7 Small Ideas to Reclaim Confidence in Big Ways
Children are absolutely fearless. If you ever doubt this fact, spend some time on a playground, and you’ll see exactly what this statement means. They jump into play, enlisting perfect strangers’ help for companionship and meeting their goals. They climb and run and jump, frequently with unbridled enthusiasm that adults come to envy.
We’re actually born with confidence. Sadly, this becomes lost through experience. All it takes is a nasty trip and fall to teach a child to approach life with more care. As we grow older, the process continues. We lose confidence with every failure and start taking to heart every harsh criticism. Soon we become so immobilized we see no way out.
The good news? Confidence can be fixed just by making several small changes in your life.
Honor Small Achievements
If you’re feeling like you never do anything right, making a list of the things you do well and your accomplishments is a great place to start. Enlist the help of someone who knows you well, as they’re apt to think of the things you might be too close to see. Once you have your list, keep it handy and re-read it when you feel confidence lagging.
Pull Yourself Together
A lack of confidence can make you want to hide in your own clothes. Rather than losing yourself in baggy, unattractive clothing, pull out the outfits you know you look good in. You’ll feel more confident whenever you look in the mirror.
Clean Up Your Act
Like dressing well, just taking better care of yourself does wonders for confidence. Eat right, exercise, and be sure to get enough sleep. You’ll feel worlds better, meaning your outlook likewise improves.
Check the Self Talk
Speaking of outlook, what have you been telling yourself? If you’re hyper-critical, it’s no wonder your confidence is flagging. Instead, turn your inner dialogue positive, focusing on the things you like best about yourself.
Challenge Yourself in Small Ways
A little success goes a long way toward improving confidence. Give yourself a task to do you know you can complete then set about doing it. The feeling you get when you finish is enough to boost you a positive boost.
Finish Something
We all have unfinished projects around the house or at work. Digging in and finishing up something you’ve needed to for a while will serve a twofold purpose: you’ll feel good about getting something done and even reduce some of the stress hanging over you. Both things increase confidence in giant ways.
Be Nice
Being kind always boosts your mood. This leads to increased confidence as you realize you really can make a difference in someone else’s life.
Because confidence comes from acting, use this list as a jumping-off point. Soon you’ll be discovering a multitude of ways to increase confidence. How exciting is that?
These are great tips. I’ve definitely challenged myself in a big way with this month’s blogging challenge! I’ve missed about 3 or 4 days but haven’t let that stop me and am going to try and double up during this last week so I can meet the 31 posts goal.
Hi Maria! Thank you for your comment. I am glad to know that you liked our post. Good luck with your blogging challenge! Stay awesome and be well.
Great tips Paul. Gratitude has been such a big part of my journey in my family and my business. Blog on!
Thank you, Lisa. I am happy that you find our tips helpful. Stay awesome as always.
I am not quite so certain that children are fearless. They are less fearful than we, but mostly because they don’t know the ramifications of their actions.
But, WE must overcome our innate fearfulness to maximize our potentials.
Great post.
Right! We do, must overcome those innate fear. Thank you for sharing that Roy.
Paul, what a great article! The two tips that really pop for me are to Be Nice– a secret I teach any client who will listen– and Finish Something! I started enjoying the fruits of finishing when I used to do a lot of needlework. Unfinished projects were hidden in corners all over the house. Finally I had a No New Projects year (yes, YEAR) in which the goal was to finish every single unfinished piece I had. That was so gratifying! Now if I start an art piece in any medium, I choose not to work on something else at the same time. Thanks for making this point!
Wow. That’s nice to know, Kebba. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It is indeed very satisfying when we finish all our unfinished business. Stay awesome. Be well!
Important points to remember. I especially like “Honor Small Achievements”. We tend to beat ourselves up about the things we (believe) we can’t do and don’t achieve, instead we should remember all the things we are good at, and other people even ask for our help in this particular area!
In high school I would be annoyed and feel taken advantage of by classmates who would skip class and ask for my notes afterwards. Until one day somebody told me that not only was my handwriting pretty, but my notes were well organized and made sense. Ha, I had a super power and wasn’t even aware of it.
You are right, Tamara! Thank you so much for sharing your story. We should not forget the things we are good at, no matter how small it is.