I’m about to be very transparent. I don’t always display most self-confidence as much as I’d like. Alright, I know that might not come as ground shaking news, but for me, it’s a problem. See, I’ve always wanted to be that type of person that has super attractive charisma, can’t stop me confidence and a sexy boldness. However, what I have is more like a silly, sometimey, self-confidence.
The way we feel about who we are can play a huge part in how we live and how we deal with the people around us. When we feel confident about ourselves, we are typically at our best. We walk a little taller, we’re fun to be around and we act with certainty.
There are plenty of books, websites, blogs, you name it, where the author or person being interviewed credits their success in life to self-confidence. So today, I’m going to lay out my top 4 tips and tricks to build self-confidence right now! Ready? Here we go:
- Get Dressed Up.
Yep. Go to your closet, grab your favorite outfit and put it on (If it’s clean. Well if it’s clean enough…) I do this myself. In fact, I did it the day before writing this post! When I want to feel good and a bit more like the person I see myself being. I have three outfits that I love to wear. The one that I wore the day before writing this consisted of grey slim fit slacks, my brown wingtip oxfords, light blue tailored shirt with french cuffed sleeves and my blue blazer. It was accented with a silk gold and blue pocket square with small blue and maroon diamonds accents. I had a presentation and I wanted to feel the very best that I could. This is absolutely one of my most loved outfits. When I’m wearing it, I think I look good. My wife says I look good. I feel good. +90 Power Boost points to the self-esteem meter!
What’s one of your favorite outfits? Wear it this week. Heck. Wear it today or tomorrow and tell me your self-confidence doesn’t go up almost immediately. - Stand & Walk Tall.
Everyone knows that slumped over rounded shoulders when standing or walking give off a low self-esteem vibe. If you’ve seen the movie “Black Panther”, in all of its awesome movie magicness and imagery, you have surely seen King T’Challa’s walk. King T’challa (The Black Panther), played by Chadwick Boseman, has a very, uh, royal, confident walk in the movie. It had a lot of swagger and coolness. Definitely, a walk to emulate.
Alright then. Stand up nice and tall. Pretend there is a string tied to the top of your head. Let that string be pulled up, raising and straightening your head and neck. Don’t pull too hard! You’ll want to keep your feet on the ground. Raise your chin slightly. Not too high. We’re not going for snooty. Now, when it comes to the walk, think “I am purposefully going somewhere. Give this a try: Take nice strides, stepping firmly, not loudly. We’re going for a confident walk, not trying to be inconsiderate of those around us. If you don’t feel that comfortable with your new walk at first, practice it at home or in front of a mirror. Even better, practice in front of someone you trust and get some feedback
- Talk To You.
If you happened to stumble across my last post, you would have read that I am a big supporter of positive self-talk. You talk to yourself more than anyone else talks to you. So, since you’re going to do it anyway, the words you hear from you talking to you might as well be the most positive words you are going to hear from yourself every day. (Did you follow that?) Affirmations are good. I like to stand in the mirror and get all pumped up in the morning. After I’ve gone through the first part of my morning routine, I stand in front of the mirror in our hall bathroom, as to not disturb my wife, and I get into coach mode and get myself amped up for my day! And it doesn’t stop there. I sometimes have to keep it going by telling myself little things throughout the day. I have to combat every negative thing that comes to my mind. For example, “The competition to get this contract is going to be too difficult.” is counteracted with “I welcome that competition! My ideas and solutions are great! And if I don’t get it, they weren’t my client in the first place.” Another good thing to do is fill your ears with other positive things like motivational podcasts or YouTube channels. Reading is great also. It allows you to highlight things, take notes and keeps little words of power around. - Do Something!
Or shall I say, take action? One thing I have realized in my own personal battle with self-confidence is, when I do something, my self-confidence goes up. When I practice something more, when I make a decision to do something and I actually do it, when I take action, the more I take action rather, the more I feel better about myself and have a better view of myself. Now here’s the truth about this, things might not always work out the way I planned them or the way I wanted them to, but it’s kind of like the saying, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
I love Mel Robbins’ 5 Second Rule. The next time you have a decision to make, like going up to someone and introducing yourself, or getting up to exercise, take a deep breath, count “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then do it. Take action!
And that’s it! 4 tips and tricks for better confidence today, to help build self-confidence. Do you have any tips or tricks that you use? Share them below! I love learning new things that can help give me an edge with self-mastery. Also, let me know if you’re going to try any of the tips above! I use numbers three to four quite often. I think doing these few things, coupled with having a belief in yourself that you can be more self-confident, will open up brand new possibilities to become the best you, you can be.
Don’t have someone around you to keep you pumped up? Check out the “When It’s Only You” post. Hopefully this can also equip you to awakening the awesome inside you! Til next time tribe!