4 April 2010 0 Comments

Boosting Self-Confidence – 9 Proven Confidence Boosters

Nine Communication Boosters

1. Internalize the feel-good factor

Each day in the morning, gaze at yourself in the mirror, and state all the wonderful things about yourself. Besides, you need to look after yourself properly in order to ensure that you can work on your confidence levels far more easily. Learn to consume healthy food, follow a regular fitness regimen, get sufficient rest, and learn to be contented and happy.

2. Learn to interact

Interacting with people constitutes a successful method of improving your self-confidence. Therefore, never shy away from meeting with other people, build new friendships, and develop business relations. If initially, you find it difficult and embarrassing to approach people, whom you have never met before, do not hesitate to take the assistance of others to make the necessary introductions and set the conversation ball rolling.

3. Overcome your self-consciousness

Now the other extreme of being self-confident is self-consciousness. Therefore, ensure you overcome your self-consciousness by doing away with the apprehension and nervousness from your system. This can be achieved by directing your mind on something else instead of concentrating on the subject that makes you feel self-conscious or by confronting the dread directly.

4. Entertain encouraging thoughts

If you believe that it is just not possible to develop self- confidence, then you will never be able to do it. Always bear in mind, that if you are devoid of self-confidence this day, then it will be missing for your entire life. You will then end up being sad and wretched. Thus, for your own good, learn to adopt an optimistic attitude that will ensure you transform your current uncertain state.

5. Pat yourself for mission accomplished

When you have achieved what you had set out to do in the first place, pat yourself on the back for a job well done and give yourself a treat. You can go shopping for something you have set your sights on or go out for a quite, relaxed dinner or in whichever way you prefer.

6. Select a role model

Select a person who can be the perfect example of self-confidence. Possibly, it could be somebody from your office, maybe your superior. Or, it could be a television celebrity or a public stalwart. However, exercise caution when selecting your role model. You should be able to glean something useful from this person.

7. Assume responsibility

People who do not assume any kind of responsibility are the ones who feel that it is quite impossible to do the job properly. Do you belong to that category? In order to boost your confidence levels, you need to know how to assume responsibility. You need not take on something huge. Begin with simple tasks that you can perform and then take it from there.

8. Establish realistic goals

The absence of self-confidence actually starts when you are of the opinion that you are not capable enough to accept the job or you are inept at completing the job. Therefore, to ensure that you alter these views, establish personal goals that you are capable of attaining. Start in a small way like pursuing your everyday routine. After that, you can start to set more advanced and tough goals. The point to be noted here is to do things gradually, first achieving the lower level before moving on to the next higher level.

9. Learn to be positive

Never consider yourself a hopeless person, who could never do things the proper way since you have never adopted a positive demeanor. Never concentrate on the discouraging moments of your life. Rather, remember the positive things you have realized in life.

Implement these guidelines in your life, this very moment and before long, you will find your confidence levels on the rise.

29 March 2010 0 Comments

Kung Fu Panda Teaches Self Confidence


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Kung Fu Panda makes some great common sense points about self confidence. Po the Panda, is a martial arts geek. He wants to be a Kung Fu legend, but he is too roly poly and uncoordinated. Then he accidentally becomes anointed as the famous Dragon Warrior. This turn of events helps him learn that warriors believe in, and take responsibility for themselves.

When he is first given the coveted dragon scroll, he is dismayed to realize that it has no writing, only a reflective surface. It takes Po a while, but then he gets it. All he has is himself. Armed with this insight, and the confidence gained from training with the master Shifu, Po battles the evil Tai Lung and triumphs. If the story line sounds like an entertaining, animated kid’s movie, that’s because it is – albeit one with a moral.

Po’s story of failure to triumph highlights all three characteristics of self confident people. Po, the Kung Fu Panda, learns to be optimistic and to believe in himself and his abilities. He also faces his personal fears, and triumphs over them, allowing him to triumph over Tai Lung. Finally, he surrounds himself with positive people – the furious five: Tigress, Viper, Monkey, Crane and Mantis; along with enlisting the Shifu as a mentor.

