If you would like to become successful in life, it’s important to be confident in everything you do. It’s understandable that everyone doesn’t come out of the womb with tons of confidence. However, it’s important to cultivate it. If you’re not feeling confident, consider working on a few facets of yourself in order to change that. Start with these four.
Maintain Your Physical Appearance
Work to maintain your physical appearance. If you’re not feeling confident in your current weight, take a look at what you need to do to change that. Examine if you need to exercise and lose weight or if you need to eat more and gain a healthy amount of weight. Consider your grooming practices. Perhaps, you need to be more intentional about going to the hairdresser or getting a manicure and pedicure. These small changes can make a major difference in the way you look and feel.
However, don’t change your appearance for others. You should feel good about how you look, but do what you need to do just for you and nobody else.
Conquer Hard Things
In many cases, people don’t have confidence because they haven’t conquered anything too challenging. They don’t know the true measure of their strength or abilities. When you know your strengths, it’s hard not to believe in yourself. So, begin the exercise of conquering new and hard things. Take a public speaking class and get used to speaking in front of people.
You could even learn to skydive. It’s quite a challenging feat, yes, but it will be very rewarding. Not only will you feel a rush of adrenaline and wind, but you’ll feel empowered. You can say to yourself, “I jumped from a plane, and so I can do this too!” when you are faced with hard things. Plus, skydiving has many health benefits as well. Work hard to obtain a new degree. Challenge yourself in life and you will be surprised at how much your confidence rises as a result.
Put Your Shoulders Back
Your posture can speak volumes about who you are. If you’re constantly slumping your shoulders, it’s going to naturally look like you are shy, intimidated and don’t think you are worthy of anybody’s attention. Even though this is a subliminal message, it speaks louder than anything you say. In order to change this, stand up tall and put your shoulders back. Even when you’re sitting down, practice putting your shoulders back. This will instantly make you look slimmer, taller and more confident.
Of course, that is how others will perceive you. Yet, you will fill confident as well. When you’re leading a meeting, do you feel more confident when you’re slouched in your chair or when you’re sitting up straighter? If you can, experiment with that. If you’re the type who normally slouches, try focusing on sitting taller with your shoulders back during your next work meeting.
Practice Affirmations
It’s often stated that the way you start the morning sets the tone of your day. Start the morning right by practicing affirmations. Write down the positive words that describe the person you are and would like to be. As you recite those words, be sure to remind yourself that you’re confident, attractive and capable. Many people who do affirmations will sometimes write or type them out on paper and post them in their bathroom so that they can recite them while they’re doing their morning routine. Doing that just might benefit you too!
As you continue to cultivate these practices, you’ll find that your perspective on who you are will change. As a result, you will attract the right people, opportunities, and experiences in your life. Before long, you’ll be teaching other people how to gain the confidence that you’ve earned.
