31 Self-Esteem Journal Prompts for Boosting Your Self-Confidence

Have you ever heard of a self-esteem journal?

If you occasionally doubt yourself…well, this is something that most of us do.

But if you find you are constantly doubting yourself, or someone else points this out to you, it’s a good idea to stop and take notice, since it could be seriously impacting your life in ways that you aren’t even aware of.

Many of these patterns are subconscious and automatic—and still quite common.

The good news is that change is possible.

Nothing is as important as how you think and feel about yourself!

How do I know this?

  • I read about it in numerous psychology blogs and research papers.
  • I see it in my inbox as people share their challenges.
  • My coaching clients consistently struggle with this.

If you struggle with constant feelings of doubt and low self-esteem, this article is for you.

In today’s post, I’ll introduce you to self-esteem journal prompts—the simplest and most effective way to build self-esteem and boost confidence.

Self-esteem journal prompts will help you:

  • Learn about yourself
  • Like yourself more
  • Stop people-pleasing
  • Have healthier relationships
  • Be happier

Here’s what you’ll learn:

What are Journal Prompts?

Self Esteem Journal
source: pexels.com (Andrea Piacquadio)

You’ve probably heard about the amazing power of journaling.

And maybe you’ve even tried it.

But every time you sit down to write, you’re bogged down by thoughts and don’t know what to write.

You just can’t seem to organize your thoughts.

This is where journal prompts come in.

Journal prompts are simple statements designed to give you ideas on what to write about. Prompts help you get through temporary mental blocks by giving you an idea of which thoughts to focus on.

Why Use Journal Prompts?

Prompts are great for helping beginner writers get into the habit of journaling.

If you’re a beginner at journaling, prompts will help you with the problem of where to start.

Let’s say you want to start a gratitude journaling habit. You can use prompts to help you really hone in on things, people, and events you are truly thankful for.

Prompts help you break down a topic and allow you to focus on a specific aspect of the issue.

Prompts are useful no matter what your situation!

Experienced writers can use prompts to get through the occasional block and help them look at things from a different perspective.

Prompts also make journaling time more effective, helping us to focus and explore without rambling or changing topic.

Self Esteem Journal Prompts
source: pexels.com (Ivan Bertolazzi)

Where to Use Self-Esteem Journal Prompts

Where to journal is up to you.

You can use a bullet journal, notebook, phone, or a guided journal.

It all depends on what you want to achieve.

What is a Self-Care Journal?

To build self-esteem, you can use a self-care journal.

So often we get lost taking care of other people only to forget about ourselves. Our jobs, family, and social responsibilities all get in the way of our personal needs

Which is where self-care journaling comes in.

A self-care journal helps to remind you that you’re indeed important. It helps to fill your cup of wellness continually.

With a self-care journal, you can schedule, organize, and plan for:

  • Personal care activities to celebrate achievements.
  • Mental health care
  • Emotional care
  • Physical care
  • Professional care
  • Spiritual care.

You can also use the self-esteem journal prompts we’ll teach you as part of your self-care journaling.

What is a Confidence Journal?

Building confidence is a step by step process that involves a series of small wins.

Sentence-Based Self Esteem Journal Prompts

It’s important to remind yourself of these small wins when your confidence takes a dip. 

Which is where a confidence journal comes in.

A confidence journal helps you to recognize your accomplishments.

It also provides a way to analyze underlying issues that affect your self-confidence and self-esteem; therefore, result in feelings of well-being

If you’re ever feeling less than confident, just open up your journal to help you remember everything you’ve accomplished!

Don’t have a confidence journal yet?

You can use the prompts listed below to help you remember your accomplishments and, in turn, boost your self-esteem and confidence.

Self-Esteem Journal Prompts

Self- esteem journal
source: pexels.com (Liam Anderson)

You can use sentence-based prompts or more open-ended prompts.

Sentence-Based Self Esteem Journal Prompts

These self-esteem worksheets will lead you through a sentence completion exercise. Examples include:

  1. One thing I’m really good at is…
  2. I get my strength from…
  3. I am proud of myself when…
  4. An activity that makes me flourish is…
  5. It makes me feel great when…
  6. I’m afraid of…

Answering these questions will help provide quick insight into what makes you happy and what you struggle with. 

Related Articles on Self Confidence

Open-Ended Self Esteem Journal Prompts

A self-esteem worksheet is an example of a tool that offers a list of open-ended questions to be can be answered in more than one sentence.

If you have difficulty generating positive memories and thoughts about yourself, you can use the following prompts:

  1. What’s the best compliment I’ve been given? How did it make me feel?
  2. What makes me feel strong?
  3. What’s my most exceptional talent?
  4. What is my best physical feature? Why?
  5. Give example of a time I overcame fear.
  6. When was I recognized for accomplishments at work or school?
  7. What does the word confidence mean to me? How can I improve my confidence?
  8. What’s my most significant personality trait?
  9. What three daily events am I most grateful for?
  10.  What do I want to learn, improve, or change? How would I feel if you achieved this?
  11.  What are my five best character traits?
  12.   How would my friends describe me?
  13. What would I do if I wasn’t afraid of what people thought? How would it change my life?
  14. What would I do if I knew I wouldn’t fail? How would my life change?
  15. How can I implement more positive self-talk? What three daily things can I do to infuse more positivity in my life?
  16. Think about your favorite role model; what common characteristics do you share?
  17. Picture yourself winning a prestigious award. What positive things about you would you want people to know?
  18. Write your body a letter, thanking all parts for all they do for you. (Avoid body shaming yourself)
  19. What unique traits do I have that my friends are envious of?
  20. Why do I consider yourself worthy of love and respect?
  21. List five things you did to take care of yourself last week. How did you benefit?
  22. List five things you did for other people last week or even last month. How did you feel?
  23. What can I learn from my biggest win?
  24. What did I learn from my biggest failure?
  25. In which past situations in your life have I been a king, a warrior, and a hero?
  26. What does it mean to have high self-esteem? How would my life be if I had high self-esteem?
Self-Esteem Journal

Other Self-Esteem Building Activities

Positive Affirmations—repeating positive and encouraging phrases to yourself—build self-esteem.

When practiced regularly, positive affirmations help us to instill new beliefs about ourselves.

This results in positive thought cycles, greater self-confidence, and improved well-being.

Recent studies have found that the use of positive affirmations at the start of a school term resulted in improved academic performance in underachieving students.

Self-esteem journal prompts used together with affirmations can be a powerful, simple and inexpensive way to grow self-confidence.

When you become a people pleaser, you put other people’s needs ahead of yours.

You even pretend to like things and activities you can’t stand just to please other people.

Improving your self-esteem will require you to learn to say no to other people and things that don’t please you.

Forget what others want you to be and be yourself.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

As humans, we all make mistakes.

When we learn to view mistakes as opportunities instead of setbacks, we help ourselves to grow and learn.

By changing your view of failure, you’ll naturally improve your mental health and self-esteem.

Will you Continue Doubting Yourself, or Will You Improve your Confidence?

There you have it.

31 self-esteem prompts you can use to boost your confidence.

Which one will you adopt? Tell us in the comments below.

Related Content

Best Boosting Self Esteem Questions
The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide to Gaining More Self Confidence
Self Respect Vs Self Esteem – What’s the Difference?
Online Life Coach – The Complete Guide

About The Author

Bijan Kholghi is a certified life coach with the Milton Erickson Institute Heidelberg (Germany). He helps clients and couples reach breakthroughs in their lives by changing subconscious patterns. His solution-oriented approach is based on Systemic- and Hypnotherapy.

Bijan