Ways to Increase your Self-Confidence

Self confidence - the presence of which can make you feel great about yourself, and the lack or absence of which can make you look at yourself as the biggest loser there could be. Confidence is not subject to age, gender, cast, or community. One can come across a confident 15 year old, and then meet a 35 year old professional struggling with confidence as an issue. There is another concept of self-esteem that most of us use interchangeably with self-confidence. However, there lies a significant difference between both of these terminologies.

Do you feel Low on Self-Confidence?

Self-esteem refers to the emotional evaluation that we conduct upon ourselves. In simple words, it is the collection of thoughts, feelings, and opinions that we have about ourselves that makes up our self-worth. Self confidence on the other hand deals with the faith that we have in our abilities and judgements. It is something that depends upon situations, which means that an individual may feel confident in one situation, but lack the same when put in a different situation. It is absolutely possible for us to come across a person with high self-esteem and low confidence, but a person high on self-confidence is always said to have a healthy level of self-esteem.

Let us understand the ways in which we can boost our self-confidence, because an increase in it will automatically enhance our self-esteem as well!

Take accountability for yourself

One of the first things one must acknowledge is the fact that none but we are responsible for ourselves. By realising this alone, a person will be able to gather the willpower to work towards building up on their confidence and self-belief levels.

Recognise your potentials

An important aspect of self-confidence is self-awareness. When we know our abilities and setbacks, it becomes easier for us to set our targets and achieve them accordingly. A SWOT analysis here is a must! SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The aim should be to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses in order to be able to recognise potential opportunities and minimise or eliminate potential threats.Goals and Perks

The next step post identification of one’s key strengths is goal setting. In order to achieve maximum results, one should set SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Apt, Realistic, and Time-based) goals for themselves. If you manage to accomplish any of the targets that you had set for yourself, always make it a point to reward yourself in some way or another. By doing so, one will be reinforcing positive behaviour within themselves, which in turn will help increase their self-confidence.

Accepting setbacks & responding to criticism

A key aspect of building on self-confidence is acceptance towards your limitations. As humans, we all have certain drawbacks; however, there is no point in dwelling on your mistakes. A better approach would be to embrace our limitations, as well as acknowledge the feedback we receive from those around us. What matters here is our determination to work towards improving upon ourselves. Remember, being welcoming and receptive towards feedback is a common characteristic of successful people.

Positive pep-talk

For those who believe that talking to oneself is considered abnormal; I am sure they haven’t tried and tested this method in order to reap the benefits of it. One can spare a mere 2-3 minutes each morning to look at themselves in the mirror and mention all the good things about them out loud. At first it may feel awkward, but over time one will come to realise how advantageous doing so actually is.

Pursue a hobby

When we engage in any activity that we enjoy, it automatically promotes a good frame of mind, which in turn boosts our self-esteem and self-confidence levels. Be it theatre, painting, or dance, taking up a hobby would leave one feeling positive about themselves - an important component of a confident person.Physical exercise

The reasons why emotional wellness professionals always promote this point is because it has both psychological, as well as physical benefits to it. While it is widely known that any form of physical exercise - be it sports, going to the gym, or just brisk walks support good physical health, another key factor here is that doing so releases endorphins - a ‘feel good’ hormone said to regulate our mood as well as combat pain and depression. Also, when we feel good and confident from the outside, it is but natural to feel the same way from the inside.

Make time for social interactions

When we socialise, an exchange of information takes place in the form of our thoughts and feelings. Sharing how you feel is a big step towards taking care of yourself and increasing your self-confidence. Engaging in positive and meaningful conversations will help reinforce happy thoughts in your mind, which in turn will contribute towards your healthy levels of self-esteem and confidence.Take efforts to dress the part

This is something most of us will agree to out of personal experience. The days when we invest more time and energy into our appearance are the days we feel relatively more confident and boss-like. The idea behind using this method is the fact that when one dresses well, people compliment and appreciate their efforts; this may help positively enhance the way you feel about yourself. Keeping some extra time aside each morning to be put into the way you would like to look the entire day can really make things look up for you.

Practise mindfulness

Being mindful is a great way to feeling self-confident. A person is said to be mindful when their thoughts, feelings, and actions are in sync with each other. How we look at a situation can really impact our confidence level. For example: one way of looking at stage fright can be the fear of making mistakes, while another way of perceiving the same situation can be the reinforcing thought that there is a reason why not everyone is on stage, which means there is something about you that has brought you there. Perception stems from thought; by thinking and feeling positive, one will grow on to developing an optimistic outlook towards life’s varying situations, which in turn is bound to boost their confidence while facing them.

Seek help from support groups

For somebody who has been trying to gain confidence through experimentation but was unable to extract any benefits out of it, speaking to people who have been through a similar phase may expose one to an arena of ideas; one of which may just do the trick! Talking to people who succeeded in becoming more confident over time can also help one to gain an insight into how to go about things.

Speak to a life coach

If you truly believe that you have exhausted all of your options and are continuing to stress over your confidence levels, there is nothing better than seeking assistance from a professional itself! Sharing how you feel is a big step towards taking care of yourself, which is why you may feel free to connect to one of our life coaches here at DialMyAngel over call ([phone]), or on chat by visiting www.dialmyangel.com. Doing so may just help you discover relief and regain your confidence in an unimaginable way, so be positive, and be persistent! Low-self-confidence is not a fatal disease. It can absolutely be combated. One must just keep believing!