Without confidence, we cannot step into our power. Confidence is the key to everything. Lack of confidence holds people back from realizing their dreams and/or working to their full potential. Those people whom you often see beaming with confidence all the time have, for sure, working on their self-assuredness at one point or the other in their lives. Only a few lucky ones are born with the ingrained attribute of confidence; the rest of us have to inculcate it.
Fortunately, confidence is an attribute that you can develop. In fact, it is like a skill or a muscle that can be built. From life-changing mental hacks to empowering physical tricks, here is a carefully curated list of strategies that you can use to become more confident and, therein, step into your power and improve your life.
Retrain Your Brain
When you feed yourself a steady stream of imagined failures and self-doubt, negative thoughts are going to become automatic and hardwired in your brain. To step into your power and boost your confidence, you must not only identify the bad thoughts but also cultivate positive and reaffirming ones in your mind. Though the process may take a long time to take hold, working on it daily will eventually create new neural pathways. By practicing positivity, you would be rewiring your brain to feel more confident and empowered. Also, say some motivating words to yourself from time to time. Positive affirmations greatly alter our subconscious mind.
Gag Draining Thoughts
Strong confidence and self-esteem are really about the relationship you have with the running dialogue in your head. Start by identifying the patterns of negative thoughts and what triggers them. Awareness of self-deprecating thoughts is step one towards confidence . Stop calling yourself ‘stupid’ or ‘loser’. Find different ways to speak to yourself or at least stop yourself when you realize that you are being mean to yourself. Also, avoid the environment that instigates negative or draining thoughts. Take note of your surrounding as well, and refrain from activities that increase your negative thinking.
Rethink Failure
Fear of failure is one of the major confidence killers. The belief that you can either be perfect or fail is referred to as negative perfectionism. Let go of the standard definitions of failure and rethink what it means to be a failure according to your own set of interpretations. Stop living up to unrealistic expectations because it will lead you to see yourself as an inadequate person.
Take small steps and have goals that are achievable. Having goals that are beyond your control will set you up for failure, but that does not have to mean that failing is not alright. You have to desensitize yourself from failure and allow yourself to make mistakes and then learn from them. You need to learn not to give failure so much power over you. Take the knowledge and learning that you have gained from failure and use it to fortify yourself for the next big challenge.
Start Small
The more you indulge in something and the more experience you will get, the more confident you will become. When you are very confident, you are most likely to be an action-driven person. But whatever the case, starting small is always the smart choice. The initiation is always the hard part; therefore, you must always begin with goals that are small, doable, and comfortable. Take only those steps that you are confident of accomplishing, and it will help you create momentum. Look for things that put you in the zone and give you a sense of pride in your accomplishments. Also, surround yourself with inspirations that help you survive the dullness of day-to-day life and keep you saddled with your purpose.
Stop Comparing yourself
Our tendency to compare ourselves with others is not healthy or helpful while gauging self-growth or success. You need to stop comparing yourself to others and start focusing on your personal journey. It is advisable to limit the use of social media because it often instigates us to compare ourselves to other people and judge our own success.
Anyone you compare yourself to is going through their own private challenges. They might also lack and be inadequate in so many ways that you cannot comprehend. Realizing your own limitations and recognizing that everyone is just as fallible as you are, though in different ways, would help you level the playing field in your mind.
Strong Body Language
Developing a strong and confident body language would help you inculcate confidence, power yourself, and improve the quality of your life. This could be explained by the old adage, “fake it till you make it”. But do not assume that you must be fake—you still need to be your truest self and only present a confident version of yourself to the world. Working on body language is also a tried and tested way to boost confidence. Standing straight, relaxing shoulders, avoiding crossing the arms, and fidgeting with hair or clothes are some basic body language markers that you can work with.
Dress Better
If you feel good about your appearance, you will also feel good in your mind. It is not worth spending days in clothes that make you uncomfortable. Stop punishing yourself by putting on clothes that no longer fit. Remove everything that you do not like in your wardrobe and start wearing clothes that you are excited about. Clothing can have a positive impact on your self-esteem and body image, so choose the attires that you love.
Learn Everyday
Knowledge is an eternal source of confidence, while ignorance can often lead to insecurity. Our anxiety and self-doubt often stem from our ignorance and lack of experience (perceived or real). Therefore, take charge of your own learnings and experience, and start educating yourself. You can also seek the help of mentors, teachers, and coaches. No one can know everything about everything. Our knowledge and learning are finite, but the more you learn about a subject, a process, or a set of skills the lack of which had made you feel inadequate previously, the more confident you will be.
To Sum Up
Confidence is the main driver of our lives. It empowers us and improves the quality of our life. Although the above-mentioned strategies are tried and tested, in addition to them, you can come up with your own set of methods to cultivate confidence and realize the power of your being.
