Are you looking for some ways to feel and be more confident? Of course, you are, otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article on confidence. Look, feeling confident and fearless in our day-to-day lives is not something that’s easy to come by. If it were, there would be no need for the thousands of books, courses, and blogs that specifically deal with the subject. But that’s not the case.
Learning how to be more confident is in high demand, and likely always will be. Why, because hundreds of thousands of people wish they could maintain a strong sense of confidence, but they often come up short. How do I know? Because Google tells us so. Just look at how many people are searching every month for ways to improve their confidence:
So What Are The Causes?
Oddly enough, some of the causes of lagging confidence and fear are due to public situations as seen in a Chapman University Survey of American Fears while others are a result of personal issues that many young people often deal with according to this UK report. The Chapman Survey shows a sample of 1,207 grown-ups from around the US which reveals that people’s top fears border around issues of public concern.
While the UK stats actually reveal that over 60% of girls from 10 – 17 years of age experience low self-esteem which destroys their self-confidence. On top of this, there has also been researched that supports the fact that there aren’t significant differences in self-esteem among genders. Meaning, the struggle with confidence is gender-neutral.
In short, everyone needs to be confident to feel and succeed. From Entrepreneurs to professionals, students, and leaders, everyone should have a level of confidence that makes living a quality life a reality. And the good news is, there are many ways (most of them easy) by which we can all build our confidence. So, that’s what the rest of this article will do; give you some super simple ways to be more confident. Are you ready? Let’s go….
1. Confront Your Fears and Doubts:—
Fear is a feeling of perceived threat or danger. It is also a negative emotion, but it is a natural one that is prompted for our own benefit, i.e. survival. Some psychology experts even say fear is a mental energy, or a form of abstraction. But, regardless of what fear actually is, nothing can ever make you fearful without your permission. As such, it is always best to confront those things that make you fearful, rather than run from it.
Truly, whenever a circumstance or issue appears to induce fear in you, we can choose to either face it or run away from it. Opting for the latter hardly makes things better for you, in fact, doing so could often leads to unwanted circumstances; like missing out on dating that dream guy/girl, never getting that promotion, or losing out on what could have been a profitable opportunity. There is true wisdom in the saying, “Nothing ventured nothing gained”.
2. Think Positively:—-
The benefits of positive thinking are invaluable. You empower yourself when you think positively, and you become optimistic towards more outcomes. Truly, all things become possible only if you think they are. Which is why positive thinking should be made into a habit. If you want to remain confident, it necessary to cultivate positive thought patterns on the daily.
Think about this – any time you think negatively about an issue at hand you’ll notice how it almost immediately impacts how you feel about yourself and the world. Without a doubt, experiencing a small negative emotion can wreak havoc on your whole day. But, when you force yourself to think positively, you minimize the chances of negativity getting the best of you. By simply deciding to be more positive you can dramatically improve your entire outlook on life, and this will certainly impact your overall attitude in your day to day interactions.
So, in spite of all the threatening situations and negative news that exists out there, try to focus on feeling positive. Try to always look on the bright-side of things. Don’t enter into a dialogue with your negative emotions. Attempt to do away with those things which you perceived to be negative in your past as well, because believe it or not, bad memories tend to form a negativity bias and we humans are programmed to constantly think back on them. So, do these things, and before you know it, you’ll become more positive minded, and as a result, a more confident person.
3. Speak To Yourself:—-
Speaking to oneself may appear foolish and unworkable sometimes. But it is not. According to a documentary film, “The Human Brain”, every human being says about 300 – 1000 words to themselves every day. Truly, self-talk is something we do every day consciously or unconsciously. Speaking to yourself also leads to realism – the practice of being true to yourself. As a matter of fact, when we are true to ourselves we can better assess what we can and can’t do, and this leads to a whole new level of confidence.
For an instance, if I’m trained as a business person but I attempt to write a high quality article for Forbes.com or the Wallstreet journal, I may find my submissions getting constantly rejected. And of course, this rejection would likely be detrimental to my confidence. However; if i were to enlist the services of someone who is actually skilled a writing, I would be doing myself and my confidence a favor.
As such, it is always good to know who you are, and to “be real” with your skill-sets and what you are capable of. By doing so, so you’ll partake in only those things you are actually good at, and in the process, preserve your confidence.
4. Separate Facts From Memory:—- Our neurons tend to absorb more of those memories and experiences that have occurred in the past. Which means that the more focus on those things that didn’t go right in our past, the less confident we’ll become when it comes to trying to do a similar thing in the future.
As such, if you really want to do a thing, it is important to keep in mind that you can do a thing, and to recall your past for lessons on how you can improve your odds of doing such a thing in the future. Just because you have encountered some experience of failures in the past does not mean you can’t raise up your head above the murky waters of the past.
For example, if Thomas Edison mixed the memories of the previous Nine hundred and ninety-nine occasions of failures with the fact that he could yet invent the bulb, he may have never been able to confidently approach the one-thousandth attempt that gave the bulbs that light our houses and streets today. So, forget your memory, do not remember them, especially if it is colored with “can’t”. The only thing you should do with your memory is glean the lessons on how you can improve your approaches for finding better results on the things you attempt to do a second time.
The fact of the matter is this; that your past does define who you are and what you can be. Equally, aim to keep the memories of the good but do not allow them to cause you to rest on your laurels. Rather let the remembrance of your past successes bring you to a more self-assured knowing that you can learn from the past to change the future.
Conclusion:—- Confidence is the foundation of all progress and success in life. And you know have the some new tools that you can add to your confidence toolkit. So, are you really ready to become more confident?
Remember, every successful person has had to muster up the confidence to achieve the goals they went after. So, if you seek more progress, success, and achievement in your life, you’re going to need to step into that more confident future you.
Courtesy: The Strive