We’ve probably all heard about “self-esteem” as a buzzword and gotten messages from friends, family, social media, or other sources about how important it is–and that’s certainly true. Self-esteem is paramount because it’s difficult to have good mental health if you don’t have healthy self-esteem. This means that it is every bit as important as people say. But what exactly is self-esteem? And how do you cultivate it or improve it? 

While self-esteem has many components, it comes down to one thing: how you feel about yourself. Do you like yourself? Do you believe that you are worthy and valuable? Do you respect yourself and insist that others do the same? Those all contribute to healthy self-esteem (a phrasing that I tend to prefer, compared to talking about “good” vs. “bad” self-esteem, though I sometimes use those terms).  The components of self-esteem include one’s sense of identity (do you know who you are?), one’s sense of purpose (why you do what you do), a feeling of belonging, feeling secure (mentally, physically, and emotionally), and feeling competent at one or more things.

Since self-esteem is so important, it makes sense to talk about its components and what causes it to rise and fall. The various components of self-esteem–identity, belonging, security, competence, and purpose–are affected by things that happen throughout life. Having a healthy amount of all five components is necessary to have good self-esteem. You cannot have a   critically low level of one component and have healthy self-esteem no matter how high you score on the other components. Adverse events in childhood (bullying, trauma, detached parents or relatives, for example) are a common cause of low self-esteem.  Adult-onset cases of low self-esteem can also occur due to life events such as job loss, setbacks on a career or personal goal, health crises, divorce, and so forth.

Regardless of the causes of low self-esteem, for many of us, there are things we can do to improve it.  However, I also want to note that there may be times when we can’t think, read, journal, meditate, etc. our way out of low self-esteem or mental health struggles–and for those of us in that situation, it is so necessary to know that you don’t have to do it yourself.  It’s OK to reach out for help from a trusted, expert health/mental health professional. (My expertise is in coaching and I’m a true believer in the power of coaching to help folks get “unstuck” or find clarity on their goals and a roadmap to achieving them. But us coaches are also trained to recognize that coaching is not therapy or mental health care and that there are some circumstances that a licensed mental health professional is best-equipped to address.)

That’s all to say–use some of the below tips to reflect and do some “DIY” self-esteem work, but also take care of yourself and seek additional professional support and help if you need it!

Recognizing Self-Esteem

Before you can learn how to raise your self-esteem, you need to first be sure that you are dealing with low self-esteem. How can you tell if someone has low self-esteem? These are the most common symptoms, but this list is by no means comprehensive.

• Self-Criticism and Denigration. Being constantly negative and self-critical is one of the surest signs of low self-esteem. It is not okay to put anyone down, and most especially not yourself. This includes all forms of denigrating oneself, including in a joking fashion.
• Thinking Other People Are Better Than You. Every person is valuable and has inherent worth just by virtue of being human. No one person is better than any other. Feeling less than or less valuable than any other person is a flashing warning sign about low self-esteem.
• Lack of Boundaries. Some folks who struggle with boundaries tend to be chronic people-pleasers. Not being able to say “no” to something you do not want to do or take on is its hallmark, whether at work or in personal affairs. This can also show up in an inability to end or set firm rules around toxic or abusive relationships.
• Focusing On The Negatives. Is everything negative? Is there no good to be found in anything? Of course not! But when you have low self-esteem, it can seem that way. Those with low self-esteem tend to focus exclusively on the negatives and cannot see anything good.
• Fear Of Failure And/Or Criticism. The fear of failing and of not being liked are tied together in those with low self-esteem. They are often afraid to do anything for fear that they will fail. Likewise, the thought of being criticized for anything can send many with low self-esteem into a panic or a spiral of shame and self-hatred.

Interrupting And Changing Negative Thought Patterns

One of the first steps to improving your self-esteem is to interrupt the patterns that help keep it low. When you have low self-esteem, many of those thought patterns are negative. You have to interrupt those patterns if you want to raise your self-esteem. Then you have to change them. The first step in this process is to begin to pay attention to those patterns. Start noticing your self-talk. That is the way you talk to yourself about yourself. Notice what sets off a pattern of negative thoughts about yourself and where those thoughts tend to go. What sends you into a shame spiral or makes you feel worthless? What are the patterns?

