Self-confidence is critical to human psychological development. The ability to believe in your own self-worth and ability to accomplish the goals you want to achieve are critical to accomplishing your life goals. From meeting the love of your life to success in business, much of your adult life is determined by your level of self-confidence. The self-confident person infects those around him with confidence, from their customers and employer, to their friends and lovers, and this confidence that is imparted is a key to the success of the self-confident.
Step 1
Prepare for the journey of developing self-confidence by taking an objective look at your current self-image. Look at what goals you’ve already achieved and catalog them. Write them down to keep as a record to look over when self-doubts arise.
Step 2
Determine what your strengths are. Look at your list of achievements and determine what psychological and physical or mental skills helped you to achieve them. Determine what you think your friends would say your strengths are.
Step 3
Set specific, achievable goals, both short-term and long-term. Setting goals is a vital element in both achieving accomplishments and in developing the self-confidence that arises from finishing something successfully.
Step 4
Start managing your mind and your internal dialogue. Make a concerted effort to notice when you have negative thoughts and feelings of low self-worth. Stamp these out firmly. Remind yourself of your achievements and strengths. Convince yourself, through positive self-dialogue, that you are better than your negative thoughts make you feel.
Step 5
Use your written-down list of positive achievements and strengths to defeat the goblins of self-doubt. When you notice feelings of self-doubt, cleanse your mind of them by reviewing the list.
Step 6
Keep your list of achievements up to date, in order to have fresh ammunition in the fight against negativity and low self-esteem. Sit down at least once per week and think about the achievements you’ve made and the new strengths you have revealed. Add these to your list.
Step 7
Use visualization and mental imagery to develop pictures in your mind of the positive feelings you will have when you accomplish a task you are about to embark on. Sit down before beginning any task, no matter how mundane, and develop this mental picture of you completing the job. Imagine the specific things you will do to celebrate finishing the job. Paint as real an image in your head as you can, in order to develop the feelings of joy that you will feel upon completing the chore, then use those feelings of accomplishment to fuel the fires of enthusiasm that you will need to work through difficult parts of a task and to fight any feelings of inadequacy that might arise during difficult times during the job.
Tips and Warnings
- Consider keeping a daily journal in addition to your triumphs-and-strengths notes. This will allow you to look back at past achievements for additional motivation.
References
- MindTools.com; "Believe in Yourself, and Find Success"
- "Think and Grow Rich"; Napolean Hill; 2004
- "The Power of Self-Coaching: The Five Essential Steps to Creating the Life You Want"; Joseph Luciani; 2004
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