How to Be More Confident: 6 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem Every Day
You know those people that walk by you on the street and it feels like they own it? How amazing would it be if you were one of them? You’re only missing one key ingredient: self-confidence! Luckily for you, you’re about to learn how to be more confident (so you can walk on the street as if you owned it too ;)).
In this article, you’ll discover why confidence is an essential aspect of living your dream life and the 6 ways you can easily boost your self-confidence.
Are you ready? Then, let’s get started!
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What Is Confidence and Why Is It Important?
Confidence is often (mistakenly) perceived as arrogance, but it’s far from it.
When you’re confident, it means you believe in yourself and your capabilities to overcome any challenge that life might throw at you.
It’s knowing that you’re capable of achieving great things and not being scared of showing your strengths. This doesn’t mean, though, tearing others apart and belittling them (hint: that’s arrogance!).
Confidence has the power to impact your life more than you think. Want to know how? Take a look at this TedTalk:
In her speech, Cuddy reveals the results of a study that links confidence to one’s likelihood to take more – or fewer – risks in life.
So, if you want to lead a more successful life, you need to do some inner work first – starting with being more confident in yourself!
How Being More Confident Can Impact Your Life?
Not only that but there are plenty of benefits related to being a more confident person. To name a few, having more self-confidence leads to:
- Coping with stress in healthier ways
- Having a growth mindset
- Taking more risks in life
- Having a better relationship with yourself
- Feeling more in control of your life
- Living in alignment with your values and priorities
RELATED: Struggling to identify your core values? Grab below the FREE “Set Your Core Values Workbook” to start living a life that feels meaningful to you!
6 Ways to Be More Confident
Becoming more confident isn’t an overnight process (like anything that’s going to change your life for the better) – but, it’s definitely worth it!
So, here are the 6 best ways to be more confident in yourself:
FIND YOUR PEOPLE, THE RIGHT PEOPLE
There’s nothing that undermines your confidence more than being surrounded by the wrong people.
If you spend most of your time with people who criticize you, bring you down, and make you feel bad about yourself – guess what? It won’t be so easy to love yourself!
The first step you must take is to evaluate your current relationships.
- How do the people in your circle make you feel?
- Do you negatively compare yourself to your friends?
- Are there any toxic people in your life?
If you identify you have unhealthy relationships, it’s time for you to say “no more”.
No more hanging out with people who don’t make you feel your best! No more belittling your self-worth only to make others feel better!
I know, it’s not easy to cut off people from your life…
But, if it can make you feel better in the long run, then you must do it. You own it to yourself to take care of you and your mental health.
So, stop investing your energy in toxic relationships and start pouring more time, energy, and effort into finding the right people. Your people.
When you hang out with the right people, you’ll naturally feel more confident. Why? Because you’ll feel safe enough to show up for who you are!
There’s nothing that screams “self-confidence” louder than proudly owning who you are and standing for what you value.
IMPROVE YOUR POSTURE
In this same video, Cuddy also mentions one easy trick to instantly be more confident: improve your posture!
It’s something we don’t usually pay attention to – like breathing -, yet it can completely shift the way others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves too!
If you want to feel more confident, you should actively work on fixing your posture. You can do that by:
- Standing up straight
- Rolling your shoulders back
- Pulling your stomach in
- Looking straight ahead of you when you walk (so no mindlessly scrolling!)
- Taking breaks to stand up regularly
- Incorporating gentle stretching or some yoga movements into your workout routine
Don’t be afraid to take up some space. You own it. You deserve to walk in the streets fiercely.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
What do you do with the people you love? You take care of them.
That’s why, if you want to boost your level of confidence, you need to make sure you’re properly taking care of yourself.
You can’t love what you don’t nourish, after all…
Taking care of yourself means giving to your body, mind, and soul exactly what they need. That could look like:
- Not mentally or physically restricting food
- Moving your body as a form of self-care, not punishment
- Distancing yourself from toxic people and places
- Letting go of self-limiting beliefs
- Appreciating what you see in the mirror, rather than focusing on your flaws
- Eating food that fuels your body and soul
- Getting rid of your negative inner self-talk
- Setting healthy boundaries in your life
- Developing a more positive mindset
Once you start treating yourself like someone you love, you will inevitably feel better in your own skin.