Next, you have to learn to interrupt those thought patterns when they start. You have to consciously stop them and go “No–this is not true,” and add something that is true. You have to do this over and over again. Sometimes you will fail, especially at first, but you just have to keep going and try again. As you work through this process, you will begin to lay down new patterns and form new connections to replace the old.

Stop Comparing Yourself To Others

It has been said that comparison is the thief of joy. Well, it also steals self-esteem. Nothing will kill your self-esteem faster than comparing yourself to another person, especially someone you feel like you are in competition with for one reason or another.

• Remember That You Do Not Know Everything. All you know about this other person is what you see on the outside. Even if it is a friend or relative, you do not know their thoughts and feelings. There are things they do not tell you. They have struggles and challenges you know nothing about. They might even be struggling with low self-esteem themselves. (I’ve often been surprised to learn that someone who–to me–seemed abundantly and effortlessly confident was in fact having the same self-doubts about themselves that I experienced myself!)
• Avoid Your Triggers. What causes you to play the comparison game? Chances are, it only occurs in certain situations and does not happen every day. Think back to the times it has happened and see if you can spot any patterns. Look for specific people and/or specific events or social functions. When you figure out what triggers it, start avoiding those situations until you have improved your self-esteem. 

Practice Accepting Yourself

All people share certain things in common, but we are also all unique. Each human being is born with a combination of skills, talents, interests, personality characteristics, and so forth that have never been seen before and will never be seen again. When you have low self-esteem, it is unlikely that you accept this premise, and even if you do, you probably still do not think much of yourself as a unique person.

Start to change this narrative by making a list of your good qualities, strengths, and things that make you unique. After you have made the list, read it several times each day, for example once in the morning and again in the evening. Repeat it whenever you feel down on yourself.  Work on forgiving yourself for not being perfect. No one is, but somehow you have gotten it into your mind that you should be the exception and are comparing yourself to an impossible standard. Look yourself in the eyes in a mirror and say “I’m not perfect, but no one is. I’m fine the way I am.” (It might feel a bit silly or unnatural at first, but I’ve practiced affirmations and mantras more over the past few years, and it’s surprising how powerful of an effect they can have!)

Learn to let go of the things about yourself you cannot change. You cannot change the past, or your natural talents, or certain aspects of your body or personality. Stop trying. It is just going to hurt your self-esteem even more. As you do all of these things, they will slowly come to be a part of your makeup and affect your subconscious. As time passes, you will accept yourself more and more.

I’ll be honest, this work isn’t easy! It can be difficult to heal from adverse childhood or adult experiences that affect our self-esteem.  Those persistent, ingrained thought patterns are hard to disrupt. Like other aspects of self-improvement, self-esteem is a journey and building healthy self-esteem takes practice. Challenging ourselves can be good for our growth, but make sure you’re giving yourself grace and patience as well. I’ve struggled with self-esteem too, though I’m proud of the progress that I’ve made–with the support of friends, family, colleagues, coaches, and mentors–and I’ve seen how better self-esteem gives me the confidence I need to step up to my full potential in my work and in my business.  What wins are you celebrating in your self-esteem and self-improvement journey?      

 But what is self-reflection, exactly? Self-reflection is the act of evaluating our own thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and actions to better understand ourselves. Self-reflection is an excellent tool to evaluate any circumstance we find ourselves in to consider our role in the situation and what’s in our control to do differently in the future. Looking within helps determine what we may be doing in any given situation that is causing us friction in our lives. Self-reflection can help with:   

• Better understanding your current situation
• Helping you take ownership of the situation
• Making an effective plan to improve or take action on something
• Setting healthier boundaries with others
• Increasing your self-esteem

It may not seem natural to evaluate yourself and look for ways you can change, but it is a powerful way to improve your health, relationships, and overall quality of life. Understanding that you have the power to analyze your role in nearly every scenario and situation you’re in can help you grow, mature, and live a healthier life.

Looking Back is Just as Important as Looking Forward

We’ve all heard the encouraging mantras designed to keep us moving forward in life: “keep your eyes on the prize,” “inhale the future, exhale the past,” “the windshield is larger than the rearview mirror,” and so on. These powerful statements are designed to motivate you to leave the past behind you and focus on the future.

