10 Ways to Boost Your Confidence

Most of us struggle with self-confidence. Not always. But in certain situations. We discussed this at a recent Coaching at The Corner discussion at Mitchell’s Book Corner in Nantucket, and believe me, it was a lively discussion!

Here are 10 ways that you can boost your self-confidence. Let us know which ones work best for you!

1. Own yourself. What this means is to believe in yourself, and to not need others’ opinions of you to define who you are. Avoid apologizing for who you are. I like to say stand tall in your own shoes. And what this means is that your personal foundation should be the strength upon which you live your life.
2. Photoshop yourself image. This is a somewhat humorous way to describe the practice of making sure that who you believe you are is the person you want to be. When you have a positive self-image, it forms a base upon which your self-confidence can grow.
3. Stand tall. Believe it or not, your posture can actually help your self-confidence. By standing tall, making eye contact, smiling, with your shoulders back – you can actually boost your own self-confidence.
4. Self-acknowledgment. We do many successful and positive things each day. Yet many times we ignore those results. By actually telling ourselves “you did a good job with XXX”, you can feed your self-confidence. It is not only okay to do so, but healthy for your self-image.
5. Be prepared. Many times lack of self-confidence is because we fear failure. The more prepared you are for any situation, the greater your confidence about it will be. By researching and envisioning situations, you can manage your expectations, and therefore enhance how confident you feel going into those situations.
6. Let go of perfectionism. When you target a perfect product, chances are you will be disappointed. Consider replacing thoughts about a perfect product with an “excellent” product. Excellence is attainable, perfection will delay forward progress.
7. Sit in the front row. While you might consider this to be a bit silly, the point here is that when you believe you deserve to be in the front row or sitting next to the boss, it is actually evidence of your self-confidence. In other words, you don’t need to take a backseat to anyone else.
8. Complement others. Confident people help others succeed. People who fear failure also fear that other people will pass them. The reverse is actually what works. By helping others, and caring for their success, you can actually boost your own self-confidence.
9. Forgive yourself. Many of the sources of low self-confidence emanate from past situations and past failures. Whatever has happened in the past is just that – it is in the past. By letting go of those limiting fears, you can actually boost your forward movement, which boosts your self-confidence.
10. Be grateful. By sitting back and appreciating the things that happen to you in your life, you can actually boost your self-confidence. Make it a daily regimen to acknowledge the things you accomplished that you appreciate about that day. Your gratitude can fortify your self-confidence.

Just remember – self-confidence starts with you. I like to tell my clients that their strength lies in their own foundation. Your self talk and self-image form the basis for the confidence that will enable you to achieve your loftiest goals.