Your Self Worth is a Key Driver for Business Success
Your self-worth defines many things in your life and your business success. How you see your value determines how others see your value, how much business success you have, even where you price your products and services and the type of clients you attract. If your business isn’t where you want it to be, a good place to start looking is your self-worth.
Why We Struggle With Self-Worth
Human Design can provide us with awareness and clarity around how we are wired to operate in the world. In your Human Design Chart, self-worth lives in the Will center. If you are one of the 80% of people with an open or undefined Will center in your Human Design Chart, it is highly likely that you struggle with your self-worth and may expend a lot of energy trying to prove yourself. If this sounds like you, the first thing to do is to stop feeling like there is something in you that needs to be “fixed” or compensated for.
Sometimes, struggling with your self-worth can look like overachievement. You do more to achieve more than is expected. This often looks like success on the surface, but if overachievement is grounded in low self-worth it sets up a no win scenario. You will likely employ strategies that go against your energy type and are not aligned with your strategy. This may result in expending a lot of effort for little return other than the achievement. And keeping up that pace and feeling pressurized to constantly perform at extra high levels is a recipe for early burnout. When you get to the point where you can no longer keep up the pace, you begin to feel worse about yourself.
Struggling with self-worth can impact how much money you make. People who struggle to prove themselves often discount their prices unnecessarily or give too much away for free. If you have ever struggled with what to charge for your offerings and settled on a price that was less that what you really wanted, self-worth might be the reason.
Looking At Self-Worth Through Human Design
Here is the thing to remember about your self-worth. You are divinely designed to be perfect just as you are. You are just as you are supposed to be because you are here to fulfill a unique purpose in the world. This is true for each of us. There is no one else on the planet that is exactly like you. That alone makes you valuable. There should be no comparing because we are all unique and all have a unique role to play. Each of us is one piece of the puzzle we call the Human Story and without your piece the story is not complete.
The real question is are you living out the highest expression of your energy not a question of self-worth? Every energy in every Gate in Human Design has a high expression and a low expression so you might not be living your full potential if you are living out the low expression of your energies.
For example, people that expend a lot of energy trying to prove their worth can become frustrated, bitter, even angry. Sometimes feelings of jealousy arise or thoughts of sabotaging other people’s success. Thoughts like these can bring us down, make us feel like we are not good enough and we can use that energy to feel bad or beat ourselves up over what we perceive as shortcomings. Or we can use that energy in a higher expression to create possibilities that motivate us to achieve something. It all depends on how you value yourself and use your energies.
Sounds simple so it should be easy to increase your self-worth, right? No. There is a complication we live with every day. Society places more value on some energies and less value on others. There is a lot of pressure to conform to societal and work norms to be accepted. This can cause us to hide some of our valuable energies for fear of not fitting in. Over time, not being free to express who you truly are can take a big toll on you and leave you questioning your self-worth.
Here are 3 Keys to help you own your worth and elevate your feelings about your value and your self-worth.
- Look inside.
- Don’t compare yourself to others.
- Make a list of all your accomplishments.
Look Inside
To own your value is to become aware of all your energies and the gifts and talents they create in you. Often, we don’t see our gifts and talents as important because we use them so naturally everyday that we take them for granted. Awareness is the first step to owning your value and the best way I know of to gain that awareness is to look inside yourself through the lens of Human Design and rediscover the amazing human being you are.
As you increase your awareness of the energies that make up how you are wired to operate in the world and the gifts and talents you have that support you in fulfilling your purpose, explore how you are using your energies. Are you on expressing the highest potential of the energies, creating the highest possibilities for yourself or are you living in the low expression, hiding your gifts, limiting your potential, and decreasing your worth?
Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
The pressure in our society and in the world of work is so strong to conform, we constantly compare ourselves to others to see how we measure up. Stop! Remember, there is no one who is exactly like you. We are all a unique and valuable puzzle piece in the Human Story. The story cannot be completed without your puzzle piece. Comparing yourself to others is like comparing the taste and juiciness of an orange to that of a banana. They have been created completely differently, each having its own purpose and characteristics. There is no good and bad, no better or worse, no right or wrong. There are simply differences.
Being unique is a gift. Embrace it. Express it, don’t hide it. That will take a little courage as we have been taught all our lives to conform and fit in. We are taught how to dress, act, even think. There are more ways than one to do things. There are many ways to be in the world. As a society, we don’t honor differences. As a matter of fact, we look down on them, even use them as the basis to hate. Hate comes from fear. Being different is rich, not something to be feared.
Without differences there would be no innovation, no creativity, nothing original. We might not have music, art, or new technology. We enhance the world by bringing something new and different to it. You bring something new and different to the world too when you are you. Often what you bring to the world is the differentiator that makes your business stand out from the competition. Stop comparing yourself to others and trying to be like everyone else. Embrace the real you and spend your time bringing the real you into view in your business and everywhere in your life.
Make A List of Your Accomplishments
You are magnificent! If you don’t believe me, try this exercise. Make a list of your accomplishments at the end of every week, personally and in business. Every achievement is an accomplishment. It doesn’t have to be monumental like curing Cancer. Accomplishments come in all sizes. Unfortunately, often we only honor the big ones like finishing your graduate degree. All accomplishments are valuable. A small or medium accomplishment, like putting a smile on the face of a stranger, sticking to your exercising routine for a whole week, making a difference in a customer’s life, finishing a book all count, and should be celebrated too. Be generous with yourself as you create your lists. It is one of the best ways I know to remind yourself of and own your value.
At the end of every month review your weekly lists. See how accomplished you are? See the value you bring to the world every day in every area of your life? Now claim your value and own it. Don’t hide. Don’t settle. Be the amazing person you came here to be. Charge what you are worth to others and build an abundant business based on the value you bring in all of your business activities.