Looking forward is important. In some ways it’s true, you can’t change or control the past, but perhaps you can change and control the future. When we feel stuck, scared, or overwhelmed trying to manage life, it’s important to keep moving forward. Step by step, we can overcome any setbacks and achieve our goals. Some great ways to keep moving forward include:

• Take it one day at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too much at once. Making changes in any area of life isn’t easy. Take one day at a time and be proud of your progress.
• Stay positive. Your mindset is powerful. If you adopt a positive mindset about change you can manage the bumps in the road as a necessary part of evolution.  (Having said that, know that it’s also OK to feel frustrated, “stuck,” or sad sometimes too. “Positivity” shouldn’t be a source of stress or something you feel pressure to maintain if it’s not your authentic mindset in any particular moment.)
• Slow and steady is the perfect pace. Taking things one day at a time can help you keep a steady pace with change and keep your eyes focused ahead towards progress.

Looking forward is important and powerful when it comes to making changes or reaching your goals, but there are times when looking back before going forward is actually just as, or even more, important.

We often discourage looking back thinking it’s useless when it comes to progress. Dwelling on the past or ruminating over things that have already happened is often seen as a waste of time, but to a degree, it’s important and helpful.  Looking back will help you better understand yourself: We often live our lives moving forward but understand them looking back. Self-reflection provides an opportunity for analysis on our thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes. This can help us better understand why we act, react, or do the things we do. Looking back can help us determine if we want to do things differently moving forward.

Looking back can also figure out if there are patterns or habits that aren’t serving you anymore–and give you a starting point to change those patterns. We all have some regrettable memories in our past, times that maybe we missed the mark or suffered an unexpected outcome. In the moment, we may not have realized how our behaviors or thoughts would impact the situation but looking back it’s evident. Self-reflection can help us recognize where we contributed to an unwanted outcome and make a better plan moving forward.

While it’s very important to keep moving forward when it comes to change, it’s also important to strategically look back to evaluate and analyze what needs to change for a successful future. Self-reflection is an excellent tool that can keep you from taking one step forward and two steps back.  But how does one self-reflect? What does that process look like?

Asking Open-Ended Introspective questions? The Key to Healthy Self-Reflection

Knowing that self-reflection is a good idea is the first step, the second is discovering how to self-reflect.

• Self-Reflection Requires You to Pause. In order to self-reflect, you’ve got to get quiet. Healthy and effective introspection requires hitting the pause button and stopping the chaos long enough to get a clear head that can process important information. Getting quiet and concentrating on yourself is important so you can uncover the ways you may be getting in your own way and falling short of your goals, hopes, and dreams. One of the best ways to self-reflect is asking yourself open-ended questions. Asking these types of questions can help you fill in the blanks or explore things in a deeper way. Here are some examples of questions that are great for introspection: What motivated my actions? What factors contribute to this recurring pattern? What prompted their reaction towards me? What shapes my current thought processes? By inquiring into motivations behind your actions this can help you stop and think about the things that trigger you into behaviors or habits you want to change or wonder why certain things keep happening. It’s important to look for clues that alert you to what’s going on deep down.
• Keep a Journal to Help with the Process. Journaling is a great way to keep track of your self-reflection and understand the reasons behind the situations and outcomes you experience. You can simply ask yourself exploratory questions and record your thoughts in your journal. Over time you can see patterns develop and use them to make changes. Journaling has helped me get my thoughts and feelings down on paper, and I’ve found that sometimes the act of writing something out lets thoughts flow that might otherwise not have surfaced if I was simply mulling things over in my head. (I have lots more thoughts about journaling–look out for that as a blog-series topic in a future month soon!)   

If you’re ready to do some healthy self-reflection, start by asking yourself some open-ended introspective questions? These questions have the power to unlock a world of information that can help you change the way you think and act, making it easier to achieve your goals.

I hope this post has given you some insight into why self-reflection is an important part of self-improvement and how to begin self-reflecting. If you’re still feeling a bit stuck, coaching can be a great way to kick-start self-reflection with some support and a framework (coaches are trained and skilled at asking some of those “powerful questions” that prompt self-reflection) but the beauty of self-reflection is that you can do it anytime, anywhere, and with anyone or in solitude with yourself–whatever approach feels right for you. Try taking a few moments this week to self-reflect, and feel free to let me know what you learn and how it feels! 

But how do we do that, exactly? What does it mean, to have a “strength,” and how can we identify and make the most of them?      

