v i t i e s t o

5 A c t i
v e Y o u r
Im p r o
- E s t e e m
Self
www.theyarethefuture.co.uk
 Positive Goal Setting and
‘Open When…’ Letters

Goal Setting
Firstly, make a list of 3-5 positive goals that you want to achieve.
Setting goals and strategies about how to achieve your goals will
give you a sense of purpose. This can help you feel more optimistic
about your future. When thinking of these goals, it is useful to
remember to make them SMART.

MY GOALS:
 Positive Goal Setting and
‘Open When…’ Letters

‘Open When…’
Letters
For each of your goals, now you
will write two letters:

Letter 1
The first will be a letter to your future self when you are faced a
challenge or obstacle to achieving your goal. This should be a letter
of encouragement and a reminder of why you want to achieve the
goal. This will help build resilience (help you keep going when
things get tough).

Letter 2
The second letter will be a letter to your future self when you have
accomplished your goal. This should be a letter of congratulations,
and a reminder of all the new possibilities that you have created
for yourself. Congratulating and recognising your own
achievements will help to develop your sense of competence (the
idea that you are a capable person with skills and talents).

When creating your letters, you can make them as short or as long
as you would like and decorate them as you desire. Place them in
an envelope and write ‘Open When… (insert relevant situation)’ on
the front.
 Negative Belief
Challenge

Start this activity by writing out three negative beliefs that you
hold about yourself, it is also useful to include details about why
you feel this way. After completing this, go to someone that you
trust, such as your parents, siblings or friends and ask them to
comment upon each of your negative beliefs.

Discussing your negative beliefs with others can help you to

recognise them and realise that they are often overemphasized in
your head. With their help, try to change these negative beliefs
into more accurate ones (they may be neutral or positive), this will
help to build a positive outlook and develop the optimism
component within self-esteem.

Write the new beliefs down and display this somewhere you will
see it often. This will serve as a constant reminder to try to replace
negative beliefs with accurate and constructive beliefs and
whenever the negative beliefs start to creep back into your life,
you can re-read the new adjusted ones. This activity will help to
reduce "negative self-talk".
 Negative Belief
Challenge

MY NEGATIVE BELIEFS:

WHAT MY FAMILY & FRIENDS

SAY ABOUT THESE BELIEFS:

MY NEW/ADJUSTED BELIEFS:
 Self Appreciation
Project

For this activity, you can use the gingerbread man template below.
On the inside of the body, write all the good things that you believe
about yourself. For example, you could write about appearance-
based, personality-based, and/or achievement-based positives that
you associate with yourself. If you suffer from low self-esteem, you
might find it difficult to think of these. Remember that the positive
aspect does not need to be 100% perfect all the time, try to be
realistic. If you get stuck, ask yourself questions such as:

What do I like about who I am?

What skills or talents do I have?
If I could positively describe myself in three
words, what would they be?
If someone shared my identical characteristics,
what would I admire about them?

Once you have written these out, come together with your family
members or good friends and ask them to write down positive
qualities and words that they associate with you on the outside of the
gingerbread man template. Again, display this in a place that you will
see it often so that it can help you to appreciate yourself and remind
you of all the reasons that other people value you. It will remind you
of your skills and qualities that will help you flourish in life.
Self Appreciation
Project

ME


Motivational Jar

Find an old jar, or an envelope, or anything that you could put pieces
of paper into. You can decorate the outside of the container with
pictures, symbols, words, or positive things that make you happy.

Then, try to think of quotes that you have heard in the past, or use
Google to find any motivational quotes that inspire you or make you
feel good. Write these down on a piece of paper and cut each one up.
Fold them over and place them in the jar. At the beginning of each
day, take a quote out of the jar, this will encourage you to think about
something positive each day and start the day feeling inspired. Feel
free to take out a quote whenever you are feeling down or feeling
bad about yourself, to give you a boost.

To get you started, some of my favourite motivational quotes are:

1.“It’s not what you are that is holding you back. It’s what you think
you are not.”
2.“I am the best me there is, so I will make today my day.”


Motivational Jar

.Motivational quotes I have found:

Board of Achievements

The Board of Achievements can either be a bulletin board or just a

large piece of paper. Whenever you achieve or do something that
you are proud of, you can put evidence on this board. This could be
official, such as passing an exam and placing the certificate on the
board. It can also be unofficial, such as building up the confidence to
start a new hobby or developing a new skill. You can place a symbol
representing this or a receipt from a purchase associated with the
hobby on your board.

It is up to you to choose what matters when deciding what to display

on the board. There are no rights and wrongs! You may find unique or
quirky ways to display your achievements. The board will serve as a
reminder of your competence and your achievements. Whenever you
look at each of the achievements, you will recall the feelings and
memories associated with each. This can also be an incentive and
encourage you to strive to add more to the board.


Board of Achievements

Since you have come to the end of the workbook, below is a

certificate of achievement. You can print this out and it can be the
first thing on your board of achievements. Well done!

Certificate of Achievement
Awarded to:

Congratulations for successfully

completing this self-esteem
workbook.