6 Easy Ways to Begin to Build Your Self-Confidence Today

Confidence is important for everyone regardless of what titles we hold or professions we have. Having confidence in self allows us to enjoy life more fully and helps us reach our full potential.  Below are 6 easy ways to help us begin to build our confidence today.

#1 Think Positive

Your thoughts have a powerful effect on who you are and what you can become. If you think you are lacking self-confidence, you are probably right. On the other hand, if you think you are full of confidence, you are probably right also. Learning to have positive thoughts can do wonders in boosting your self-confidence.  Thus, when negative thoughts enter your mind, quickly push them away, and redirect them toward positive thoughts. This is easier said than done but by making a conscious effort to control your thoughts, and recognizing when negative ones enter your mind, you can begin to have more control over them.  And as you learn and train yourself to do this, your confidence will significantly increase. This will take time and practice, but can and will have a tremendous impact on your self-confidence.

#2 Imagine Confidence     

Begin to envision what being more self-confident will look like and feel like.  Think about how your life will be different with increased confidence. Take a few minutes each day to imagine how you would act if you were full of confidence, and then try to live that way. As you dwell on these positive thoughts, and begin to feel what being more self-confident is like, you will begin making progress toward becoming more confident.

#3 Identify your Success

We all have talents, skills, success stories and obstacles we have overcome in life—so think about what they are, and reflect on them. Sometimes all we focus on is the mountains ahead of us rather than taking some time to “turn around” and see all of the mountains we have already climbed.  It may be helpful to write down or create a list of our accomplishments so that we can see and review them whenever we feel we are lacking self-confidence. Remembering what we’ve already achieved and conquered will help us build our confidence as we move forward.

#4 Exercise

How does exercise relate to confidence? Exercising raises your adrenaline and heart rate helping you to feel stronger, healthier, and even happier. Exercising on a frequent basis will increase your confidence, because it requires effort, sacrifice, and hard work which produces within us a sense of accomplishment and success.  Exercise also helps us feel and look better and often how we feel and look physically is how we will feel emotionally. Exercising also increases energy levels and fuels our determination to reach other goals. Simple, consistent exercise has many benefits and can instantly increase our self-confidence.

#5 Eliminate Fear

People who lack confidence are often afraid of something.  Eliminating fear or at least identifying it and channeling it towards good can help you achieve a greater level of confidence. So, to overcome fear you must control your thoughts and view fear as a challenge or a game by doing whatever it is that you are afraid of—facing the fear head on. For example, if you have a fear of speaking in front of others, challenge and force yourself to find every opportunity you can to speak in front of a crowd. This may sound frightening but start with small steps and work your way up. In time, as you continue to challenge your fears, your confidence will grow and your fear will diminish. Instead of letting fear hold you back, you can use it as a motivator to push you forward. Learning to deal with and overcome fear will allow you to build your self-confidence and face any challenge that may come your way.

#6  Don’t Take Yourself too Seriously

One last way to begin building your confidence today is by learning to not take yourself too seriously. Understand everyone makes mistakes—we all do—and making mistakes is an important step in learning and developing skills. Being afraid to make a mistake will lead to unnecessary stress and fear. Accept the fact that you will make mistakes and then when you do make them, learn from them and move on.  Literally laughing out loud when mistakes happen is a great way to deal with them.  And finally, always take ownership for your mistakes. Fess up, commit to be better, and move on. As you do this, your self-confidence will grow.

Following these simple ideas will help your confidence begin to increase almost instantly. Gaining confidence will help you be a more successful person, leader, and allow you to live life to its fullest. We all need confidence to be happy in life so commit to building your confidence today!