Plenty of the world’s most successful people can likely pinpoint that they wouldn’t have gotten to where they are today without their sense of confidence. However, what they fail to mention is that for many of us, confidence isn’t something that just develops on its own. While some people are more likely to be naturally confident than others, anyone can make the decision to build and enhance their self-esteem over time. After all, you’re in control of who you are, and who you become. Here are our top tips to get you started.
Stop Procrastinating
Confidence is built on a foundation of getting things done. If you achieve plenty of attainable goals, then you’re much more likely to feel better about yourself. For some people, accomplishments will be of a career-focused nature. For instance, you might decide to finally apply for that new job or take a course so you can update your resume. For other people, it might be time to stop putting off talking to a doctor about issues you might deem embarrassing, like hair loss, or which pills you can take for erectile dysfunction. Those issues can make a huge difference to your life, and they’re surprisingly easy to fix.
Celebrate Every Success
One of the most common problems that people have when they’re trying to build confidence, is that it’s much easier to focus on your failures than it is to celebrate your success. To boost your chances of positive self-esteem, start breaking your long-term ambitions down into smaller, more achievable targets. For instance, rather than telling yourself you want to go from a $30k a year income to $100k by the end of this year, start by telling yourself you want to learn a new skill that will make you more suitable for a higher-paying job. Breaking tasks down into smaller, more manageable chunks makes them seem less overwhelming, and gives you more small accomplishments to celebrate. Just remember to keep your ultimate end-goal in mind, so you don’t lose track of where you’re heading.
Focus on Overcoming Fear
Finally, if you want to be a confident, successful, and happier person, then you need to stop letting fear hold you back. The truth is that the worst thing that can happen when you start to target a new goal, is that you could fail and need to start again from square one. If you’re already at square one now, then you’re not going to end up any worse off. What’s more, even if you do fail at achieving your initial goal, you may succeed at learning new skills, or understanding something that you didn’t know before. This could mean that it’s easier to achieve your target the next time around. It’s not the failure that’s really a problem for most of us, it’s the fear of failure that stops us from taking the first step. If you can overcome fear and start trying more of the things that you would find intimidating, you’ll begin to accomplish a lot more.