Confidence in 10 Steps to Banish Anxiety

There are so many things that have happened in our past and our day to day lives that has affected the levels of confidence in us, that we can end up feeling frustrated, lonely and lost. Confidence and self esteem are character qualities that have huge implications on the way we view the world and our selves. These views will basically take 1 of 2 sides; positive or negative. Unfortunately when we lack confidence we begin and maintain a negative approach to most things we do in our lives. It is so easy to believe there is no way out, to fear change and to get stuck in that inevitable rut of worrying about what others think of you to a severe extent. So follow these 10 tips and get on that path to confidence and see how your life changes for the better:

DRESS TO IMPRESS:

If you don’t feel good about yourself and the way you look you cannot feel confident and will most likely shy away from practicing other activities in your life to help you with your confidence. So wear something that you know you look good in and feel good; everything from your underwear, to your shoes, bag, hair and clothes. Using appearance is not a superficial way to express yourself if you do it to make yourself feel good and you use it to express yourself for you rather than others. When you feel good you will act more confident and you will get the response from others around you that will reaffirm this, boosting those confidence levels even higher.

POSITIVE BODY LANGUAGE:

Much of becoming confident is the reactions you get from others to the way you act. So if you act confident, people will be confident around you; you will set those actions, thoughts and feeling in place. So, by thinking about the body language you use you can increase your self esteem and confidence as you will get things achieved that you never thought possible. By standing straight, walking at a pace, using your hands rather than hiding them in pockets or playing with objects, maintaining eye contact, standing still and not shuffling etc you will find people act differently and positively around you creating a sense of empowerment for you.

THINK ABOUT THE GOOD THINGS:

It is so easy to forget what we actually have and only focus on the negative. Take a step back and think back to your past, present and even future. Think about all the things you have and accomplished, this can be anything to owning your own home, learning to cook, making friends, losing weight, helping someone or going travelling. It can be anything you are proud of or are grateful for, don’t forget them and embrace the things you have in your life. This acknowledgement will instantly give you a sense of gratitude and therefore confidence.

EXERCISE:

Exercise is something many of us shy away from, but it doesn’t mean you have to head to the gym if that’s what you are worried about. Exercise can be carried out in so many ways that sometimes it doesn’t even have to seem like you are working out. Exercise will give you more energy, improve your physical appearance, increase social activity, make you more disciplined and set you into a routine. All these factors will contribute to your confidence levels getting higher and higher the more progress you see and eventually you will begin to push yourself harder maintaining and increasing that ever needed self esteem.

COPY CAT:

Think of someone you really admire and believe is truly confident. This can be someone like your best friend or a celebrity. Watch them; what is it you think makes them seem confident?. Look at their body language, the words they use, what they are wearing, what do they talk about etc take note and then mirror it.

This works in 2 ways. You can model yourself on them in order to practice how to be confident so at home stand in a mirror and practice by yourself the features that you would like to portray in order to come across confident and then use them in real life. Alternatively you can them Mirror the person you admire; when you are interacting with that person mirror their hand movements, the way they speak and what they do. You will begin to learn positive characteristics and form your own style when being around others and then become confident as you will know the things you do will seem confident to others and you.

STEP BY STEP:

You have to learn to take things as they come and move forward in smalls positive steps. Challenge yourself everyday but with realistic goals. If you push yourself too hard you may set yourself back if you feel like you have failed and your confidence can get knocked further back. But, by setting goals you really can achieve but do still challenge you will learn so much about yourself and what you are really capable of that you and your confidence will shine through.

PEOPLE WILL THINK WHAT YOU THINK:

For many of us we end up getting bogged down by what people think of us and this can have a dramatic effect on our confidence. If I say stop, stop thinking about what others think of you it is something that will probably seem easier said than done. However, what we really need to realise is that people will only really think what you really think. So, if you think in a negative way then people will most likely see you this way but this obviously works when if you think positive people will see you positively.

KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES:

We all seem to naturally steer towards the negative traits we hold when describing ourselves and struggle labelling the positive things about our characters and lives. However, by knowing both your strengths and weaknesses you gain an insight to how and why you think, feel and act the way you do. You can move forward knowing how to utilise your positive traits and avoid those people or situations that can have negative effect on you. Confidence grows from this as you will trust the decisions you make as you are aware of what you will be good at and bad at, realising nobody is perfect here is very important.

CAN OVER CAN‘T:

Choose that positive attitude and believe that you can do things, you can say things, you can feel things, you can be something, you can do the things you want, you can achieve things, you can be you. Get rid of ‘Can’t’, ‘Won’t’ and ‘Don’t’ out of your vocabulary as you do not need it. By using this everyday you will start to do things you ordinarily wouldn’t and challenge yourself and strive towards the positive side of life meaning that good things will happen to you and when those hard time hit you will have gained such a high level of confidence and resilience in how to handle things you will come out the other side tougher and even more confident.

FAKE IT:

A lot of becoming confident is practice and in order to practice this you will have to fake it. Think about the most confident person you know or a celebrity you think is comfortable with themselves, it is a fact that at some point they would have had to fake it and so can you. By smiling, holding your body confidently, dressing well, responding to the way people speak, mirroring those around you who seem confident and putting yourself into unfamiliar surroundings you will become a pro at acting confident that will then set that positive you into your mind.

If you really do struggle with confidence and self esteem take these points and use them as practice really does make perfect, use the step by step plan and create an action plan and timeline that you can stick to and become confident and strong. The worry about what others think of you, being in social situations and the onset of anxiety will become a thing of the past.