1. Be Positive
A huge part of self-confidence comes from perspective – your outlook toward the world. If you ever catch yourself having any negative thoughts, replace them with positive ones. Take hold of your frustration and negative energy and convert them into motivation and determination.
2. Understand Yourself
Self-confidence starts with you. If you don’t understand yourself properly, you won’t be able to begin building self-confidence.
Get to know who you are as person – your likes and dislikes, your emotional patterns, and your strengths and weaknesses. Reflect on yourself with an unbiased lens. Once you begin to develop an understanding of what makes you tick, forgive yourself for your weaknesses and promise yourself that you’ll work on improving them. At the same time, congratulate yourself for your strengths and tell yourself that with your skills, you’re going to change the world.
3. Face Your Fear
A lack of self-confidence is simply a surplus of fear. You don’t feel confident in your abilities because you fear the outcome.
To build self-confidence, you need to pinpoint your fears. Then, when you identify your fears, you can begin the long process of overcoming them.
4. Prepare and Reflect
Insecurity arises from being unprepared.
“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” -Arthur Ashe
To overcome insecurity, you must prepare yourself to a point where you feel you are ready for whatever tasks you need to face.
Self-confidence is built through practical forms. By doing nothing and just thinking about your problems, you will only make things worse. You have to actually go out there and make things happen.
Expand your comfort zone and try to take things one step at a time.
5. Employ Gratitude
Don’t beat yourself up.
Many insecure people become even more insecure because they’re always too hard on themselves for their flaws. This negativity just makes them feel worse, and they get lost in a negative feedback loop.
You are only human. Everybody has weaknesses – other people’s may just be different from yours. Do your best to remember that you also have strengths. Focus on the good things and give yourself gratitude where it is deserved.
6. Don’t Fear Failure
Failure is a natural part of life.
Not one man or woman ever set foot on this earth and left it without failing. Give yourself a break and embrace failure, because only through learning from failures will you find true success and true self-confidence.
Article by Osman Hameed