Strengths and Passions Aren’t the Same Thing

When it comes to strengths, they aren’t the same as passions. Strengths are attributes that each of us has that come easily and may set us apart or give us an advantage. Passion is a focus of energy into an activity that goes well beyond what is usually required. Strengths pertain more to abilities while passions are associated with interests.

• You Can Have Strengths that Aren’t Passions. You can have abilities and strengths that aren’t passions. You may be extremely organized but have no passion for organization. For some, being organized is simply utilitarian. You can also find the chemistry of cooking very easy but prefer to get take-out. Every tall person doesn’t want to play basketball, and so on.
• You Can Have Passions that Don’t Include Your Strengths. Sometimes our passions don’t include our strengths. We may be passionate about dance but have two left feet. We could be intrigued and love art but have no ability to draw. Passions don’t require perfection as much as they require interest. Sometimes our strengths develop when we pursue our passions out of the exposure that comes from engaging in a passion project. You may be able to learn to draw as you dive deeper into your love for art.          
• Sometimes Passions and Strengths Collide. Sometimes we breathe the rare air where our passions, talents, and strengths combine. Under these circumstances our passions jive with our skill sets and we can wonderfully, effortlessly, and seamlessly create or engage in the things we are passionate about.
• Pursue Passions and Strengths Equally. Even though passions and strengths are not the same, they deserve to be pursued and celebrated equally. Considering what strengths you have and choosing to maximize them and play them to your advantage is smart, but it’s equally important to pursue your passions whether they encompass all of your strengths or not.

Your strengths and your passions add to your personal enjoyment in life and your self-esteem. Doing things that come easily or building a life and career around things you do well… and are passionate about, is ideal. This is a true form of working smarter, not harder. In the end, if you focus on doing things you love, whether you are great at them or not, you’ll increase your overall satisfaction in life, reducing depression, anxiety, and increasing your sense of personal satisfaction.

Tools To Identify Your Top Strengths

Everyone has strengths, though not everyone is aware of them. Knowing your top strengths can increase self-awareness and make it easier to make wise decisions in your best interest. Strengths are innate abilities that give us an advantage and generally require little effort. We have strengths in all areas of life, including:

• What we know – knowledge based strengths
• What we do – transferable skill sets
• Who we are – personal abilities

Knowledge based strengths give us an edge: the more you know about a specific subject, the more advantage you have. Specialized training, education, and hands-on experience all enhance knowledge. Transferable skills set us apart. What you can do easier and better than others gives you an advantage. Whether you have an innate talent for artistry or have mastered public speaking over time, your talents become an asset that sets you apart.  Personal abilities come from within: you were born with personal character traits and a unique personality that operates like no one else. This couples with your personal life experience and shapes how you view and operate within the world. The combination of your mindset and unique perspective affords you with special skills and talents others don’t have.

Assessing your Strengths

If you aren’t certain what strengths you have in these areas, there are tools you can use to find out. Taking a moment to discover your strengths can help you develop them further and use them to your advantage as well as help you notice any deficits you may want to overcome. Here are some easy resources to use that will identify your strengths.

• Strengthsfinder Testing. There are a range of tests that break down strengths into categories and offer a range of your top skill sets. High 5 Tests is a free online test that uses a rating scale to assess skills and generate your top five skill sets.
• Meyers Briggs Test.This test is a time-honored test designed to help people identify how they see the world and make decisions. The test is a self-reporting questionnaire style test and results in assigning a combination of categories that represent introversion or extroversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving.

Knowing your strengths gives you an advantage and helps you capitalize on the things you do well. Taking the time to assess your strengths makes sense when there are a wide variety of tools available.

Hidden Strengths You May Not Give Yourself Enough Credit For

There are strengths we possess that seem obvious. Thanks to formal education, we generally know areas where we are gifted. We usually know if we are strong in math, science, art, reading, writing, or other subjects.  Our careers often highlight our transferable skills. Based on our work, we know what skill sets we have that come easier for us than others. We may be excellent at conflict resolution, marketing, communication, or leadership, but we often have hidden strengths we may not give ourselves credit for.

