Most people aren’t born with innate self-confidence. Some days, it may feel like a struggle to feel good about yourself. Your personal experiences in life may have caused you to lose confidence. Others may have made you believe false stories about yourself.
I understand because I’ve been there. I’ve had to work hard to cultivate my self-confidence. Over the years, I’ve learned that self-confidence is everything. It’s the key to your success. Self-confidence leads to a stronger sense of self, resiliency and improves relationships.
The happiest people you’ll meet are confident in themselves and their abilities. They accept everything about themselves—strengths and weaknesses. They don’t try to be something that they are not.
You, too, can develop infallible self-confidence. The key to building self-confidence is consistency. Consistency is vital when it comes to changing your life. Building your self-confidence is something you have to work at every day.
Below, I share five daily practices to help build your self-confidence.
Take care of your mind and body
Studies show that there’s a strong connection between your body and your mind. It’s hard to feel good about yourself if you don’t take care of your body. Practicing daily physical self-care can help build your confidence. Including a healthy diet and how much physical exercise and sleep you’re getting. Here are some physical self-care practices that you can do daily:
- Perform physical activities for a minimum of 30 minutes daily. You can go out for a run, hop on your Peloton bike, or even take an online yoga class. Physical exercise releases endorphins, decrease hormones and improves your mood. Physical exercise may also help you lose weight and tone your body. You’ll feel more confident when you feel healthy and when you see your body changing. Your body will be more fit, toned, and your clothes will look more flattering on you!
- It’s no secret that what you eat can have a significant impact on your mood. This is why it’s essential to fuel your body with the right foods and supplements. Eating the right foods can energize you and improve your well-being. A healthy diet, free from refined carbs and sugars, can help prevent many illnesses. It can also help you maintain a healthy weight. Here are a few healthy meal kits to try so you can level up your diet this year.
- Better sleep helps us feel more alert, energetic, and happier. Make sure to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. There are many ways to improve the quality of your sleep. Here are my favorite quality products to help you get better sleep.
Do the thing you fear the most
Sometimes the key to confidence is doing the thing that you fear the most. It will teach you courage, and you’ll feel more confident in yourself each time. Doing this will make it easier next time when you face a challenge or situation that scares you. Small wins can stack up over time and become significant markers of progress and happiness.
Get more competent
It’s challenging to be confident if you feel like you won’t do well at something. How do you beat this feeling? Easy—get more competent by studying and practicing. Take small steps each day to learn and practice what you’d like to feel more confident in. For example, if you’d like to become a well-known blogger, start by writing more. Set aside 15-30 minutes a day to write down your thoughts. Keep writing until you feel confident in your writing. Next, start by organizing your ideas into a blog article. The point is to take small steps every day, learning and practicing what you’d like to feel confident in.
Practice self-compassion
How many of us feel down when we’ve made a mistake, feel hurt, or angry? We criticize and beat ourselves up over and over again. We are slowly chipping away at our self-confidence. The solution to stop this harmful cycle is to practice self-compassion. What does this mean? It means treating yourself with kindness when you feel ashamed, angry, or hurt. It means not comparing yourself to others around you and stop negative self-talk in its tracks before it begins.
Studies show that self-compassionate people have greater self-confidence. They’re less likely to fear failure, persistently trying until they succeed. So next time you feel the need to criticize and beat yourself up over a situation…stop! Practice self-compassion and be kind to yourself.
Surround yourself with positive people
Growing up, my father always used to say, “tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.” To this day, I still think about this statement when I select my friends.
It’s important for your self-confidence that you surround yourself with positive friends. Do your friends inspire you and lift you up? Or do they tear you down with negativity? Positive friendships support you through tough times. They’re there during the fun times and provide you with wisdom when you’re lost. Some of my best friendships inspire me to reach greater heights. They also help me to see my strengths even when it’s hard to do so myself.
Pay attention to how your friends make you feel. Do they support you? Do they inspire you to be your best self? If not, start investing your energy into friendships that lift you and help you become the best version of yourself.