Self confidence plays such an important role in our life on a daily basis. Most of the time we just go on with your day without ever thinking about how confident we feel about ourselves – that is, until we’re faced with a huge decision or we need to perform a certain task and expect to do it well.
So creating a solid mindset to feel completely confident anytime and anywhere becomes a very important quality that we can apply to most situations before they ever occur, thus making those challenging moments so much easier to contend with and to help us feel better about them.
For most of us, trying just one method to gain confidence and maintain a confident mindset doesn’t always prove to be the best solution, but using a combination of several techniques may provide exactly the key outcome to successfully achieve our ultimate goal.
Here are 10 strategies to the solutions that can be used alone, or in a combination to create or change your mindset to gain the self confidence you deserve. (not necessarily in order of importance).
1. One of the first and most important concepts to the creation of a strong and sound mindset is to begin with a clear slate. In other words, to erase those obstacles from your past that continue to form negative beliefs which keep you from feeling confident. It’s pretty difficult to move forward if you are constantly haunted by negative experiences from your past.
You can start the healing process by writing down all those past influences that continue to make you feel inadequate, indecisive, and insecure. I like to refer to this as clearing your mindset closet. Once you’ve discharged these destructive experiences, you can begin to create new positive associations that will propel you to new horizons.
2. Another destructive behavior is to focus on negative situations and outcomes. If you tell yourself that bad things always happen to you, then your subconscious mind will continue to find ways to reinforce that and constantly remind your thought process that “this is just the way it has been and there is nothing you can do about it”.
So this destructive thought pattern becomes the norm and you’ll have a very difficult time getting away from this type of behavior (in my book, The 51st State, I refer to this as ‘stinkin-thinkin’). Of course, not everything is going to produce a positive result for you, but you can DECIDE that negative outcomes are merely lessons to which you should view as a sign to try a new approach.
Don’t let your mind say to you; “see, I told you only bad things happen” – keep thinking that way and most likely, they will.
3. So, with a clear head and a positive attitude, you can begin to create your positive belief programming by some very powerful and influential techniques to disrupt a negative situation that occurs anytime, anywhere.
Be prepared to change your environment, or enhance the mood, or by documenting the cause so you can avoid a similar outcome in the future. You can put on some loud and fun music, you can go for a walk or run to exert some energy, you can listen to inspiring messages (i.e. my audio session) to help empower mindset and deal with a situation better, or take a hot bath to relax you physically.
Decide for yourself, what works for you to quickly change the immediate circumstances and you will open new channels to overcome these challenges.
4. Create a vision (dream) board that you can look at constantly. This is a great way to form positive beliefs and give you a physical “goal getter” to refer to first thing in the morning, last thing in the evening, and anytime in between.
You can use a bulletin board, white board, electronic graphic on your computer, or a simple cardboard poster that you can attach pictures, quotes, and goals as a constant reminder of what you want, who you want to be, and how you want to feel. Just remember to use this inspiration as often as possible.
Look at it, read it, study it, dream it, and believe in it. You can gain some huge confidence in yourself when you create some visual goals.
5. Surround yourself with positive energy. As obvious as this sounds, I’m amazed how many people continue to let destructive influences into their life from others. Join a group of like-minded people that you can relate to and share with and that empower you, or start one.
Stop hanging around those individuals that suck your energy from you and bring you down. Start associating with those you lift you up and energize you and you will probably find yourself with more confidence.
There is so much great opportunity to build confidence when you truly relate to others who recognize your strengths and talents instead of those who want to steal your dreams. Think back on those pivotal moments when someone you met made a huge impact on your life (in a positive way of course) and realize that this can, and probably will happen again.
Set your own boundaries and limits about who you will let become part of your circle of influence and you can feel the incredible power of confidence.
