365 STEPS TO SELF-CONFIDENCE
Do you ever feel that your best is never good enough?
If you judge yourself as not good enough, no amount of achievement
will ever satisfy you. Ask yourself: ‘How realistic are the goals and
standards I set myself?’
There’s a paradox here. There’s nothing wrong with having high
expectations of yourself: low expectations lead to underachievement.
But impossibleones destroy your confidence.152Write down this sentence:‘When I fail to live up to my expectations or fall below the
standards I set myself, I tell myself...’Write down the first six thoughts that come into your head. Why are
you so hard on yourself? You don’t have to be perfect, you know.153Stop comparing yourself with others. You’ll always find people who are
better than you at some things, and people who are worse. The only
meaningful comparison is between you as you used to be, and you as you
are now. No one is better than anyone else, just different.
If you lapse into thinking ‘I’m not as... (attractive/clever/athletic etc)
as...’, stop it. Tell yourself, ‘I’m a wonderful, amazing being. I’m good
enough, and I’m grateful for it.’154