Confidence is knowing what you’re good at, knowing the value you provide and conveying that value to others. But don’t make the mistake of confusing this with arrogance which involves believing that you’re better than others. On the other end of the spectrum, there is low self-esteem which involves believing you’re less valuable than you think.
Whether it’s personal life, career or social scenarios, confidence is something everyone needs. It doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from repeated practice and small successes which then build into larger accomplishments.
The secret to building confidence is to include it in your life as a habit. Habit formation involves making changes, adopting new behaviours which takes time and breaking away from old habits.
1 Present Yourself with Confidence
A lot of how we feel about ourselves is reflected in our appearance. A large percentage of how others perceive us also comes from our body language. This can include posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye movement.
2 Use Positive Affirmations
For many people, a natural way to relieve anxiety is to engage in some self-talk. But it is the way you speak to yourself during this pep talk that makes real difference.
Many of your emotions get determined by the way you talk to yourself throughout the day. If you don’t deliberately and consciously talk to yourself in a positive manner, you’ll start thinking about the things that make you unhappy. Sometimes, negative thoughts become so deep-rooted that it can be hard to change them without effort.
The reason why it’s important to remove negative thoughts is that they can easily become self-fulfilling prophecies. Use affirmations to turn such negatives into positives. When negative self-talk makes you struggle, choose an affirmation that is the opposite of that thought or belief and put that into practice.
3 Stop Over Analysing Situations
Many people tend to overthink and overanalyse situations to the point you doubt yourself. Once you start doubting yourself it is hard to be confident. Second-guessing your every move is the biggest killer of self-confidence. Keep your doubts in check and make a reality check of all the doubts that you have otherwise doubt will be in control.
4 Limit Social Media
A good way to limit your confidence is to compare your life to other people. Social media is all about big better and is full of impossible standards set by people who curate their lives to show how wonderful they are. Trying to be like them is a good way to bust your confidence.
5 Contextualise Your Fear
Everyone has fears but confident people know that they must act despite their fears. When you face your fears, you develop resilience and confidence.
For most people, fear of failure is what stops them from being confident than any other factor. This fear causes inaction, keeps you in your comfort zone and weakens your confidence. It restricts you to your comfort zone and makes you avoid taking risks. In your lack of self-confidence, you are more likely to undermine yourself and assume that everyone else already knows what you know.
As your fears subside, you’ll see your confidence grow. This doesn’t make confidence an absence of fear but rather mastery over it. The higher your confidence level, the more willing you’ll be to come out of your shell and take chances. You’ll be less likely to be affected by setbacks (some refer to as failure) and more committed to achieving your goals.
6 Work Up a Sweat
Exercising is a great way to improve your health but how does that exactly fit into boosting your confidence levels.
For starters, when you feel better physically, you also start to feel the same mentally. Improved health lets you take on more challenges and gives you the stamina to overcome more obstacles. A combination of improved physical and mental health can also help you establish a positive attitude make you ready for taking on more personal goals.
As well as giving your confidence a boost, exercise is also helpful for reducing stress. Exercise lets out feel-good endorphins which help control stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol and helps bring oxygen and important nutrients to the brain to enhance cognitive functioning.
7 Meditate
The idea of meditation may seem counterintuitive right after mentioning exercise, for exercise pumps you up releasing endorphins whereas meditation aims to relax and calm the mind.
After a good session, your faith in your abilities can reaffirm and help you get past any doubts.
When you meditate, you can silence your inner critic to take the backseat and settle down. Swapping negative self-talk with positive thoughts will get your confidence back on track.
Conclusion
Building confidence takes time and effort. It is a hard thing to maintain because it can be crushed easily at any moment. While some people make it look easy and natural, even their confidence level is the outcome of learned behaviours.
The fact remains that most people constantly practice mediocre behaviours and routines whereas confident people carry themselves very differently. The trick is to be deliberate about doing the things that boost your confidence.