Isn’t it amazing how one animated children’s movie, can send such a strong message to our younger generation. The importance of self confidence to success shines through the movie brilliantly.

The common sense point here is simple, and timeless. You have to believe in yourself, and take responsibility for yourself if you want to succeed in your career and life. Kung Fu Panda makes this point in a very entertaining manner.

26 March 2010 0 Comments

10 Powerful Tips to Improve Self Confidence


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If you find yourself feeling like you’re “in a rut” and not appreciating yourself as much as you should, there are simple changes you can make to improve self-confidence and take charge of your life again. Confidence affects every area of life, from relationships to the workplace. And improving your self-confidence will always have a beneficial effect on both your relationships with others, and your ability to handle the little ups and downs that life can throw at us from time to time.

As a personal development coach, I have worked with many individuals to increase self-esteem and self-acceptance. The following 10 tips have proven time and again to improve self-confidence for a wide variety of people.

1. Clothes Make the Man and Woman. Yes, it’s an old cliche’, but that doesn’t make it any less true. When we dress confidently, we feel confident. Try this experiment: for one week, dress like the person you want to be, NOT the person you think you are. This one is simple change can dramatically improve self-confidence.

2. Stop Trying so Hard. Improving confidence should not be about struggling. Give up trying to be a perfectionist, and give yourself permission to be a human being who will naturally make mistakes sometimes. A sure-fire way to feel inferior is to set the bar too high in every area of your life. Cut yourself some slack — you deserve it.

3. Focus Your Attention Outward. Lack of confidence often causes people to focus an inordinate amount of attention inward, on the “self.” Make it a point to focus more attention on others than you do on yourself. Remember, confident people focus outward — insecure people focus inward.

4. Avoid Energy Vampires. All of us know someone who seems to “suck the energy” out of a room just by entering. Give yourself permission to minimize contact with these people. Don’t hate them or judge them in any way. Just recognize that they do not improve the quality of your life, and minimize your connection with them.

5. Take a Chance. Try something new and different that you may have been apprehensive about in the past. Enroll in an adult education class, or join a book club, gym, bowling league or other social pastime. Shake up your life a little bit. The change will do you good, and your self-confidence will improve.

6. Be a Giver. There is an old proverb that says “you only get what you give.” With that in mind, start giving what you want to receive in life. Make other people feel as confident and worthwhile as you can. By helping to build up confident feelings in others, you are sure to get back the same thing. Call it karma or what ever you like — it always works.

7. Practice Forgiveness. Many people are very hard on themselves because, deep down, they have not forgiven themselves for something in their past. If you’re clinging to some failure or transgression from the past, recognize that you are doing it and then forgive yourself completely for whatever it was. Likewise, if there is someone else in your life you need to forgive, make it a point to do so. NOT for their sake — but for yours. When we forgive, we purify our heart and start anew.

8. Affirmations: Ask Yourself the Right Questions. Some people repeat affirmations such as “I am self confident,” which is fine, but you can improve your affirmation results by using leading questions such as, “why am I so confident?” The subconscious mind operates in a very simple manner. When you ask it a question like this, it will immediately go to work looking for the answer, and it will report back to you all of the ways you already are confident.

9. “Model” Other Confident People. One way to improve self-confidence is to model the behavior of people whom you consider to be supremely confident. If you can befriend a very confident person, that’s great. But if not, just find an actor or other celebrity who is confidence personified, and study their behavior. Do this several times a week, and some of their confident mannerisms are bound to rub off on you.

10. Practice Gratitude. A grateful mind is a peaceful mind, and a peaceful mind radiates confidence. Practice making a daily gratitude list, and particularly focus on different aspects of yourself that you appreciate. Maybe you are a great swimmer, or good at math, or really strong, or a good dancer, or have an unusual sense of humor, or are good at design, or a great singer, or a really good friend, or any number of other positive attributes. Look for what is great about you, and then be grateful you have those qualities. Appreciating your good qualities will improve self-confidence, and help you develop the kind of positive self-image that is crucial to success in life.