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STOP COMPARISON
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
– Theodore Roosevelt
You lack self-confidence when you allow others’ achievements and qualities to threaten your own.
But…here are some truths:
- If your co-worker gets a promotion, that doesn’t make you a worse employee
- Your partner’s ex (with a perfect body, and hair, and who’s also fun) doesn’t make you less lovable
- Someone achieving success online doesn’t take your chance of success away from you
If you make assumptions from a scarcity mindset, you’ll feel threatened when someone is doing better than you.
Of course, social media didn’t help in this – as they made it so easy to compare our lives with millions of others (who always seem to do better, live better, and be better than us).
But, I want you to step away from those toxic beliefs.
It’s time for you to make assumptions from a place of abundance, rather than lack.
By doing so, you can reframe the above experiences in this way:
- If your co-worker gets a promotion, that means the company has some funds available, and – who knows? You might be the next in line to get that raise!
- Your partner’s ex is called “ex” for a reason, so why feel threatened by someone who belongs to the past?
- Someone achieving success online is proof that you can do it too! Rather than looking at others as competitors, start asking yourself: “What can I learn?”
Comparison will only lead you to constantly feel unsatisfied with yourself and your life.
Let go of the comparison trap, and be more confident of who you are by starting to appreciate yourself more!
RECOGNIZE YOUR WORTH
How many times did someone compliment you and you promptly played yourself down?
It could’ve been as subtle as:
- “Your outfit looks good on you!” → “Oh, I’ve just thrown on the first clothes I found”
- “You nailed that test!” → “Nah, it just wasn’t that hard”
- “Congrats on getting that job!” → “I’ve just got lucky”
If you do this, it’s time for you to finally recognize your worth!
Start accepting and believing in the compliments you receive. When people say something nice, most of the time, it’s because they mean it.
So, next time you get a compliment, I want you to politely say “Thank you” – no buts allowed!
EXPAND YOUR LIMITS
The final way to be more confident is to test your own (mental) limits.
As mentioned earlier, higher confidence is linked to higher risk-taking. But, the opposite is also true: if you take more risks, you’ll feel more confident in yourself!
When you go beyond your limits, you’re proving to yourself that you’re capable of achieving great things.
You increase your confidence by showing yourself that you have the resilience and strength to face your fears and overcome challenges.
So, from now on, I want you to challenge yourself to take a step further out of your comfort zone more often.
You could even turn this into a fun weekly or monthly challenge. Here are some ideas of how you could expand your limits:
- Try a new activity (whether that’s a hobby or a sport)
- Taste a new food
- Enroll in a class
- Change up your fashion style
- Read a new genre of books
- Say “yes” to that thing that scares you
Once you prove to yourself that your limits are not fixed, but rather obstacles placed on the road to becoming a better you, you’ll be more keen to take on the fun challenge to…overcome them all!
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That’s all for me today!
I hope this post gave you some practical tips you can adopt to boost your confidence.
The best thing you can do now? Start today, with one small action.
Work on building your self-confidence little by little, and you’ll be unrecognizable 6 months from now!
Q: “How is a lack of confidence holding you back from living the life you want?” – Let me know in a comment! 🙂
Until next time,
Really enjoyed this post. Thank you for sharing on this topic of confidence. A lot of great points and insights. 😊
Thank you
Well written! Your guidance to self-love is an insightful read. 🙂
Thanks!
Really helpful post for us all. Of course, I’ve found a natural increase in my confidence since hitting my mid 40s but there is always room for improvement!
So true!
Great information. Thanks for sharing!
These are great tips, I believe we all suffer from confidence issues from time to time. One of the biggest things I’ve learnt last year was to get rid of toxic people in my life, they can mess with your head and make you feel like you don’t matter and that you’re not capable of achieving your goals. That’s why, sometimes the best thing is have distance, see how you feel after a month of not having them around. Most of the time, you’ll figure out that they were one of your problems.
Talking about goals, you couldn’t be more right about comparing yourself to others. When others achieve something big, we think to ourselves “why haven’t I got there yet”, some of the time we’re simply in our own way.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Couldn’t agree more with this! Great words, thank you for sharing your point of view 🙂
Great post, these 6 things are essential to increase self-confidence, especially in Find The Right People. The right people around us will always provide positive input to increase confidence.
That’s right!