Develop your self-esteem as a Project Manager
I strongly believe that most of project managers have the seeds of success within them, we were born to win. The only thing that they need to do is cultivate those seeds, water them, feed them, and they will start to grow.
However, I know many project managers who fail to reach their potential. One of the things that I observed is that they have low self- esteem. They do not believe in themselves, they do not believe they can learn and develop themselves.
To be more complete as a project manager, I believe it is important to realize that you have value and you are worth investing in it. I’d like to share with you some lessons I learned regarding self-esteem:
- Self-esteem is very significant key to a person behavior
- Low self-esteem puts a limit on our potential
- The value we place on ourselves is usually the value others place on us
If you want to develop your self-esteem, do as follows:
- Guard your self-talk: be positive talking to yourself. You are excellent, so treat yourself like an excellent person.
- Stop comparing yourself with others: You are unique, be focused on learning a little every day.
- Move beyond your limiting beliefs: Try new things, feel uncomfortable from time to time, you will learn something.
- Add value to others: Dedicate sometime to help other people every week. Yo will feel better. Today is a good day but tomorrow will be better.
- Do the right thing even if it’s the hard thing: do not care about the effort you need, you will be able to achieve it.
- Practice a small discipline daily in a specific area of your life: For instance I walk for one hour every day.
- Celebrate small victories: When you achieve something reward yourself, you deserve it.
- Embrace a positive vision for your life based on what you value: Be positive. Every day is a great opportunity to overcome any obstacle.
- Practice the one-word strategy: Dream, then plan and convert your dream into a reality.
- Take responsibility for your life: You are free and the only responsible for your decisions, commit yourself.
How to believe in yourself and be more complete as a Project Manager
- Make a list of all your personal qualities. If you have positive self-esteem, then this will probably be easy for you. If you don’t, you may need some more time creating the list. Do not stop until you have written a hundred positive things about yourself and then spend time every day reading the list to remind yourself of your value. Using that list as a springboard, decide on the one word that best describes you. Make this word your North Star as you begin adding value to yourself.
- Few things impact a person’s self-esteem more than the way they talk to themselves on a day-to-day basis. Are you aware of how you talk to yourself? Are you talking to yourself in a positive or in a negative way?
- Find a way to serve and add value to others in a weekly basis. Do something that uses your strengths, benefits others, and makes you feel good about yourself. Start small. I you are already serving, then do more.
Alfonso Bucero, MSc, CPS, PMP, PMI-RMP, PfMP, PMI Fellow