Activities to Build Self Confidence

Self-confidence is your own estimation of your ability to sufficiently respond to and manage life's challenges. It is context-dependent, meaning you might believe you are capable in one field but inept in another. Self-confidence is a learned mental quality that begins to develop in early childhood. As such, it can be nurtured and enhanced through practice, leading you to greater levels of accomplishment and overall satisfaction in life.

You Can Fake It

.Simply adopting the posture, voice, mannerisms and thoughts of of a confident person will, over time, actually engender feelings of self-assurance. Start by choosing a role model. Think of any person--alive or dead, real or fictional--whose attitude and confidence you admire. Consider how this person would move, act, think and feel in a certain setting.

"For any result you want in life, there's a way of believing and behaving that will get it for you," states Bill Harris, speaker, author and personal development coach for more than 35 years. "Simply find a person that has what you want, discover what they believe about it, how they act--and do that."

This process is called modeling. Successful people in all fields have found role models who inspired them and have utilized this strategy.

Integrity

Developing a high degree of self-confidence requires a strong sense of personal integrity. You must live consistently, according to your innermost values and principles, while acting and thinking in agreement with your highest aspirations. This requires a clear understanding of what you hold to be right, good and worthwhile, then devoting yourself in act, word and thought to these values--despite life's ups and downs. Being swayed by circumstances breeds self-doubt and diminishes self-assurance.

To discover your core values, envision the end of your life and write out a detailed account of how you would like to be remembered. This "self-eulogy" exercise should increase your overall awareness and provide insight about feelings of self-confidence.

Count Your Strengths

Make a list of 50 things that you do well. This task might seem daunting at first, but accomplishing it is well within your grasp. Everyone does many things at a high level of competency. However, over time people tend to take for granted all the things they've learned throughout life. If doing this takes a couple of days to complete, that's fine. Go as far back in time as you need--a trophy in sports, a knack for spelling--list everything you can think of. The goal is not to find the largest win, but to steer your mind toward regaining awareness of your ability to achieve.

Experiment

Remember, that there is nothing inherently wrong with making mistakes. Choose one activity in which you felt fearful and experiment with it. Instead of being attached to any particular outcome, conceptualize the task by saying, "What would happen if I..." For instance, you might approach learning a new subject with, "What would happen if I absorbed my attention entirely into this issue for two hours straight?" or "What would happen if I posted notes of the material around the house, car, etc?" Then observe what does happen, without judgment.

Author and creator of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, Jack Canfield, says, "It's not what happens during an event that discourages us, but what we tell ourselves afterwards." Withholding judgment allows you to look at a task with an attitude of learning. Continuing to practice this way of thinking tends to increase competence in a given area quickly and, in turn, fosters higher levels of self-confidence.

Toxic People

Avoid negative, critical people as much as possible. This may require making some tough decisions. Someone who is used to having you take the fall for their disappointments might not like losing a scapegoat. Still, developing an accurate sense of yourself requires avoiding those who drain your emotional resources and surrounding yourself with people who bring out your best. In business, people generally earn within $2,000 to $3,000 annually of their closest five associates. Former NFL coach Vince Lombardi said, "Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence". Removing negative people from your life is a vital step in building self-confidence.