Self-confidence is essential to feeling good but also vital in other areas of life. For example, the higher our self-confidence, the higher our motivation to act. Self-confidence helps increase the chances of success when we take that action.
For these reasons, we should want to increase our self-confidence. Here are some tips and techniques to do it:
1. Know Your Worth
Unfortunately, many of us deeply believe we are not valuable. Maybe we feel disposable, unlovable, or just not a good person. But that is absolutely not true. We are all worthy.
If this sounds like you, you have been taught to believe these things about yourself. Perhaps you learned this from an overly critical coach or parent, comments by a bully, or a culture suggesting that your gender, race, or other features make you less worthy than others.
Internalized beliefs about our worth become the basis for our self-esteem. So, the longer we’ve had negative self-talk, the harder it can be to quiet it, but it is doable. It requires ongoing efforts to replace internal monologues of “I’m not good enough” with “I am able and willing to try this” or “I hold just as much value as the next person.” Positive affirmations like these can be an excellent way to retrain your brain to believe you have worth.
2. Know Your Good Qualities
Let’s step beyond simply having worth and recognize the things about you that are good, more likely great. Focus on the good traits that push you forward.
If you struggle with this, you can list all your positive qualities (things like humor, determination, creativity, etc…) Then it’s just a matter of shifting
your mindset to try to exercise these good qualities. It is like lifting weights at the gym; the more you work at it, the stronger your confidence becomes.
3. Know Your Strengths
Using our strengths puts us in the position to thrive. It reminds us that we are indeed good at things and have reasons to be confident in our skills. So, list your strengths and find ways to use these qualities more often.
4. Be Nice to Yourself
Many of us have an inner critic that constantly puts us down for doing the most minor things wrong or failing to be perfect. If this sounds like you, start talking back to your inner critic. For example, your inner critic may say, “You should have done better.” If you notice these self-critical inner thoughts, try to stand up for yourself by saying, “I did the best I could, and I’m proud of myself for the parts I did accomplish.” This new self-talk helps you re-write internal scripts for motivation, not deflation. In addition, standing up for yourself makes it easier to become more confident with others.
5. Do Your Best
By doing our best, we have a primed and ready response for our inner critic. Whenever we hear those inner monologues starting to put us down, we can respond with, “I did my best.” And that is all I can ask from anyone, including myself. When we do our best (while not striving for perfection), We can give ourselves a break and be more self-accepting.
Remember to write your lists from above. Please put it on paper, so you see all your beautiful assets. Then use them.
A Related Article
What Is Self-Esteem? (verywellhealth.com)
One Of My Blog Entries- Emotional Truths Of My MST.
Hiraeth-A place you can never get back to – MST and Me