Our personal abilities tend to be character traits, behaviors, and innate ways of being that seem so normal we don’t value them as strengths…but they are!  Here’s why:

• Your personality can be a strength
• Your character can be a strength
• Your habits can be a strength

These types of strengths tend to be downplayed because they feel like core values and tenants and may not be considered traditional strengths, but they have immense value and add to your skill sets. Here’s how:

• Your Personality Has the Potential to be a Powerful Strength. When you have a healthy personality, it is definitely an advantage. From having a great sense of humor to having empathy for others, your personality can make a large difference in how you get along with others. People who are easy to be around and generate positive energy have an easier time in work and in the community.
• Your Character Has the Potential to be a Powerful Strength. The strength of your character and how you carry yourself can be a significant strength. Having a strong moral compass or refusing to gossip can set you apart from other people. Great leaders tend to have strong character which helps them build solid teams and earn trust from their subordinates. In your personal life, strong character can help you keep healthy friendships and raise healthy families.
• our Habits Have the Potential to be a Powerful Strength. Your good habits are part of what brings you success. From being organized to the ability to create and stick to a schedule, there are unlimited habits that give you an edge. These habits easily translate to strengths you may not be aware of. You may be committed to a healthy eating lifestyle or make exercise a mandatory part of your daily life. These unique habits are strengths that should be considered when thinking about what sets you apart from others. When you think about it, there are probably many hidden strengths you haven’t given yourself enough credit for. It’s time to recognize them as assets and maximize them to their fullest.

I hope this post has given you some ideas for how to recognize and optimize your existing strengths! I know it’s not always easy…especially when our “inner critic” tries their best to make us doubt our strengths!  I had my own “aha” moment years ago when I realized that training and meeting facilitation are some of my biggest strengths.  Being a more introverted person, for a long time I associated facilitation with public speaking, which is an area where I didn’t feel so strong or confident. But I realized that being a good facilitator is as much about listening as it is about speaking–maybe even more so–and one of my hidden strengths was my ability to listen, synthesize information, and make my audience feel heard. Since then, I’ve “optimized” that strength–so much that I not only use it in my day job but I built a business around it.  What are some of your existing strengths and how will you make the most of them?    

Not all learning is academic. In fact, self-improvement is an important aspect of lifelong learning; it involves learning about ourselves, developing awareness and being attuned to ourselves, and taking action to change or improve the things about our lives that help us achieve our goals and overall satisfaction.  As it happens, September is also Self-Improvement Month, so I’m excited to talk about the concept of self-improvement in this month’s blog series. This week, I’ll be focusing on an important factor that ties into our self-improvement journey: habits. Habits are things that we do on a regular basis, enough so that they feel more like second nature to us than something we’re making a concerted effort to do.  These habits, in turn, are what helps us support and maintain our self-improvement goals, whatever those may be.           

Three Steps to Creating New Habits

We all have times in our lives where we intentionally want to change our behavior for the better and create new habits for ourselves. This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water. Or it could be moving more and taking the dog for a daily walk. Or it could be work related, or spiritual, or… There are so many areas in our lives that could be improved and made easier if we created new habits.

Getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done. As with many other areas of life, making changes to our habits can be challenging.  I want to take a moment here to note that when I talk about habits, I’m intentionally avoiding labeling them as “good” or “bad.” It’s common to see habits categorized this way—in content about health, wellness, personal finance, and many other areas—but as a coach who’s committed to a nonjudgmental approach, I generally don’t think this labeling is helpful. It’s not for me or anyone else to deem a habit “good” or “bad,” instead it’s up to you to decide whether a habit that you have is serving you or standing in your way, and whether and how you might want to change it or set a new habit.            

So, getting back to creating new habits: let’s break it down into a three-step process that makes it easy to follow until we’ve internalized the new behavior and made it a true habit – something we do automatically without having to think about, like brushing our teeth.

• Decide What You Want To Do. The first step is to decide what you want that new habit to be. Be as specific as possible. Don’t just tell yourself you want to move more. Instead say something like “I will go for a 30 minute walk every single day.”  (If this sounds familiar, that’s because it draws on the “S” in SMART goals that we discussed in a blog series earlier this year, and as with goal-setting, specificity in habit-setting is key.) Deciding what your new habit will be and committing to when and how you’re going to do it, is half the battle.
• Remind Yourself To Get It Done. The next few days should be smooth sailing. You’re motivated and excited to get this done. Sticking to your new habit isn’t an issue. But a few days in you’ll notice that it’s easy to slip back into old habits.  Maybe it’s raining and you don’t really want to go out and walk. Or maybe your day just gets away from you. This is when it’s important to have a daily reminder. Set an alert on your phone or add the new habit to your daily to-do list for a while.
• Make It Part Of Your Routine Until It Becomes A Habit. Which brings us to the last step. It takes some time before a new behavior becomes a true habit. Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage. Even before the new behavior becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders. Make that daily walk part of your after-dinner routine.

