Steps
1. Understand whether what you want is achievable or not. Everybody has a beauty ideal, a better looking self they want to be like. Ask yourself how close are you to yours. If you feel like you are very far away and you will always be, maybe you're just trying to reach for the moon, and in this case you should find a more obtainable way to look good. It also depends on your genetic potential; you may have been born beautiful... or not.
2. Find out what stops you from achieving that ideal. Is it laziness? Is it lack of willpower (which is different from laziness)? Is it the feeling that you can't successfully improve anything about yourself? Is it lack of financial means to make some changes about yourself? Whatever it may be, it has a solution. Get motivated to do some changes about yourself. Search the Internet for pictures of stars you want to look like; print them and paste them on your mirror. Speaking of mirrors, if you are not self-motivated enough to lose weight, buy one that makes you look tall and skinny. It may seem a paradox, but it helps you visualize the results and therefore motivate you to do something in this direction, if you know you could look like that.
3. Save some money. For most people, beauty doesn't come for free. You will need to invest some money in your looks.
4. Start making those changes. Focus on the achievable. Are you quite chubby? Start exercising and eating more healthy. Do you feel plain-looking and boring? Make a change about yourself; dye your hair a nice colour, buy some colourful clothes, paint your nails and apply makeup. Do you think you don't look exactly well-groomed and that you should do more for yourself? Then do it! Stick to the basics, for the least, and only do more if you feel it's not enough.
5. Don't compare your facial traits to other people's and don't think they are perfect and you are horrible. Well, it's true that not everybody is born beautiful, but everybody is unique and you may be very pretty, without even realizing it. Just because you don't look like the twin sister of God-knows-what gorgeous model/actress, it doesn't mean you are not beautiful in your own way. She may be the seductive type of beautiful, while you may be the natural type of beautiful and so on.
6. Don't look up to the perfect beauties you see in magazines and photo shoots. Be aware of the fact that they have a whole team of stylists, photographers and makeup artists who work on them, not to mention the infamous Photoshop. Even they don't look that good in real life.
7. Get surrounded by people who will love you, no matter how you look like. Not feeling judged by others, based on your looks, may make you feel way more confident.
8. Only expect yourself to look flawless if you know you have the means (genetic, financial etc.) to do it. If you don't, try to expect less from yourself.
9. Don't make too much thoughts about you being too short if you know you cannot grow anymore. Because if you do, it will make you feel desperate, since you can no longer do anything about it. If you are a teen, try to ask your doctor about that and follow his/her advice.
10. Spend a few minutes in front of a mirror each day. Find something you like about yourself and think of how can you enhance it. Focus on these best features every time you dress/do your makeup in the morning.
11. Be indulgent to yourself. Be sure that other people don't see all the "imperfections" you see in yourself. When they look at you, they see you- your personality, your true self, not your appearance. No one is as judgemental to you as you are.
12. Feel free to demand compliments if you feel you need one. Ask somebody "Does my hair look good today?" or "Does this blouse suit me?" or things like these. Generally, people will say positive things, either because they want to be polite or because they really mean it. But don't get this wrong; somebody who constantly complains about how ugly he/she is just to hear people contradict him/her, is really annoying.
13. Get a positive attitude. The look on somebody's face really makes a difference. Happiness, smiles, optimism express beauty; sadness, anger, long faces and frown brows don't.
14. Recognize your inner and outer beauty and don't let other people tell you otherwise. Some people that tell you you're ugly don't really think that; they either don't like you as a person, want to make you feel bad or are jealous.
Tips
- It may help to talk to a psychologist. He/she knows what advice to give to someone who has insecurities about the way he/she looks like.
- Talk to your friends about this. Surely they will rise your self esteem and make you see the beautiful things about you, things you may not see yourself.
