A lot of people struggle with feeling like they are constantly being disrespected or walked all over by family, friends, and co-workers. You may be perceived as too nice, or a push over, or for many other reasons (some real, some not) in other people's eyes, not actually worthy of respect. You can start to change that perception however, and in doing so, it may help you to move into a position where you are treated as an equal, someone those around you can depend on and look up to, and/or someone worthy of a promotion.
1. Learn to say no to friends and family
Part of the reason some view you as a push over and not really gaining in their respect is because maybe you quite literally are. You never stand firm in anything you don't or won't do, but rather if someone asks how high, you always jump, and continue jumping even if you pass out doing it. Teach people that your time and your word, the final one, means something. You aren't going to get much respect if you say no, and then five seconds later, you just cave in all the time.
2. Apologize when it counts
A lot people, especially women, apologize far too much for things that don't ever need apology. "Yeah, sorry, I kind of had this idea, but you know what, never mind." Speak up. Say something. Stop apologizing for your thoughts, your dreams, your ideas at work, having feelings, wanting to do better for yourself, having an opinion, being smart, being good at sports, wanting to spend time with your family, needing a break, sneezing, how you look, being exhausted, etc. Cop to things you've actually done wrong and want to make amends about, but other than that, copious apologies for things that aren't even wrong, make you look weak and not really worthy of ones respect. People might even use you because they know no matter what, you'll act as the fall guy for whatever the situation is.
3. Fight for yourself and others
Going along with not overly apologizing, stick up for yourself when others try to make you feel shameful about these things. If someone just talks down to you all the time and you seemingly accept it because you never say or do anything when it happens, it's like you're validating it and them, and those kind of sharks can smell blood and weakness in the water and will continue to disrespect you. The same goes for friends and family. When someone attacks them verbally or maybe even physically, standing by and doing nothing will only help encourage the action and won't gain you much respect from them because you stood by and watched it happen knowing this was a friend or family member.
4.Show respect to others
If you are constantly mean, rude, and disrespectful to others, how can you expect these same family and friends or a boss to respect you? This is especially true of relationships with parents. You have to be the example of what you want to see happen in your relationships with others. Often times people get into this cycle of lashing out back and forth with one another and neither party stops because, well "the other one is doing it," but take a step back and don't stoop to their level, rise above that, and start treating others the way you want to be treated because then that negative behavior is on them, not on you. People tend to respect those that give them the same respect back.
5. Stop being a toddler
If your default setting is a tantrum of anger or tears...or both...you may be lacking in respect. No one is going to respect you much if at the drop of the hat you burst into tears whenever you're confronted or have a problem, and they aren't going to respect angry guy or gal, because that's all you ever do is get angry and try to bully your way to get people to do things. Those are the type of people, people talk about as being crazy behind their backs. That's not respect. Of course sometimes you're going to get angry and maybe cry, but you've got to work on your emotions and learn to problem solve so that you can handle things in an adult way worthy of respect.
6. Dress to Impress
Appearance matters. It does. Fight that all you want, but part of the reason some very qualified, highly educated, intelligent, and even older persons are lacking in respect is because of their appearance. Being clean, taking care of yourself, dressing appropriately for what you're doing and who you're with tend to have people giving you a certain amount of respect before its even earned, but not doing so can really have the opposite affect.
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