Self-confidence is an important part of living a healthy and satisfying life. Confidence not only reflects the way others see us but how we see ourselves. It goes without saying that the more confidence we have, the easier it is to love ourselves.
You may have even noticed that confident people all share similar qualities: they view themselves positively, they have composure and tend to live their lives exactly how they wish.
It’s important to learn how to boost your confidence and more importantly, continue to be a confident person.
Here are 6 tips to incorporate into your everyday life, which can do wonders for your confidence building.
1. Learn to be your own cheerleader
It may take a little time, but by learning the art of self-affirmations, you can start to trigger positive thoughts and start to love yourself. Self-affirmations work by repeating positive mantras to yourself until they become ‘statements.’ When you are telling yourself a positive statement about yourself every day, you start to believe in them. And of course, when you believe all these positive things about yourself, your confidence naturally grows.
These self-affirmations can be anything you like, as long as they let you be your own cheerleader, praising yourself and celebrating being you. Perhaps they could be based on self-praise in certain situations. For example, when you’re cooking, keep telling yourself you have the skill to do this and are highly creative. The same goes for studying or working out.
More importantly, it works when people look in the mirror, repeating to yourself that you are beautiful, with pretty features and have the most fabulous personality to go with it.
2. Improve your body language
How you carry yourself and portray body language has a huge effect on your confidence. Start by making a conscious effort to observe your body language in certain situations, from your posture right through to eye contact. If you slump or slouch often, or fold your arms across your chest, you’re giving off guarded, poor confidence signals. Others will perceive this, and it will also affect how you communicate.
If you find it difficult to make eye contact, this is one of the biggest telltale signs that you lack confidence. Try to hold someone’s eye gaze for at least 5 seconds in a row, and eventually work up to always holding it there. Obviously, you can look away every now and again, but looking around the room or at the floor connotates that you are uncomfortable.
3. Look After Your Appearance
It’s an old saying, but if you look good, you feel good, hence why self-care is so important. You must feel happy with what you see in the mirror, but make sure you are aspiring to your own standard of beauty, and not the photoshopped celebrity-focused world we’re exposed to daily.
There are certain factors you can keep under control, like maintaining your weight, looking after your skin, dressing well, and finding a hairstyle that suits you. Wearing classic clothing which looks premium yet never dates is a great first step. Try wearing soft cashmere jumpers or silk blouses every now and again, which can do wonders for how you look and feel. You can find 100% cashmere staple wardrobe items at State Cashmere, which will feel beautiful against your skin.
4. Practice banishing negative thoughts
Controlling your thoughts can be a hard practice to get used to, but once you have learned how to do this, it is the ultimate self-confidence booster.
Start by paying attention to any negative thoughts that enter your mind. When you start to notice these entering, immediately switch it into a positive. You will possibly pick up a pattern, that the same type of negative thoughts become recurring. Write these down and identify the ones that keep appearing. Then, assess the root cause of these thoughts, and why you dwell on them so often.
Train yourself to get into the habit of saying at least one positive affirmation every time the negative creeps in. In time, when these negative thoughts start to seep into your mind, you will be knocking them away with something much more positive.
Improving your self-confidence should become a priority in life. Of course, the typical person will get knocked down multiple times throughout life, but how you pull yourself out of this is the key for building up confidence. Keep the above tips in mind and practice them whenever possible. Once you have mastered the art of confidence, you’ll never look back.