Lack of confidence is something that pretty much all of us struggle with from time to time. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be too far off the mark to say that most of us don’t really feel any more confident than we did when we were teenagers! It’s a depressing thought, but a true one. The good news is, though, even if you sometimes feel like you’re lacking in this area, there are still many ways to boost your confidence levels. Here are six ways to boost your confidence today.
Focus on What You’re Good at
If you focus on what you’re good at, it will be much easier to feel confident about yourself. By this, I mean that the things you’re good at enhancing your life in some way. These skills have practical applications that can help improve your life, rather than just being a random set of talents or interests. For example, if you really enjoy surfing, but don’t get to do it very often because there aren’t any surfers near where you live, maybe it’s time to move somewhere where surfing is more accessible? Or maybe there are other water sports nearby that would allow you to indulge those interests; sailing perhaps? It’s those types of activities and areas of interest that usually make us feel our most confident.
The way to work out what you’re good at is simply to ask yourself the question: “what am I really good at?” and allow your mind to wander. Then, once it comes up with an answer, take a few minutes and write down every single thing that springs to mind. It doesn’t matter how silly or trivial any of these things may seem; just write them all down so you can review them later on.
Don’t Be Afraid of a Little Self Promotion
People who lack self-confidence tend to be those who are afraid of coming across as boastful or arrogant. In some cases, this fear is understandable as some people truly are braggarts and actually have very little going for them in the real world. But what most people don’t realize is that by being 100% open about your skills and achievements, you can actually come across as humble. It just seems a lot more humble when a person says “I’m great at xxx” rather than they say “xxx must mean I’m great!”. By being completely open about your talents, gifts, and abilities, it’s possible to become known as someone who is so confident in their own abilities that they simply don’t need to boast about them.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
This is one of the biggest things that stops people from being truly confident. When we compare ourselves to others, it automatically puts us in a position where we’re going to come out feeling inadequate and lacking in confidence. I understand that this sounds completely counter-productive, but it’s true. The solution? Stop comparing yourself to other people! This can be hard to do when you feel that everyone else is doing better than you. Still, if you spend some time working on your self-acceptance levels, then it should become much easier to realize when there are genuine reasons why everyone isn’t equal in every aspect of their lives.
Accept Your Weaknesses
Being aware of your weaknesses can help you recognize precisely where you need to improve work to overcome them and feel more confident about yourself. If you don’t know what your weaknesses are, it’s going to be very difficult for you to develop a plan to overcome them because you won’t even know where to begin! So, to work out your weaknesses:
- Ask people who know you well what they think your main flaws are.
- Once you’ve compiled a list of what people say, take some time and ask yourself if those criticisms ring true when viewed from an outside perspective.
- If there are any points on the list which make no sense to you and seem like complete nonsense, ignore them and move on.
It’s important not to get stuck focusing on things that aren’t real problems or flaws simply because someone else has pointed them out; only focus on the things that seem like they could be concerns and good places to start working on.
Beware of Social Media
Social media can be a massive confidence killer. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow us all to compare our lives with those of our friends and followers, but most people don’t realize that when they look at someone else’s profile, they’re only shown the highlights from that person’s life. They never get to see the lows or the failures because that doesn’t make for good viewing. In fact, there is usually more bad going on in a person’s life than good! Imagine if you walked outside your front door one day, and all you could see were events from people’s highlight reels; it would make most people feel pretty inadequate and lead them to question their choices in life. You avoid this depressing trap by resisting the urge to compare yourself with everyone else constantly.
Break Out of Your Routine
Having a routine is fantastic for ensuring that you get the most out of every day, but it can be hard to experience anything new or essential if you never change your routine. If you want to feel more confident about yourself, it’s important to do things that are different or challenging because by doing so, you’ll begin to stretch your mind and push your boundaries. For example, if you’ve never looked for a sugar baby in London before, then why not try it? You might be surprised by the results.
You might end up making some mistakes when trying new things, but that doesn’t matter because the benefits you reap from being willing to take on something new far outweigh any initial discomfort caused by making an error when stepping outside your comfort zone.
Conclusion
No one is perfect, and we all make mistakes, but when you work on being kinder to yourself, stop comparing yourself with other people, break out of your routine, and take on new challenges, you’ll start to develop a healthier perspective on life. In addition, this will automatically boost your self-esteem levels because instead of focusing on negative things that don’t matter, you’ll be spending more time concentrating on the good stuff. So why not try doing some of the above today?