You really have to have a certain level of self-esteem and self-confidence in order to survive starting-up a business. If you don’t naturally have those gifts then you need to somehow manufacture them. Self-esteem is something that is within and it could be likened to self-love.
You really need to like yourself regardless of who else may not like you or any situation in your life that made you feel bad. We all have those trials and tribulations and we can’t let them scar us. We must just acknowledge them and the pain or chaos they may have caused, accept that there may be nothing we can do to change it and then just move on.
When we feel it creeping up it will help to have something to do that counters the emotion. It can be as simple as forcing yourself to smile and hold it for a few seconds; you might also say to yourself that you are a good and happy person and mean it. Take a deep breath to cleanse yourself of the static and move on. If you have the time even for a 5 minute walk around the building do it. Again, you will be removing static energy and calming yourself down – ‘freshening up’.
For self-confidence this is usually something that we gain by the things that we accomplish. You might need this in particular when starting a new business because it likely will take you a while to see any substantial, tangible results from the work you are doing. You really need to believe in yourself and know that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. It is not always easy and it may be a path that is strewn with obstacles, so you need to ‘keep your chin up’.
If you need to take a mental inventory of the things that you have accomplished or the skills that you have learned in your life, do that. Refer to this list whenever you feel a pity party coming on or you are starting to lose confidence in what you are doing. Even silly, simple things can work – such as you feel gratified after having organized your office, or did a great job cleaning the basement.
Remember the things you have learned on your job(s) that now you can call your skills and experience and realize you take them to the table in whatever you do. The most important thing that you can do for your new business is to stay motivated. The only way that you will stay ‘psyched up’ is if you keep really trying to make it work and you remember to feel a sense of accomplishment – not so much tied to results at the beginning, but totally related to your level of effort and determination.