The ticket to a great life is stunning self-confidence
Let’s face it: Self-Confidence is the key to success in life and in business. Confidence seems to be the magical ingredient carried by all of my personal mentors. The challenge with confidence is that it’s tough to teach and it is not prioritized enough when we are children. You can go to all of the self-confidence workshops in the world, but without life experience, you just can’t seem to grab hold of it. In my own life, my self-confidence journey has been one of great rises and great falls. Developing self-confidence gives you an invisible advantage and supports your ability to thrive in life. With it, you develop a heightened ability to trust your intuitive voice, to act on inspiration, and to have faith that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. You are also less likely to follow the heard, and more likely to stay true to your authentic self.
Developing self-confidence is like building any other muscle, it takes a deep commitment and masterful discipline. If I had to share a few of my favorite ‘tricks’ to building self-confidence, these would be my personal favorites:
1) Strengthen your core– a strong core keeps you strong, tall and powerful. Honestly, strong abs will kick-up your confidence (you don’t need a 6-pack!).
2) Talk to yourself! Affirmations like ‘I am strong, confident and super hot’ will absolutely help you get in a great groove! If you’re new to affirmations, you might find them a little strange or uncomfortable at first. This is totally normal! With time, you will learn to love and appreciate the power of affirmations. Remember that before you go to bed is a perfect time to program your subconscious mind! As you go to bed and as you awake in the morning, affirm your very own power statement (out loud). There is no time like today to start programming your subconscious to work in the direction of your dreams. If you want to be a walking billboard of health, confidence and abundance, tell your subconscious you already are JUST THAT. Let your subconscious then work FOR YOU in making this a powerful reality!
3) Do something scary (something that puts you on the fringe of fear but doesn’t make you feel like totally barfing). People always ask me how to know how scary or lofty to make a goal. Building self-confidence requires you to do things you wouldn’t normally do. Confidence is strengthened with experiences and through being in action. If you have a deep desire to be the most confident (but graceful) personal you know, set a goal that scares you but doesn’t make you vomit. A good way to get started is to set a goal that deep in your gut you know you could achieve (but it will take your full attention, commitment and your greatest self showing up).
4) Have a confidant– Have someone you completely love and trust to talk to. There is nothing more healing than getting any feelings of vulnerability or fear out of your body by verbally expressing how you feel. Journaling is also a great tool for getting fearful feelings out of the body but I also love having someone you cherish to talk to.
5) Surround yourself with fabulous people– When you have AMAZING people around you, you cannot help but soar! I love surrounding myself with people who lift me up and challenge me to be at my best. Find a few people to surround yourself with who are doing the things you want to do but are scared to do. One of my mentors told me to find people who ‘play at what you work at’. This is something I love to do! Finding people who play at what I work at is a great way to be in the energy space of my greatest desires. When I am around someone who is already living out my desired state, it helps get in a blissful emotional state. Maybe it’s time to get some new friends!
6) MOVE YOUR BODY– Movement is a fabulous way to move yourself into a state of confidence. Getting your prana flowing through your entire body can only create greatness. When I’m feeling in a self-confidence funk, a run or a yoga class instantly reconnects me with my personal power.
7) Don’t be afraid to fail. Your greatest success will often come after a failure or two! The most powerful and visionary leaders have had the most failures. Embrace failure by looking at it differently. Failures are your perfect moments. Learn from them and move on gracefully! Live boldly and shine brightly- who cares if you fail- You’ll be in good company. I would rather put my heart and soul into something and fail than to never try anything GREAT.
8) Commit to Action– It’s really tough building confidence while sitting on the bench. Being in aligned action is how you will strengthen your self-confidence. That being said- it is important to make a plan and be strategic. I am not an advocate of being addicted to busy, but when you commit to action, don’t change your mind easily! Boldly move forward with attention and focus! When you hit a speed bump, take a moment or a day to have a little breakdown but ALWAYS get back up!
I am a constant work in progress, but over the years, I have become even more certain that solid (and graceful) self-confidence is the master key. For those of you who are parents, make developing self-confidence in your children your greatest priority.
Originally published at medium.com