- February 15, 2023
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry
This Is How to Build Confidence in Yourself
Do you worry that you are falling behind your peers because of your lack of self-confidence? Don’t assume wrongly that you are stuck with low self-esteem for the rest of your life then.
It’s possible to increase your self-confidence levels over time by following certain practices. It takes time and it isn’t going to be an easy path, but you can find yourself in a completely different place in a few months if you keep at it.
Keep reading for some tips on how to build confidence no matter what level you are at right now.
Learn More About Your Strengths and Play Them Up
The problem with most people with low self-esteem is that they focus entirely on their weaknesses and assume that they aren’t getting anywhere because of their many imperfections. Realize that there are NO perfect beings on this planet.
Despite everyone’s expectation or desire to be perfect, no one is. But every person out there, even you, has some strengths that they can play up to come out on top.
What are these strengths for you? Are you great at directions and remember them after only one run-through? Or are you awesome at organizing things because of your attention to detail?
Whatever your strength might be, remember to use it to build yourself up. You can’t be good at everything! But you are good at some things.
Don’t downplay your strengths – use them to make your life better.
Don’t Deny Your Weaknesses but Learn From Them
On the other hand of the coin comes our weaknesses. Again, everyone has weaknesses. There are no two ways about it.
But in a lot of ways, your weaknesses are there to teach you a lesson or to help you recognize something about yourself. For example, if you are terrible at keeping your room clean, then maybe you need to build a system so you need to do less cleaning (putting things away right away and having see-through boxes for storage are two ideas).
Don’t berate yourself for being a messy person. Learn from your weaknesses and build systems to make your life easier despite your imperfections.
Surround Yourself With Positive Forward-Thinking People
You have probably noticed that it’s extremely hard to be positive when folks around you are being wet blankets; crying, and moaning about everything under the sun. That’s why you need to try as hard as possible to surround yourself with the positive people in your life and spend as little time as possible around negative ones.
Also, notice if you are playing a negative role in your friends or family circle, and try to bounce out of it as soon as possible.
Stop Negative Thinking in Its Track Right Away
Following on the point above, you need to stop negative thinking as soon as you can, because negative thinking is rather sticky. That is, once you start on a negative track, it can be quite tempting to stick with it for eons to come. Before you know it, it’s been all day and you have only had negative thoughts.
Not only do you need to stop generalized negative thinking, but you particularly need to stop thinking negatively about yourself. A part of your low self-esteem probably comes from the fact that you constantly call yourself names, and degrade yourself, at least in your head (maybe outwardly as well).
Don’t do that to yourself. Treat yourself as you would a friend.
You wouldn’t spend all day long calling your friend terrible names, yelling or screaming at them to shape up, or being mean to them, would you? Well, then don’t do that to yourself either.
Also, if you can’t be nice to yourself, then why would anyone else be nice to you?
Do Things That Make You Happy Every Day
There is a reason why this adage or tip is on so many t-shirts as a motivational note. It works!
Start by doing something small every day that makes you happy. Happy people are more confident, that’s something you will notice as you become happier.
It’s hard to be down on yourself when you are feeling good in your body and happy hormones are coursing through your nervous system.
Try to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone Once a Week
Practice makes perfect. And that means you need to practice being confident.
You can do this by doing something out of your comfort zone that requires a major dose of self-confidence in your case every week. Or every other week.
It could be speaking up in class or a meeting once every week, or it could be signing up for a public speaking workshop that you’ve been wanting to try for ages now.
You will notice the more you push yourself out of your comfort zone, the more confident you will feel in yourself. Yes, you will make mistakes when you try all these new things, but it will also show you how capable you are and how powerful you can be when given the chance.
Congratulate Yourself When You Notice Yourself Building Confidence
Don’t miss opportunities to celebrate whenever you notice your confidence growing by small leaps or big bounds. You are on the path to building self-confidence, but each step on the journey should get accounted for and joyously celebrated.
How to Build Confidence – It’s Not Simple, but It’s Possible
We can’t say that you will have high self-confidence once you follow the self-esteem tips above in six months or twelve. There are no guarantees like that.
But one thing is for sure. If you keep at it, eventually you will notice a difference in yourself, to be sure.
If you are searching for personality development psychotherapy or help in how to build confidence in your children, schedule an appointment to see how we can help you or your child.