Your Ultimate Guide to Self Improvement

Building Your Self Confidence

At some point in your life you may have experienced the lack of self confidence, which could have been triggered off by any number of reasons. One of the major reasons could be put down to the feeling of under achievement simply because you saw yourself incapable of achieving something that others may have found much easier to achieve.

These feelings can build up, and as a consequence you can easily end up in situations where you will lack the level of self confidence that would be needed for any task(s) at hand. Aside from this reason, the root of low self confidence can also derive from any one individual’s race, gender, physical appearance, plus other types of factors.

“The point is”. If you just take the time to recognise what is the root cause for your lack of self confidence, “whether from past experiences, or internal conflict”, to overcome it you will need to take action to build your self confidence to a higher level.

Here are just a few of the ways on how you can build your self confidence:

Take responsibility

This does not have to mean taking over a group and becoming a leader in that group. Taking small responsibilities such as assuming chores will provide a good start on building your self confidence. Once you have assumed and successfully executed small responsibilities on a regular and consistent basis, then you can take larger steps. The idea is, to start with small steps, and then gradually working your way from there.

Just bear in mind the ancient chinese proverb, “Every thousand mile journey begins with a single step”.

As always…be positive

You will notice that if and when you think too often of the negative things, or the negative effects on each thing or task you do, you end up totally disregarding the positives. This will only add further to “low self confidence”. What you should always do, is to think of all the positive outcomes that are possible. The more times you “THINK POSITIVE”, about every apsect of your task at hand, the more likely you are to banish any negative thoughts.

Set your goals!

Draw up a goal for each task at hand. Start small and stay focused on achieving each one of your chosen goals. Tackle each goal with this same mindset. After a short time you should find yourself setting more difficult goals, which will inevitably lead you to further building upon your self confidence.

Praise yourself

Start off your day by facing the mirror and praising yourself for any goals that were successfully achieved in the past (no matter how small, or large). You might think this is silly, but this technique has been proven to be very effective. If you kickstart your day feeling confident, happy and content, any tasks ahead will feel that much more lighter. Why? Because you will now have a positive outlook on the rest of the day to come, and by seeing yourself (literally) as that confident, happy and content person, you will certainly make any tasks ahead that much easier to undertake.

Avoid unnecessary stress

Your aim is to slowly build your self confidence, but you will not achieve this if you trap yourself in the situation wherein those tasks surround you. It would be in your best interest to completely avoid multi-tasking, and tackle each task “one at a time”. By doing this it will make you that much more efficient in everything you set out to accomplish. Thus giving you a far better chance of reaching your chosen goals. You will get everything done, but in a much more controlled and relaxed way, ultimately removing the burden and the thought that you will not finish everything in time. This is a much less stressful and productive way to achieve higher levels of self confidence.

Be seen in the crowd

This does not mean you have to be the centre of attention. To be seen in the crowd you simply need to make some form of contact and get the conversation going. Don’t just turn up at a party only to feel sorry for yourself because no one has talked to you. Approach other people and get that conversation going. Your self confidence will build up by consistently communicating well with others.

Take good care of yourself

Live healthy, eat healthy, and get plenty of rest. This will make you feel good on the inside and look good on the outside. It’s a proven fact that when you feel and look good, it puts a spring in your step. You suddenly become much more sure of yourself, which can only prove to be a positive booster toward your self confidence.

Offer and provide help to others

Your overall aim is to feel good about yourself, and when you’re feeling good about yourself your level of self confidence automatically rises. Did you know that if you offer your time by helping others, you will most certainly feel good about yourself.

I’m not talking about paid for help, or even favours. Offer and provide your time and effort without any conditions. No pay, no favour returned. Unconditional time and effort for the good of someone else.

No matter how it is accomplished, creating the “feel good factor” within yourself is definitely the way to go if you are seriously looking to build and develop your self confidence to a higher level.

To read more articles directly related to self confidence, please visit my recently released Self Confidence Guide (new window)

Yours in success and happiness

Alan H.