6. Getting busy with physical exercise (only with doctor’s permission) is probably one the most empowering methods to build self confidence. I have heard from so many people that this is the one thing that really makes them feel incredibly confident physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Sure, you may seek to build muscle, lose a few pounds, look fit, but it’s the mental aspect that has a huge impact on building confidence. Just knowing that it takes motivation and perseverance to get out and exercise is very satisfying by itself. Stick with it for awhile, and you should realize some really great physical results from your efforts. It’s also a great stress reliever and tension reducer.
There are many ways to get active, from going to the gym, to walking around the block, to working out at home with simple weights or a cardio dvd. You don’t have to set huge milestones to shoot for and accomplish at first. Start out with small, achievable goals in the beginning and continue to increase your workout program until you reach your ultimate results. Find something that you can do physically on a regular basis and you can gain the confidence you desire from this terrific form of activity.
7. Accomplish something, no matter how insignificant it seems, that gives you some satisfaction that you are moving in the right direction. Confidence comes from results – usually positive results.
Don’t just sit around and wait for things to come your way. Get up and call someone, or open a business account, write a blog post, clean the closet, even plant a garden, something that is necessary to help you move forward.
There certainly are no guarantees that is will provide instant success for you, but it keeps the motivation factor progressing and hopefully will lead you to the next task to accomplish to reach your goals (you better have some goals).
8. Develop some mind-healthy habits of positive reinforcement. Most of us have read motivational quotes to some degree. They can be found all over our busy world, from television commercials, to inspirational wall hangings, to fortune cookie messages, to seminars and programs you can listen to anywhere you go. That’s terrific.
There is such a vast amount of really great messages to keep us inspired all the time. Now, we just have to channel them into our subconscious mind so we create (or change) our belief system. Just reading a great quote or hearing a positive message usually isn’t enough to really embed that positive idea firmly in our mind so that we can call on it when we need to.
Try affirmations, mantras, and meditation, that can have a lasting result and provide a positive memory bank that we can tap into at will. A more consistent approach is usually required to create this part of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). Put these words of confidence anywhere you spend a lot of time at or on a regular basis.
By reading these powerful messages constantly, you can begin to create your own beliefs that will flush away negative thoughts and replace them with empowering and confident ones.
9. Be grateful, thankful, and appreciative of the gifts you already possess. You may be asking; how is this going to give me more confidence? The solution is that we can take a step back and realize who we already are, what we’ve already accomplished, and what we already have in our lives.
We all have certain gifts that we should be so thankful for. Sometimes it’s hard to think about them when we are struggling with life’s challenges. This is a great time to make a list of our wonderful traits and characteristics and pin them up on our dream board so that we can refer to them when life becomes difficult.
Confidence in our ability to appreciate the things we have instead of constantly striving for more can have a profound effect on our mindset. That also leads to rethinking what we really want and who we really want to be. Take some time to write down your gifts and be confident with them.
10. Never, ever give up. That means never give up on your dreams, your beliefs, or your talents. There is a time when you may be smart to let go of something that is draining you mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially so you can move on to more progressive tasks that will propel you forward in seeking your ultimate success.
You can usually decide when this time is appropriate when it just feels right to part from something that stops you in your tracks or takes too much away from you. It may be a relationship, a j.o.b., a business venture or a destructive circle of influences.
You should be focused on that which gets you closer to success by helping you accomplish your tasks and reach your goals. Sure there will be unexpected challenges along the way, but don’t let them bring you down and away from your dreams. You can just expect that challenges will happen, but you can also prepare for some of them by thinking ahead to what is presented in front of you.
Prioritize your tasks, contact those you need help from, and always take some action to get you closer to individual goals.
Try applying as many of these methods to increase your confidence and you may experience a higher power never felt before. Your mindset is so important to your confidence levels, which in turn helps you make decisions, take action, and venture out of your comfort zone, that can lead to the road to realize your ultimate success.
Focus on making things happen that move you forward and stop wasting time on things that are nonproductive. Confidence crushers are found too easily and in so many aspects of life so weeding through them can prove to turn confidence levels positive by eliminating those things that are destructive.
Take charge of your mindset and cherish the gifts you have been given. You are important – Have SELF CONFIDENCE AND BE CONFIDENT!
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