5 confidence boosters that create BIG change
Why 5? not 3, 7 or 9? I love numerology and 5 is the number for change. The number 5 embodies energetic, adventurous, daring and freedom-loving characteristics. So it's perfect for this post. Ah...5 - I love it!
In my life coaching practice, I work with women who're striving for change. To transform an area in their life where they feel dissatisfied, stuck, or lacking.
At the core, every single one of them is working on building their own confidence, so they can boldly step into the lives they want to be living.
I believe this is true for all of us.
Each of us want to feel that giddiness of knowing we can accomplish anything we dream about, with ease and a sense of self worth. That's what confidence is at its core. Confidence is taking action from a place of certainty, without doubt or fear niggling their way into the picture.
Confidence is like a muscle. A great example is my girls, who're dancers. They build muscle memory by practicing (repeatedly) new skills to help them grow as dancers and nail their choreography in competition. We need to build out confidence muscle, so like a dancer, the muscle memory takes over during times of stress, naturally appearing, and it becomes our default setting.
So what actions help us build confidence?
Visualize baby! If you can see and believe it in your mind, it manifests itself in your reality. We're all familiar with the practice. Athlete's use it to prepare for competition, actors use it to prepare for auditions, we'll use it to visualize our dreams. Picture yourself getting the new job, see yourself in your new office, feel the elation in your body, imagine your reaction...see how works?
Visualization helps us get clear about what we desire. When we know what we want, we can formulate a plan to work towards achieving it. How can we be confident about getting a new job if we don't know how we feel about it or what it'll look like?
Ditch the negative talk. It's so easy to get sucked into the trash talk that goes on in our own heads. Hearing negatives about our self can become self fulfilling. We are what we think. So stop. Just stop beating yourself up. Turn the thought around and use a positive affirmation instead. An affirmation is a simple positive, love infused statement you repeat to yourself. When you practice this form of self care, you're reprogramming your brain! So instead of "I'll never get a new job" - you think "Each day, I'm closer to the perfect job for me."
Lend a helping hand. You know that high you get when you've helped someone? Own that feeling- it's coming from the same place where your confidence lives. When we help others, we're acknowledging both their value and our own. It's when we know our own value that our confidence grows. So make an effort every day to help someone. Hold a door, sit at that table with a child doing homework, allow the person with only three items to go first at the checkout. So simple, but the dividends are HUGE.
Celebrate a victory. I'm guilty of not doing this one enough and am trying harder to remember to celebrate the good stuff and not dwell in the bad. I'm talking about celebrating all your victories, especially the one that seem small. Big victories come along every once in a while, but the small ones happen frequently.
Reward yourself with a cup of your favorite espresso drink when you turn that report in early, have a party on your new deck, take that nap after cleaning out the garage. You get the idea. Each time we celebrate an accomplishment we're saying to ourselves "great job" which raises our confidence and spurs us on to try and do more.
Change a habit. Not a big one, just a small one. Wake up a few minutes earlier to write in a gratitude journal, drink one more glass of water a day, take a walk after dinner for 20 minutes. Choose a change that you can commit to for at least a month. By sticking with it for 30 days, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment that will give you a boost.
5 tips to build your confidence are at your fingertips. Ready to take on at least one? The true tip to building confidence is the desire to change, to grow and to learn. Take a step forward, choose one and begin.
Know a friend who wants to take this journey with you? Please share this post and you'll have a confidence running buddy on your journey. Even better, share a story or idea below in the comments about a confidence building tip that has worked for you.
Originally Published 04-28-2018