7 Simple Daily Habits to Boost Your Self-Confidence

1. Get Enough Sleep

When you’re fatigued, your body and mind aren’t operating at full capacity. That means that during a job interview or work presentation, for example, you may not be able to perform your best.

And if you don’t feel confident in yourself and your abilities when you’re at work, it will be hard to increase your self-confidence overall. So get enough sleep every night!

Sleep deprivation is linked to increased stress, lower immunity, and a poorer overall mental state. Studies have also shown that people who are sleep-deprived are more likely to experience negative thoughts about themselves.

Sleep deprivation increases cortisol levels, which are chemicals in your body that help you feel stressed; getting enough rest can help decrease those levels and give you more confidence in yourself as a result.

If you need to increase your daily amount of sleep so that you’re well-rested every day, try setting an alarm for when it’s time for bed, taking a hot bath before bedtime (or during), or keeping some relaxing scents on hand like lavender oil or vanilla candles.

Lack of sleep has a ripple effect. Lack of sleep increases stress and decreases focus, which hurts performance and confidence in other areas, too.

2. Exercise Every Day

Exercise is a proven way to boost your mood, release endorphins, and lower stress. Plus, it can significantly increase your confidence. That’s why it’s important to exercise every day.

Even small changes like going for a 10-minute walk each morning or doing yoga after work can make a big difference in boosting self-confidence and encouraging feelings of success throughout your day.

If you feel intimidated by exercise, just find something you enjoy doing (like playing tennis) and try it out — even if you only do so on occasion at first. The more positive experiences you have with physical activity, the easier it will be for your brain to equate exercise with feeling good about yourself!

Studies have shown that exercise can increase confidence. This isn’t just some new age mantra; there are actual physiological reasons why exercise boosts self-confidence and makes us feel better about ourselves.

Exercise improves our brain chemistry, making us calmer and more positive about ourselves. It reduces stress, releases endorphins, and helps us sleep at night (which also improves confidence). After a few weeks of regular exercise, you should notice an uptick in your mood and sense of self-worth.

You’ve probably heard that exercise can boost your self-confidence, but it’s important to understand why. Regular physical activity increases endorphins and other neurotransmitters that help you feel good about yourself.

3. Practice Gratitude

A study found that exercising at least three times a week boosts self-confidence. If you’re prone to having negative thoughts, it’s easy for them to snowball into something bigger and become debilitating.

Working out — whether it be lifting weights or going for a run — can help push away those thoughts and give you a short period of time where you can center yourself again.

Plus, there are multiple other benefits of regular exercise that can’t be ignored, either: they include improved heart health, mental health, stress reduction, weight loss, better sleep quality, and much more.

Basically — all things that go hand in hand with increasing your self-confidence. There’s plenty of research that indicates that gratitude is good for your mental health.

In a small 2010 study, The Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who practiced gratitude had higher levels of subjective well-being and lower levels of depressive symptoms than those who did not.

But beyond keeping your stress levels low, practicing gratitude can help you feel more self-confident.

Make a list of things you’re grateful for and why. You can do it daily, weekly, or monthly. Studies show that people who practice gratitude often have higher self-esteem, feel more optimistic about their lives, and are generally happier people.

4. Affirmations Are Powerful, But Are They Fake?

Do you have low self-esteem? Want to change that? Try daily affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements about ourselves and our lives; they’re especially effective because we’re positively programming our minds in order to feel better about ourselves.

You don’t have to believe it; you just have to repeat it — over and over again. If done correctly, affirmations can be powerful motivators for making positive changes in your life.

Start by writing down ten things you like about yourself and your life, such as I am a kind person or I work hard at my job. Repeat them every day out loud (alone) or silently when you wake up and before going to bed.

Affirmations are powerful ways to increase self-confidence, but many people say they just make you feel fake. While that might be true in some cases, using affirmations properly can help you overcome anxiety and self-doubt. Here’s how.

A lot of people swear by affirmations, saying that using positive self-talk will increase their confidence and make them happier. If you think your confidence is lacking, it may be worth a shot.

While they’re not proven to directly make you more confident, there isn’t anything negative about trying them out — and they just might work for you! Here are some tips on how to effectively use affirmations.

5. Focus on the Positive

When you’re self-confident, it’s easier to set and achieve goals. The positive thinking that comes with self-confidence helps you accomplish your ambitions, regardless of whether they’re in your job or personal life.

By practicing positive thinking on a daily basis, you can nurture your confidence and build momentum for future achievements. These positive habits aren’t meant to be hard; they just require some focus.

If you can put these 7 simple daily habits into practice, then before long you should notice an increase in how much you enjoy yourself. And what could be better than that?

No matter how good or bad things get, keep reminding yourself of your strengths and how much you’ve grown. Keep a journal with you at all times and make note of even your most subtle accomplishments;

Acknowledging them will only motivate you to continue being successful. It may seem like common sense, but keeping track of what makes you happy is crucial for maintaining confidence.

Negativity is a surefire way to cause anxiety and stress in your life. If you want more self-confidence, focus on what’s going right instead of what’s going wrong.

6. Stop Comparing Yourself To Others

If you read any self-help literature, you’ve probably come across affirmations — those positive statements about your capabilities or accomplishments. Some people swear by them.

Self-affirmations have been found to increase self-confidence and are more effective than simply reminding yourself of your past successes, says Lifeskills for Teens, a website developed by Canadian psychologist David Walsh.

But what if saying these phrases is no different from putting on a mask and pretending to be someone else? Comparing yourself with others — especially in terms of your career or finances — is a quick way to lower your self-confidence.

The truth is that it’s nearly impossible for us to know what anyone else has achieved (or how hard they’ve worked), so comparing yourself with others will always lead you down a road toward needless negative thinking. Instead, focus on what you have and be proud of your accomplishments!

Comparing yourself to others is a recipe for unhappiness. No one has a perfect life or body, and it’s impossible to judge someone’s success without taking their goals into account.

7. Take Care Of Yourself First

If you feel great physically, emotionally, and mentally, your self-confidence will be at an all-time high. Taking care of yourself on a daily basis can be hard, but it is one of the most important habits you can form.

Make sure you’re eating healthy meals at least three times a day and that you’re sleeping for at least eight hours a night. Exercise regularly, too: even just 15 minutes a day has been shown to improve people’s sense of well-being as well as their self-confidence.

When your body is happy and healthy it will reflect in everything else in your life. You can’t give anything if you don’t have it in you, to begin with. By prioritizing your own self-care, you are ensuring that you are not burning out.

When you’re on a path of self-growth and personal transformation, it is easy to put everyone else first. However, there will come a time when everyone around you will reap all of your good intentions.

One of the best ways to boost your self-confidence is by taking care of yourself.