Preparing for Self-Confidence

You can take some simple, concrete steps to ensure you’re well on your way to finding the confidence you want. Consider practicing the following suggestions in your everyday life. You’ll be amazed at how your feelings of confidence will increase.

The more you perform these steps, the more self-assured you’ll feel:

1. You’ll likely agree that when you see people smiling, you believe them to be more confident than one who is scowling or looking uninvolved. So, even when you don’t feel confident, a smile will boost your spirits and those of the people around you.
2. Use humor. When you use humor, others will naturally regard you as being more self-confident. So, work to infuse humor when talking with others. Watch how others bring humor into their conversations if you’re unsure about how to do it.
3. Consistently engage in physical activities. The more in touch you are with your body and how it works, the more confident you’ll be. And there’s no better way to help you know your body than to take part in regular fitness pursuits.

• Becoming and staying physically fit and strong is one of the most-confidence-building behaviors you can have.

4. Take care of your appearance. When you think you look good, you feel good. And feeling good about yourself equals confidence. Look your best most of the time. You’ll find yourself smiling more and feeling more self-confident.
5. Strive to be good at something—just one thing. Find and develop a skill or talent you can be really good at. You’ll love the feeling!
6. Put yourself in a position to utilize your own unique skills and talents. As you practice doing whatever you can do well, you’ll see that your confidence level will climb.

• If you’re good at working with people, volunteer at your local hospital. If you’re a great seamstress, take in mending work. If you do a great job keeping your yard in order, help your neighbors beautify their lawns.
• As you practice your unique skills, you’ll realize you do have confidence in yourself in those areas. Once you have confidence in one aspect, you’ve opened the door for it to spread.

7. Do the things you fear. If you tell yourself it’s okay to be afraid, as long as you follow through with something, then you can find the confidence required to create your dream life.

• Perhaps you’re afraid to start your own small business mowing people’s lawns. If that’s the case, start small by asking people in your neighborhood.
• Or maybe you don’t like speaking to groups. If not, place yourself in positions to do it anyway. Millions of people who had this very common fear (public speaking) have found their confidence by taking the Dale Carnegie course, which is offered in most communities.
• There are many methods to help you overcome fears. You just have to face your fear and try them.

As you prepare to have confidence, an amazing phenomenon takes place—you’ll find you already have some confidence on which to build. Doing things like smiling more, taking part in fitness activities, and keeping care of your personal appearance will help you develop self-confidence surprisingly quickly.

Also, being good at something, using your unique talents consistently, and doing things that you fear will help you prepare for and find that jewel you seek—confidence.

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” ~Arthur Ashe