4 Easy Ways to Build Self-Confidence

We all want to feel better about ourselves. In fact, self-confidence is one of the most attractive qualities a person can have.

Some people are naturally confident and comfortable in their own skin, but for many others building self-confidence will take work and determination.

Believing in yourself and your abilities is a wonderful thing, but one of the most common causes of lack in self-confidence is a negative self-image.

If you see yourself as incompetent then no matter what you do or how hard you try it will never be enough to convince yourself otherwise. In other words, if your foundation for self-confidence is based on your success and achievements, and it's too low, you will always come up short.

You need to start your confidence building program by focusing on something that all of us have: the power of the mind. The mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on how you use it.

By harnessing the power of your mind you will be able to enjoy a healthy self-image, which is the first step towards a successful and rewarding life.

The following tips are designed to help you develop a positive thinking pattern so that your self-confidence can grow.

Remember though, it takes time and practice before any new habit becomes second nature, so don't expect overnight results.

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1. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Some people believe that you can only feel better about yourself if you do better than other people around you, so they spend their lives trying to be perfect and comparing themselves to others. The problem with this idea is that it sets us up for failure .

No matter who we are or what we do, there will always be someone more attractive, successful, talented or intelligent than us. There will always be people out there that have more money , a better job and a happier family life. Always comparing your insides to other peoples outsides is a guaranteed way not to feel confident.

Instead, try to measure yourself against your previous performance and achievements and see how far you have come rather than focusing on how others are further ahead.

2. Learn to Accept Compliments

It's easy to brush off a compliment because we often mistake it for someone trying to make us feel better about ourselves. If you don't believe me, think about the last time someone gave you a compliment and how it made you feel. Chances are if you didn't believe that person then it sounded insincere and patronising to your ears.

The truth is receiving (and accepting) a sincere compliment can make us feel good about ourselves and a little bit more confident. The simple reason is that if someone we trust and respect can see something good in us then maybe there really is something special there.

Try to acknowledge the compliment with a simple 'thank you'. It's as easy as that, but it does make a big difference to how it makes you feel.

3. Focus on Your Strengths

It is easy to focus on our weaknesses because we are more familiar with them, but when it comes to our strengths it's all too easy just to take them for granted. Think about the things you do well and make a conscious effort to do them more often . Look back over the last week and pick out the tasks that you did particularly well, then try to repeat those successes as often as possible.

This is a great way of learning what you are good at and it's also a wonderful way to build your self-confidence. You'll be far more likely to feel confident if you know that not only are you good at things, but that you are actually achieving your potential.

4. Harness Your Emotions

We all have days where we feel great about life and others where it seems like everything is going wrong. When you feel bad about yourself the best thing to do is acknowledge how you are feeling . This can be difficult because we often try and fight our negative emotions, but the simple act of just accepting how we feel can make a huge difference.

When you start to feel bad about yourself take a moment to think about why you are feeling low . Once you have identified the issue it becomes a lot easier to deal with it because instead of trying to ignore it , you can actually do something about it.

This doesn't mean that you should wallow in self-pity, but it does mean that when we focus on the negative emotions we feel we give them more power. The more we focus on these feelings and try to avoid them the stronger they become and before long we create a vicious cycle of negativity.