For anyone that has improved their self esteem:

Well, I don't believe them at all right now. I was sort of hoping that if I said them enough times I would end up believing them. Sort of like how the negative thoughts come up so much that I ended up believing those.

@Izzy5600 So the videos and search results are true? If I just tell myself good affirmations and the opposite of what my thoughts say, it will improve my self esteem?

@Izzy5600 Okay, I'll try it. Thank you. If it doesn't work, therapy will.

I could try that as well. So far I've been trying to tell myself to be positive when it comes to my ways of thinking and not judge how they operate right away. It's kind of working. Only ways I could think of how to act with high self esteem is to do things that my anxiety would normally stop me from doing.

@BigGyro09 Also, if you’re working with a therapist to overcome your OCD, then self esteem naturally rises when your OCD improves, assuming that’s the cause of your lower confidence. That has been my experience.

@Anonymous OCD is a big factor in it, but I'm not sure if there are others. I've had bad experiences in my past that caused my low self esteem and I don't think my self esteem was ever at a good level. The OCD is basically the non-stop, irritating reminder of my low self esteem that makes it much worse.

@BigGyro09 I hear you. I will leave you with some additional thoughts, simply because I can relate to what you’re going through to some extent: Everyone has low self esteem at times so it’s not like you’re an anomaly and it’s even more common among those with OCD. Even the most successful people have imposter syndrome frequently. What some of them do differently is fake the confidence, which results in higher confidence. Not just acting against anxiety but think more in terms of acting on things you care about or value. What are your goals, both small and large? Don’t allow negative self talk prevent you from doing things you truly care about or from progressing towards your goals.

@Anonymous I think faking confidence will take a lot of practice for me. I don't know how good I'll be at that. The things I value the most are the very same things I have trouble focusing on in life. My career in computer programming, how I treat others (which should be the same way how I treat myself) and college.