The Inverse Relationship Between Habits and Willpower

It can be hard to keep up willpower, especially when trying to set a new habit, or when that habit involves doing some things we aren’t that excited about in the moment—but that we know will benefit us and our goals in the long term. But what about getting up to take the kids to school every morning, brushing our teeth or going to work every day. Those may not be our favorite things to do either, but we do them daily without the risk of running out of willpower.

That’s because they have become habits. They are so ingrained in what we do and who we are that we do them without even considering skipping a day or a week. We don’t have to make a conscious decision each day to shower or drive to work. It’s just what we do – a habit. When you start to think about it, there is an inverse relationship between habits and willpower. When you first want to build a new habit, it takes a lot of willpower to get it done day in and day out. As you start to establish that habit, it becomes easier and easier to do until you don’t even have to think about it anymore.

While we’re in that transition from willpower to habit, we can use tools to make it easier. Use a to-do list or set a reminder to help stay on track. Find an accountability partner—another tactic that also helps with longer-term goal-setting–so the two of you can motivate each other and help bolster that willpower when it starts to fade after the first enthusiasm wears off. Even something as simple as laying out your clothes the night before and keeping your sneakers by the door will make it a little easier to go out for that walk or run, for example.  Do what you can to help your willpower along until you have made the new behavior a true habit. After that it’ll be easy and automatic and you’ve created a new lifelong habit.

How Long Does It Really Take To Create A New Habit?

You might have heard the common saying that it takes 21 days to form a new habit—but that’s kind of an odd and arbitrary timeframe, isn’t it?  So how long does it really take to create a new habit? The answer is that it depends.  Everyone’s situation is different, and I’m not a fan of attaching one-size-fits-all timeframes to new habit-creation, since that runs the risk of causing us to put pressure on ourselves or feel guilty if we haven’t embraced a new habit by someone else’s random deadline

It can also depend on how big of a change you’re making in moving from your old habit to the new one.  If it’s your habit to go to bed at midnight and you want to make a new habit of being in bed by 11:00pm, for example, it might not take long to make that relatively small change.  But if you’re looking to move toward, say, a 9:00pm bedtime, that might be more challenging and take longer (especially for folks who have caregiving or other home responsibilities that take up time in the evenings after work).

When we ask that question, what we really want to know is how long do we have to tough it out before it gets easier? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel where we don’t have to try so hard anymore? In other words, when will this new behavior become automatic?

While it will be different from one person to the next and even from one habit to the next, there are a few things to keep in mind. It’s easier to make a new habit than get rid of an old one. Be prepared to work a lot harder to give up checking your email every two minutes, if you’re trying to get out of the habit of being so tethered to your computer or mobile device. Whenever possible, try to replace an old habit with a new one. For example if you’re wanting to give up coffee, brew a cup of herbal tea in the morning and throughout the day when you would usually reach for your cup of joe.

Habits will form faster if you stick to the same time and environment each day. Instead of going for a walk whenever, keep your sneakers next to the door and schedule your walk every day at 6pm, right after dinner for example.  A constant reminder of why you’re trying to change your behavior is also helpful. Remind yourself every day that you’re exercising so your body stays strong, and you can go play with the kids or grandkids in the yard. Or that you’re cutting down on TV-watching or social media-scrolling time so that you can make faster headway on your market research and drafting a business plan for that entrepreneurial venture you’ve been dreaming of for years.  Yes, it will take some time to make new habits and replace old ones. But it will be well worth it in the end.

While it will be differI hope these tips on creating new habits will be helpful and inspiring to you! (I’ve used these myself and continue to use them as I make new habits of my own.) Next week, I’ll be back to discuss how to optimize our strengths (yes, we all have them, even if there are times where we’re in a rut and it’s hard to recognize our strengths!) in service of our self-improvement goals.