If you feel you’re struggling with self-worth and that it’s affecting your business and you want to finally change it for good, check out my life-changing 8-week signature programs Rise & Shine (if you’re starting out) or The Brilliance Zone (if you’re already established).
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Maya!
Maya Zack, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Maya Zack is an award-winning personal development & mindset coach, peak performance specialist and hypnotherapist.
Based in the UK, she works internationally, mainly with women entrepreneurs as well as with businesses to create high-performance teams that aim to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
She helps business owners, leaders and teams free themselves from mental & emotional habits or blocks that prevent them from experiencing more success or slow it down. She has developed her unique signature 8-week step-by-step mindset makeover programs for aspiring as well as already established entrepreneurs that change thinking & feeling patterns on the deepest, subconscious level, reprogramming their minds for success so that new habits & behaviours quickly become automatic and effortless.
She believes it’s so important to our lives, joy and fulfilment to be doing what we love and daring to go for it regardless of the outcome. So many are held back by fear and she wants to change that. She believes success happens from the inside out alongside mindset mastery, and that as humans with imagination, we have the incredible capacity to become free, powerful creators of ourselves and our lives.
