5 steps you can take to maximize your confidence

Building confidence takes a lot of time and effort. It’s certainly not an easy thing to accomplish. However, with some tweaks to our perspectives, approaches, and habits, we can all boost our confidence to the highest possible level. Here are some steps you can take in order to maximize your confidence and become the best ‘you’ possible.

Visualize 

Form an image in your mind. This image can represent what you want to be sometime in the future, or something you want to achieve. It can be a relatively small and specific goal or a larger, more complicated aspiration. 

Having something you want to work towards is very important. This gives you a sense of purpose that will motivate you to work on yourself and make the necessary changes in order to achieve that goal—regardless of its scope.

Acknowledge your weaknesses 

An honest self-assessment will set you on the right path. Being aware of the aspects of yourself that need work is integral to achieving self-improvement. As they say, “you are your toughest critic.” Pinpointing what you need to improve is critical as this will define what measures you take to gain more confidence.

Tweak your body language 

Work on your posture and assess your body language. Do you maintain eye contact when speaking to people? Try to smile a bit more. Stand up straight. Try to fidget less. These are small tweaks that can go a long way towards boosting your confidence.

Work on yourself daily 

For many people, overcoming issues related to self-confidence is an ongoing day-to-day battle. Even the simple stuff like going out in public and talking to other people can be a constant struggle. The important thing is to stick to what you’re doing and building upon your experiences and improving consistently. Practice is key and being able to do these more and more in real-world situations will help you improve bit by bit.

Give yourself room to make mistakes 

Even when you’ve made the necessary adjustments, confidence—and also success—won’t be guaranteed. When you fail, don’t get too hard on yourself. It is okay to make mistakes. It is okay to fail. What matters is what you do after. Even if it takes you some time, ultimately you need to get back up and continue to learn and improve.

Shift your perspective 

The lens through which you evaluate yourself as well as the results of your actions—whether actions result in ‘successes’ or ‘failures’—might be influenced by external considerations. For your own sake, however, remember that you are doing all of this mostly for yourself. 

So, if you shift your outlook to suit your personal metrics instead of what other people might think, you will be able to redefine ‘success’ and work from there. It’s easier to be confident when you don’t let other people have too much impact on your own perception of yourself. 

Remember: maximizing confidence is all about building up good habits over time, consistently working on your weaknesses, and using your strengths to your advantage. Casting away your doubts and fears, working on yourself on a daily basis, moving on from failures—these are all easier said than done, but know that they can be done. You just need to get started and put in the work.