“Confidence is key.” I am 100% sure all of us have heard it some point of our lives and it is true. With confidence, you can do anything, and achieve a lot of success. But sometimes being confident is not easy. It takes time to truly be confident with yourself and around others. Here are 5 steps you can take to build up that confidence!
1. Practice.
Even someone with low confidence has areas where they feel confident in themselves. For example, you do not feel confident when you are around people and don’t know how to talk, but put a musical instrument in your hand and you can perform in front of thousands with no problem. When you do something enough times, it becomes easier. The easier it becomes, the more confident you will be.
If you have ever sang karaoke in front of people, most likely, your first time was a bit scary. However, after you went a few dozen times, it wasn’t as scary. This is just an example but you get the point. The more you do something, the more confident you will be at it.
2. Fake It Until You Make It.
Practice can be great but many times, you will be in a situation where you have to be confident on the spot. In situations like this, you must pretend as if you are confident and show that you are. This can also become easier through practice. Remember that when you force yourself to act confidently, it will soon become automatic and true confidence.
3. Look Good.
Usually, lack of self confidence comes from worrying how other people look at you. You can solve this by making sure you always look your best. This can have different meanings to different individuals. Sometimes, it means getting some nice clothes, to others it could be to have a nice clean haircut. The point is to stop worrying about your appearance by doing whatever you have to do to make you feel good about yourself. You can even go to the gym more often.
4. Change Your Focus.
Usually, we have low confidence it is because we are too focused on ourselves. We focus on what other people think of us. Instead of doing that, try focusing on other people and how you can help them. If you are afraid of public speaking for example, one reason could be that you are not focused on benefitting the audience. Rather, you are focused on how well you will do. When you take the focus away from yourself and shine it on others, it will help your fear go away because you won’t be thinking about it.
5. Don’t Take Life Too Seriously.
Learn to laugh at yourself. Realize that you aren’t the only one with confidence issues. Know that anyone, if put in the right circumstances, can have a total lack of self confidence in themselves. If you knew you had 1 day to live, would you be scared of doing things like asking that attractive person out on a date? Would you be scared to speak up? Would you be afraid to tell people your fears? Sometimes, we just have to take life for what it is, an experience and a chance to live it fully.
It’s when you believe that the mistakes you make will last a long time or that people will judge you for a long time or laugh at you for years to come, that you will feel less confident. When you realize that everyone has their own insecurities about themselves, you will realize that life is too short to let your fears stop you from doing the things you really want to do. Self confidence comes down to knowing that no matter how badly you mess up in public, in the whole scheme of life, it won’t even matter.
