by Caitlin H,
Jun 12, 2023
Confidence is a powerful, sometimes obscure, sense of self-assurance that leads to believing in yourself, your judgments, your abilities, and your identity.
The more confident you are, the more quickly you’ll be able to tackle life’s challenges, achieve your goals and find positivity in your day-to-day life.
Sometimes, confidence can elude us, whether to achieve a certain task or how we feel about ourselves. That’s okay. If you struggle with confidence, you are far from alone. Experts estimate that about 85% of the world’s population deals with low self-esteem, which can affect relationships, work performance, achieving goals, and more.
Thankfully, there are practical ways to boost your self-esteem and improve your overall confidence, which can go a heck of a long way toward improving your personal and professional life. Read on to learn about 7 ways to boost your self-assuredness.
Know That the Only Opinion That Matters is Yours
One thing many of us do is compare ourselves to others. This approach can run the gamut, from looking at friends’ sizes on social media to feeling bad because you don’t make as much money as someone else. Additionally, we often look to others to give us a feeling of self-worth by seeking compliments or taking criticism to heart.
Part of building your confidence is to stop looking for it externally. Rather than drawing comparisons between yourself and everyone else, draw them with yourself only. For example, did you exercise five days this week, two days more than the previous week? That’s amazing!
Focus on what you — and only you — are doing to improve each week. Let that be the source of growing your confidence instead.
Skip the Negative Self-Talk
Do you ever make a mistake and call yourself stupid in the process? Or maybe you look in the mirror and think, “I’m not thin enough. I’m not pretty enough. I’m not good enough.” Whatever negative self-talk you’re doing, stop it! Believe it or not, we tend to be our own worst critics. Calling yourself names or putting yourself down in your head is the opposite way to build your confidence.
Instead of being so hard on yourself, think about what you would say to a friend who made the same mistake or was struggling with something similar. Chances are, you’d be kind, and supportive and perhaps even brainstorm solutions. Give that same courtesy to yourself.
Choose Positive People to Be Around
While being kind to yourself is essential, surrounding yourself with positive, good people is another significant step you can take to boost your confidence.
Focus on how you feel after spending time with friends and loved ones. If you walk away feeling happy and encouraged, great! Those are the people you want to be around as often as possible. Alternatively, if you walk away feeling discouraged or bad about yourself, pause to think about why. There’s a chance someone who is consistently making you feel that way isn’t someone you should be around anymore.
Forgive Yourself
So, you made a mistake or two. Guess what? Every single person does! Rather than beating yourself up for it or obsessing over what went wrong, acknowledge that you made a mistake, think through (or write out) what happened, and then move on. Effectively forgiving yourself by analyzing the situation and now dwelling on it gives you assuredness that it’s okay because you learned from it.
Overcome Your Fears
Do you ever put things off because you’re afraid to deal with them? Welcome to the club! Avoiding specific tasks that you’re anxious about is common. Unfortunately, they’re unlikely to go away and will probably worsen the longer you put off dealing with them.
Try handling them anyway, even if you have self-doubt. Remember, even if you make a mistake or things go wrong, you can learn from it by analyzing and forgiving yourself. Ultimately, just the fact you gave it a shot will improve your self-esteem.
Do What You Enjoy (and Are Good At!)
Just as you should try things you’re worried you can’t do well, you should also continuously do things you know you can. For example, are you good at a particular sport or game? Do it often!
Do you like teaching others? Find a way to pursue that passion.
Whatever you enjoy doing, do it. Your confidence will reach new heights when you build on previous strengths and engage in those activities regularly.
Make Your Health a Priority
While it’s true that feeling good about yourself starts with your mental health, your physical health matters, too. In fact, the two go hand-in-hand! When you practice self-care, such as eating right, prioritizing sleep, meditating, and exercising, you’ll quickly notice how much it improves your mood and confidence.
If you’re especially struggling with eating right, we can help! Diet-to-Go delivers healthy, balanced meals right to your door. They taste amazing and offer a heat-and-eat convenience that takes the thinking out of it!
Ultimately, boosting your self-confidence involves consistently practicing. Take it one step at a time, build on your achievements, and you will quickly find your esteem soars to new heights.
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Author: Caitlin H
Diet-to-Go Community Manager
Caitlin is the Diet-to-Go community manager and an avid runner. She is passionate about engaging with others online and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. She believes moderation is key, and people will have the most weight loss success if they engage in common-sense healthy eating and fitness.