Self assurance can mean the difference between a good life and an incredible one. Don’t let the task overwhelm, here are five easy ways to build confidence.
If you struggle with confidence, it can feel like an insurmountable problem. Your lack of confidence doesn’t just impact how you feel, it also impacts how you present yourself to the world, and how you are perceived by others. If you don’t feel confident in yourself, in your abilities, or in your worth, other people aren’t going to view you any differently. This can impact your personal relationships, your status at work, and even the simplest daily interactions.
Don’t let your lack of confidence handicap you any longer. Instead, try to apply the following five tips to your daily life. Soon, you will be the confident person you deserve to be.
1. Stop Apologizing & Stand Your Ground
Do you recognize yourself in any of the following scenarios?
- You are walking down a corridor fully on your ‘side.’ Another person, walking toward you is taking up more than their share of space. As they approach, you give up your personal space, make yourself small, and back to the wall, giving them both their path and yours.
- You are on a crowded train. As a result of the crowding, quarters are cramped, and people are brushing up against one another. It can’t be avoided. You apologize for each time you bump into somebody and each time somebody bumps into you.
- You are in a store in need of assistance. The staff is chatting with one another when you approach them. The first thing you offer is an apology for bothering them.
If you do see yourself, you aren’t alone. Many people spend their days apologizing for being present in places where they are perfectly within their right to be present, apologizing and acquiescing to people who are encroaching on their space, and apologizing for asking for what they are entitled to.
If you want to build your confidence, stop doing these things. Own your space, and don’t give it away, and make a conscious effort to stop apologizing for your presence. Here’s a compelling article about a woman who decided to move through her day without giving up her space.
2. Exude Confidence in Your Physical Presence
To continue the first tip, one of the best things you can do is exude confidence in your physical mannerisms. This means standing up straight, having good posture, speaking with a confident voice, and making eye contact. There may be days when doing these things is difficult. There may even be days when you feel as if you are being phony by putting on this external face when you don’t feel that way internally.
Here is something to remember. You are not being fake if you choose to adopt a physical presence that represents confidence. You are simply choosing to represent yourself in a manner that will encourage others to treat you as a person of worth who deserves respectful treatment.
3. Build Up Others
Saying and doing things that make other people feel happy, respected, and appreciated doesn’t just boost their confidence, it does a lot to lift your confidence and mood as well.
Taking the time to express appreciation or to compliment others around you helps create a positive environment. People who interact in these positive environments become more willing to keep that environment positive, creating mutual support and respect. It is also confidence-building to watch other people become happier and surer of themselves based, in part, on the things you have said to them.
One great way to build a person up is to know what they are good at, then ask them for help or advice. Confident people don’t hesitate to receive help from people they know are experts at something.
4. Play Up Your Accomplishments
What do you do when somebody compliments you? Do you deflect or minimize? How do you describe what it is that you do for a living? Do you downplay your contributions, skills, talents, and the meaning of your work? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, now ask yourself: why?
Nobody wants to be a braggart, but continually downplaying what it is you have to offer the world and minimizing your accomplishments serves absolutely no good purpose. It just makes you appear to be less—not just to yourself, but to others as well. You don’t need to spend time crowing about your accomplishments, but you can start accepting compliments that you receive at face value without diminishing yourself. You can also speak proudly and openly of your talents and accomplishments when they come up.
5. Do Good Things Every Day
There is absolutely nothing more confidence-building than genuine accomplishment and service to others. If you would like to increase your confidence, spend time each day doing good things—this can include the work you do for a living. By all means, you should put great effort into that so you can end each day feeling proud and confident.
However, it is not limited to your employment alone. You can do good things by being of service to others in your everyday life as well. You can volunteer, donate, or simply take the time to perform simple acts of kindness for the people you encounter each day. If you can go to bed each evening knowing you have been kind and helpful, that you’ve worked hard, and did things to make life better for yourself or others, confidence will never be a problem for you.
Having confidence is essential to a healthy life; it impacts the way that we view ourselves, and the way we treat ourselves. Having a lack of confidence communicates to others that we don’t deserve to be treated with respect or dignity.
Fortunately, the five tips we’ve explored above can help people who struggle with confidence to act and move in ways that build up their confidence; with a bonus side effect of boosting the confidence of others as well.
About the Author
Diana Beyer is an experienced creative director while a beginner in guest-blogging. Nevertheless, writing is her passion. Diana’s purpose is to share some value among interested people. Apart from work, she likes traveling and reading. You can contact her through Twitter or check out her blog.
