How to Be Confident in Every Facet of Your Life

Even those that seem most confident struggle with self-doubt. Ultimately, everyone wants to be accepted and respected in their work, social and family circles.

It is rare to find a person who is naturally confident - someone who has not practiced their confidence to get to the point where they are today. Tips and tools for confidence building range from the superficial to deeper inner-voice work, and confidence building has spun multi-million dollar fortunes for various authors and motivational speakers. 

Their advice varies of course, but here, in a nutshell, is the core of what most advise you to do if you want to be confident.

      Present yourself with confidence 

     Dress in a way that makes you feel good, take a little extra time to get ready in the morning, be aware of your posture and practice strong and open body language. Studies have shown these little things make a difference in how we feel about ourselves and are perceived by others.

        Use quick pick-me-ups - If you are walking into a situation that throws you off, dig into your bag of feel-good tricks. This might be taking 60 seconds to breathe deeply and calm your nerves, giving yourself a pep talk before the mirror or listening to that song that always pumps you up at the gym.

   Practice self-reflection - Reflecting on your thoughts will help you in all areas of your life. Understanding the connection between your thoughts, moods and feelings is a skill that will be invaluable to you in personal development and professional and interpersonal relationships.

Developing an understanding of yourself will help you construct tools to manage negative and irrational thoughts and understand that your thoughts do not define you. In other words, "I am not good enough," or, "there is no way I can complete this task," might pop into your head, but that does not mean that you are not good enough or will be unsuccessful. This is simply mind chatter that only has impact if you let it.

Meditation is a good tool for learning to observe thoughts instead of feeding into negative self-talk. Today, top CEOs are talking about the importance of mindfulness and companies are even incorporating mindfulness topics into their HR policies and activities.

       Know your strengths and weaknesses 

      Be honest with yourself about what you are good at and what areas you would like to improve. This inventory should be done based on facts and examples of your successes and not based on feelings that live in your memory.

Think back to your strong points when you are feeling less than confident. Reflect on the areas of your life that you excel in and look for strength there. Did you implement a practice at work that saved the company money? Remember that the next time you are sitting at your desk and going over all of the reasons why you can't move forward.

Face your fears - Never stop challenging yourself. If you avoid difficult situations or stick to your comfort zone, you will erode the trust and confidence that you have in yourself to tackle new challenges.

This also plays into the fear of asking for help. Many of us think that it is embarrassing to ask for help, especially at work. Speaking up can actually build your confidence in the long-run as you grow your skills in weaker areas based on insights from these conversations.

Frank Medina says, "Building confidence requires you to trust yourself." Practice and remind yourself that you are enough. You are your biggest support and advocate - never betray yourself. It does take practice, but with these tips, you will be on track to building long-term self-confidence.