My Top Ten Self-Confidence Boosters

On life's highway, I ran into many self-confidence bumps. Along the way, I found and developed truckloads of techniques for boosting my self-confidence. Here are ten of my best...

1. Focus on your strengths. Make a list of your skills, experiences and accomplishments. Do this for all areas of your life, both personal and professional. This is a great visual reminder of your strengths. You will gain a better sense of those areas where you naturally excel. Focusing on what you can do well helps increase confidence.

2. Stop criticizing yourself. Stop comparing yourself to others with self-criticism. You will always find something that someone else is better at. You are an individual, and not like anyone else...so comparisons are moot. Constant self-criticism can also turn into cattiness, and give you a false sense of feeling better by pointing out flaws in others. Choose to appreciate your positive traits and as well as those of others.

3. Get rid of negative self-talk. If you want to increase your confidence, you need to stop negative self-talk. Even if you find yourself thinking that you aren’t good at something, put it in proper perspective. This often happens when a goal isn’t reached or you simply make a mistake.

It's important to remember that mistakes are learning experiences. There is always something you can learn as a result. Criticizing yourself constantly sabotages your confidence level.

4. Focus on positive self-talk. You can accomplish this by replacing negative self-talk and thoughts with positive ones. Focus on positive statements and repeat them to yourself like a mantra. This will help you learn to stop sabotaging your own confidence level.

5. Rehearse self-confidence. If you are facing a situation that requires confidence, rehearse for it. This could be a presentation, job interview, or a personal introduction to someone whom you have not met before. Rehearsal is a great way for remaining calm and confident when the big moment arrives. Rehearse projecting a calm and confident attitude. Practice doing this in front of a mirror or have a friend help you.

6. Practice creative visualization. During this exercise, you visualize your own success. Find a quiet place, put on some relaxing music and sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and visualize a time when you felt confident and experienced success. Focus on the feeling of confidence you experienced. Take that feeling into a current situation you are facing. Imagine yourself handling that situation with confidence.

The more you do this, the better you will become at visualizing and transferring the feelings of confidence into your life.

7. Breathe. Breathing exercises help calm your anxiety and increase your confidence level. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Gradually slow the pace of your breathing. Feel the stress leaving your body. Keep doing this until you feel calm and more confident.

The good news here is that you can do this anywhere once you get good at it. Practice breathing exercises frequently. You can do this in quiet or put on some music.

8. Set realistic goals. Setting and achieving goals helps build self-confidence. Start by setting small goals. As you achieve each small goal, take time to recognize it and enjoy the feeling of achievement. Gradually set bigger goals and make plans to meet those goals. The more you succeed at goal setting, the more your confidence will grow.

9. Be open to change. A change of attitude, behavior and perspective can give you a boost. Change yourself so that you can gather knowledge and information for learning and practicing those skills that will help build your self-confidence in various areas .

10. Get rid of limiting beliefs. Let go of any beliefs that are holding you back. It is time to take those limiting beliefs and replace them with those that will empower you and move you forward. Replace “I can’t do that,” with a "can do" attitude.

I have found that quick success rarely occurs. Rather, success ultimately comes as I strive to achieve it. Similarly, you may not succeed the first time you try something. Just remember...perseverance is key to success. Keep trying - you will succeed. Success boosts confidence. It's worth the effort!

It's important that you feel confident about what you do and who you are...

While self-confidence is important, be wary of becoming over confident. Appearing over confident can be just as damaging as having no confidence at all.

We all know a few over self-assured people. They aren’t much fun, are they?

Over self-confidence is usually not based on ability. Rather it is often the response to ego. Most of the time, being over confident can result in failure and the inability to attain goals.

Also, being confident is not about becoming more aggressive and lashing out. It's about being in touch with yourself and your strengths while remaining in touch with reality.

Bear in mind, we all have standards and expectations which we tend to try to live up to. When we do not meet up to our standards...which most of us do not, our self-confidence begins to slowly decline. That is the very time, we simply need to give it a boost.

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