22 March 2010 0 Comments

Increase Self Esteem by Building Confidence With Hypnosis


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Self-confidence can be described as the capacity to believe in oneself as well as one’s own skills and abilities. It is a correlate of high self-esteem, and requisite for success. Many people who exhibit a social phobia or cannot learn how to increase self confidence struggle to achieve success. A lack of self-confidence is too frequently destructive to a person’s success. The lack of a positive self-perception often prevents a person in his or her struggle to take control over past battles and progressing toward controlling one’s own future.

Contrastingly, self-confident individuals rely on themselves as well as their faculties to accomplish their ambitions. These people concentrate on succeeding; can learn through mistakes made in the past, and have learned to use those errors beneficially. These people are aware that flaws do not cause them to become failures. Rather, they merely learned to evaluate the source of failure and avoid falling into the same difficulties. Self-confident people recognize, foresee potential obstacles to their goals, and address these hindrances with the assurance that they can overcome these possible difficulties.

Many factors cause a person’s poor self-concept. In some situations, people allow fear to become an obstacle, which stops them from achieving success in a certain area. Occasionally, some individuals may be crippled by actual or perceived guilt as a result of past mistakes. Sometimes, a social phobia can hamper a person’s self-confidence.

A second source of impaired self-confidence is unrealistic expectations. It may be that an individual desires to succeed at something in a given time period. That aspiration may or may not be possible. In addition, successfully meeting a goal can sometimes require more time than initially planned. Requiring a longer time to complete a job or having to overcome additional obstacles to attain one’s aspirations is not equivalent to failure, although it may at times be considered as such.

Many times, those who do not understand how to gain self confidence look for ways to boost self confidence. Occasionally, they turn to counsel ring professionals to assist them to build self confidence and manage these difficulties. Many counseling approaches focus on building self confidence. One example of this is cognitive behavioral theory, which instructs people to boost self confidence through goal setting for improving self confidence, such as standing up straight. Moreover, they measure an individual’s successes by the realization of smaller and then larger goals. Concentrating on these tasks does aid persons acquire behaviors linked with self-confidence; however, it does not modify their self-perceptions or permit them to resolve the struggles that resulted in the negative self-image.

Positive self-talk is an alternative approach to building self confidence. The self-fulfilling prophecy is a common theme of psychology classes. This notion contends that clients are most apt to accomplish the tasks that they see themselves to be capable of achieving. Therefore, if people believe themselves capable of failure or low achievement, they will do exactly this. In contrast, if people consider themselves high achievers who can succeed, they will accomplish their desires. Professionals who utilize positive self-talk focus on aiding individuals gain self confidence, and aid them to value themselves as successful persons who are able to pursue their dreams effectively.

Self hypnosis is another treatment for building self-confidence. With the aid of building self confidence hypnosis, persons can reach a meditative state with or without a therapist present. They hear affirmative words and concepts that help them to have greater self-confidence by accepting strong behavioral suggestions. This approach is quite beneficial to those who are not analytical or critical thinkers. For those who are, however, this approach to building self confidence is significantly less effective.

A more recent alternative treatment modality often used to promote the development of self confidence is Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). This revolutionary approach can even utilize thoughts that have helped to cause an individual’s poor self-perception to trigger thoughts that will facilitate the development of self confidence!

NLP modalities can assist an individual to correlate previous memories of success to the current situation. Through the technique of anchoring, people can be aided to find memories of positive self confidence in their past, and anchor those experiences. When that client needs to gain self confidence once more, he or she simply triggers that anchor to draw from strengths developed by previous experiences to believe in and expect the success of the current endeavor.

NLP is uniquely easy and yet incredibly effective. Unlike other modalities, it eradicates the need for one to painfully analyze past issues or prolonged counseling sessions to become effective. NLP alone works for nearly every client who employs it as recommended. A high percentage of clients who have tried NLP gain self confidence almost immediately after beginning the treatment.

Summary: Low self-confidence is an obstacle to accomplishment that many people must overcome to pursue their dreams effectively. A number of therapies can be used to help individuals improve their self confidence. I have learned that the most effective therapy is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which assists a person to relate memories of past achievements to current feelings of self-confidence.