The Power of Confidence
To position yourself amongst others as a confident individual is not only an essential aspect of one’s life...it is crucial for success. Confidence gives us the power to take matters into our own hands in achieving our long-term goals and dominate our surroundings. Without it, one simply cannot achieve success.
This blog will cover my tips and tricks on how to gain the secret to success.
The Truth About Confidence
Believe it or not, the truth about confidence is that we were all born with it. Think about it for a second. When we were young, it was almost seamless for us to live life based on who we truly are. Whether that was our two-year-old self dressed up in a ridiculous outfit or even at the age of nine where we were singing/dancing in front of our families about something we watched on TV earlier that day. I’ve probably unlocked flashbacks for some readers, but that’s okay! You’ll realize children have the most confidence because they do not care what others think or have to say about them.
Insecurity is a learned habit that individuals channel to retract their personality and behaviour in public. When we were born, most of us would’ve experienced a moment where we had a little accident in our pants. I bet that none of you thought to think for a second to say, “oh I’m so embarrassed…” but rather get someone’s attention and tell them “hey I pissed my pants…someone needs to change me.” The positive side to all of this is we can break this habit of being insecure by reminding ourselves that confidence is your natural inherent state.
You see, we were all born confident. In other words, confidence is just a learned behaviour we adapted early on in our lives to combat any setting we found ourselves in.
“Confidence is just a learned behaviour we adapted early on in our lives…”
Tips On Becoming More Confident
- Do Not Compare Yourself To Anyone! When we begin to compare ourselves to the people around us, we start to feel insecure and perhaps miserable. So how do we avoid this? The only thought process that should incur is to compete with the only person you should care about, yourself. Compete with the person you were yesterday and challenge yourself to break down barriers that stop you from being a confident individual.
- Learn To Love Yourself More. Something that I’ve been practicing more often is positive self-talk. Negative thoughts lead to negative behaviour which eventually results in negative outcomes. If we allow negative internal dialogue to influence our mindset, why not practice loving and believing in ourselves more? To do so, you must shift your focus to the positive side. Recognize and stop limiting beliefs about your perceived weaknesses and replace them with empowering messages about your strengths. Moving forward, when you wake up every morning, look in the mirror and say these lines to yourself: “I can do it. I am a winner. Today is my day. I am confident” (see exhibit 1).
- Embrace Your Imperfections. People will never feel truly confident if they can’t appreciate their own imperfections. No one is perfect in this world, even people who strive to find perfection will never achieve that satisfaction…because it doesn’t exist. Learn to laugh at yourself and don’t bother what those around you are thinking. Keep your head up high, adjust your body posture and walk in that room knowing that the only opinion you should worry about is your own.
- Change Your State. Changing one’s physical and mental state is one of the easiest ways to access a feeling of confidence. To do this, you need to know what the state of feeling confident looks, feels and sounds like for you and this will vary from person to person. Recall a time in your past that is associated with the feeling of confidence and actively relive that moment in your head. Then, think about how you would feel if you were that confident person. How would you behave? Feel? Look?
- Adjust Your Body Language. Standing slumped over or with your shoulders caved in is no way to exude confidence. One method I use to practice self-confidence when it comes to public speaking is adjusting my body language. Before I begin presenting, I practice the “superman pose” which consists of your hands on your hips, your feet apart and your chin tilted upward (see exhibit 2). Adopting this type of posture before any sort of scenario where you feel nervous or anxious can help boost one’s confidence or even make you feel more powerful in the room.
Moving Forward
All in all, the key to confidence is making yourself look and feel confident. Even if you don’t feel your best, using the above steps will help you to project a powerful presence.
You can exude confidence even if you’re feeling anything but comfortable in the situation. Watch your body language, speak with conviction and put a smile on your face and you’ll show others you’re someone to be reckoned with.
