Loving and understanding yourself is the foundation of being a confident and happy person. Learning to love yourself exactly the way you are is so important.
You are probably thinking: what has this got to do with being a great project manager?
The answer: once you truly understand who you are; the more confident you are in being yourself, the better leader you will be.
It’s time to further explore how we think about ourselves. It seems such a simple thing to do, yet often we do not make time in our busy lives for this important activity. Exploring what we think about ourselves is an important step in understanding what is important to us, and what makes us tick!
Here are five tools that I highly recommend for self-discovery to renew solid confidence in yourself. Grab your journal or notebook, and start practicing these five self-love tasks:
Self-love Tool #1 – What Are My Best Qualities?
This may feel challenging at first. Start small. Jot down one thing you like about yourself, add another. Keep adding to the list. Remember this is just for you! Once you get the hang of complimenting yourself and saying positive things about yourself, you will find it easier to focus on what your best qualities are.
Self-love Tool #2 – How Do I Feel?
Keeping a journal is great way to explore who you are. As moods and emotions can vary daily, it is important to write things down and reflect on what you feel, and why you feel that way. Think about the situations and events that have happened, note them down. It provides a great release, and also allows for you to see what you were thinking in particular circumstances.
Jotting down what is on your mind before you go to sleep has also been proven by experts in health and stress relief to greatly assist in relieving us of our worries and helping clear our minds for a good nights rest.
Self-love Tool #3 – What Makes Me Happy?
Some things make us feel happy, others fill us with complete joy. Think about those moments that have given you the most joy. What is it about those times that made them so special to you, and made you feel so much happiness?
Some introspection is required here to identify moments from your past that made you feel happy, as well as times from your present day. Reflect on what has made you happy, what the emotion was and consider why it made you feel so good.
Self-love Tool #4 – What REALLY Matters To Me?
Forget the superficial stuff. I am talking about the aspects of your life that greatly feed your soul and make you feel complete. Narrowing down on what is really important in life allows us to focus on the bigger picture. This empowers us because when something ‘bad’ happens, we can take a moment to reflect and see that what happened actually is just a very small, insignificant moment in time.
The saying is: “don’t sweat the small stuff”. Deciding what the big things are for you in your life will help you shake away the small stuff more easily.
Self-love Tool #5 – What Do I Love About Myself?
Again, this might be confronting at first if you are not used to giving yourself positive reinforcement. However, the results can be truly fantastic! Everybody needs to love themselves exactly the way they are. I am talking about everything here: your body, your mind, your emotions, your environment. Learning to love yourself fully may take practice, but with time you will see the confidence that stems from your self-love and the many positive ways it enhances your everyday life.
Great Leaders Feel Great Confidence
One of the strongest qualities of a great leader is having high emotional intelligence. The more you love yourself and be comfortable with who you are, the better you will be able to connect with your stakeholders and your team. This in turn will allow yourself and your team to deliver great project outcomes for your customers.
Remember to check in with yourself regularly, practice focusing on these five self-love tasks, keep your journal going, get used to telling yourself positive things out loud.
If you find writing down or saying positive things about yourself difficult – that is a huge wake-up call that you need to work on. Dedicate time every single day to overcoming this block. Write in your journal. Talk out loud about what you love about your life and yourself while driving to work, while taking a walk, while showering or cooking dinner.
Never Forget Your Value
We are constantly reminded of what other people see as perfection, and for some ridiculous reason we have begun to accept society’s rules of how we should look, behave and feel.
It’s time to embrace our true selves! Being different to those around us is fantastic. It keeps the world interesting, it makes our days enjoyable, satisfying and puzzling. It’s important to acknowledge that we all have different opinions, and are wired in different ways. People are attracted to different things, enjoy different activities, find humour in different places.
Celebrate the best in you! The world has been gifted with only one of you! Once you begin to really appreciate yourself, you will see magic around you every single day.
Never forget your value. No one else can do what you do.
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Celebrating Women in Project Management 2019 Series!
Let’s shine a brighter light on all of the incredible women who surround us in the world of project management. Read more about the 2019 Celebrating Women In Project Management Series and how you can get involved here.
