Your confidence belongs to you, you, and no one else.
— Lifestyle Revolt
Are you struggling to feel confident about yourself?
What if I told you that there were simple things that you could do in an instant to boost your self-confidence?
Might be hard to believe if you’ve always allowed your fears to guide your life, but it’s something that we all deal with.
The difference is how we deal with those fears.
Aren’t you amazed at the fact that some people seem to go through life full of self-confidence, self-esteem, and zero fear?
I used to be; until I learned how to control my fears and boost my self-confidence even in my darkest moments.
It takes practice and some getting used to, but it’s possible to boost your self-confidence in an instant.
Below are 15 killer actions to help boost your self-confidence and enjoy your life.
#1. Kill negative thoughts
The number one cause of low self-esteem and poor confidence is the negative thoughts running in your head all day long.
It’s hard to feel good about yourself when your inner thoughts constantly remind you of what you’re missing or how you’re never good enough to get what you want.
Therefore, the very first thing you should do in order to feel better about yourself is to kill the negative thoughts that are sucking the energy out of your life.
The best way that I have found to do this is to have a conversation with myself.
Every time a negative thought comes to mind, I acknowledge it and have a brief conversation with it just letting it know that I am better than that and that I would prefer to focus on figuring out ways to get what I want.
That might sound silly, but if you do it and believe in it, you’ll be filled with joy and more self-confidence than you’ll know what to do with.
Another way of killing negative thoughts is by simply reframing them.
Turn “I don’t have enough time to go to the gym” into “I will go to bed earlier and wake up an hour early so that I can go to the gym and get in the best shape of my life.”
I prefer acknowledging my negative thoughts because I feel that it helps me better understand myself, but straight up reframing them works as well.
Try both and see which works better for you.
#2. Wear your favorite clothes
Most people will have you believe that wearing a nice suit and tie will boost your self-confidence and there’s some truth to that. However, if that’s not your style, you’ll feel fake.
Therefore, if you’re feeling a bit down, take a shower and put on your favorite clothes. Sprinkle on some of your favorite perfume and feel like your best self in an instant.
Everybody has their preference, so whatever yours is, that’s what’s going to work for you in this case.
I don’t know what it is, but every time I put on Dior Homme by Christian Dior I feel invincible. I love perfume so if that’s your thing, be sure to combine your favorite clothing with your favorite fragrance for the optimal self-esteem boost.
However, if you’re not much into fragrances, just put on your favorite clothing and enjoy the transformation.
#3. Increase your knowledge
Sometimes the main cause of our fears is a lack of knowledge.
It’s difficult to feel good about yourself if you don’t think you’ll do well in something.
Kill that feeling by preparing yourself as much as possible.
Think of it as a history exam: if you haven’t studied, you won’t feel confident in your ability to pass the exam. But if you studied hard, you’re prepared and will feel confident in your abilities to crush the exam.
Now think of life and whatever you’re going through as your exam and prepare yourself for it.
How? You might ask:
- Read books on the subject.
- Learn from others.
- Find YouTube videos on the subject.
- Take a class.
Increasing your knowledge in whatever is causing you to feel bad about yourself is going to drastically boost your self-confidence.
#4. Celebrate your daily achievements
One of my favorite ways to boost my self-confidence is to celebrate my daily achievements. No matter how small they might be.
If you set a goal to save $50,000 to put towards the down payment of a house you might feel self-doubt creep in when you look at your bank account and only see $10,000.
However, what if you celebrated the fact that you went from zero to $10,000? or from $10,000 to $11,000? There wouldn’t be time for self-doubt.
Celebrate the fact that you know you’re on the right track and thoughts of giving up on your dreams will be minimized.
Long-term goals take time to achieve so you must learn to celebrate the small wins along the way.
Personal example: I want to help people create a lifestyle worth living, therefore I celebrate each new article that I post on this blog because I know that it gets me closer to my goals.
Nothing big, but I can’t expect this blog to reach the masses without it first ranking well on Google.
Therefore, I celebrated the creation of this blog, the first blog post, my first backlink, the first mention I got from a news outlet and everything in between.
I celebrate every little step that gets me closer to my end goal. Obviously you don’t have to open up a bottle of champagne to celebrate but at least acknowledge your accomplishments.
Celebrate the small things you do each day to boost your self-confidence.
#5. Smile
If you want an instant boost to your self-esteem smile.
Studies have shown that it’s virtually impossible to feel bad while smiling.
Don’t believe me? Smile and laugh next time you feel like punching a hole through the wall.
I guarantee you that you’ll experience an instant shift in energy that’ll be hard to explain at first, but will instantly boost your self-confidence and bring you back to your senses.
Smiling will even help you be kinder to others. Smiling is so simple, yet that tiny little thing can have a chain reaction for the better.
Not a bad investment of your time and energy eh?
#6. Be grateful
Another great way to boost your self-confidence is by being grateful.
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
— Melody Beattie
Sometimes our fears and insecurities make it hard to find things to be grateful for.
However, every moment and situation that we live in is temporary. You can choose to find something to be grateful for even in your darkest moments.
Regardless of your situation, below is a list of things we can all be grateful for:
- Being alive: You can change anything in your life so long as you’re alive.
- Your parents: Love or hate them, without them, you wouldn’t be here.
- Being unique: You are the only YOU in this world. No one else can be YOU.
- Food: Without food, you wouldn’t survive long.
- Air: We all need it in order to stay alive.
- Family/friends: Real family and true friends always want the best for you even if they have funny ways of showing it.
- Sun/electricity: They are necessities of life.
I would have to write another article to finish this list, but you get my drift.
No matter what you’re going through, there is always something to be grateful for.
Be grateful for who you are and what you have in times of adversity and see your self-confidence grow even in your darkest moments.
#7. Change a bad habit
Do you feel like a specific habit is holding you back? Are specific habits bringing your self-esteem down?
If so, decide to change them this very moment and start taking action.
Changing bad habits can boost your confidence tenfold.
I used to be a master procrastinator and it was heavily impacting my self-esteem because I didn’t think people could take me seriously.
The moment I decided to stop procrastinating I felt a huge boost in my self-confidence.
Strangely enough, it wasn’t because I felt people would take me seriously, but because I knew I had become a better person for it.
You might want to quit smoking, unconsciously picking your nose in front of people, or driving at high speeds.
This can be different for everybody. The key is to figure out the habits that are causing you pain and changing them.
Doing so will give a dramatic boost to your self-esteem.
#8. Help someone else
If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.
— Will Smith
I can’t say that I am a big fan of any of Will Smith’s movies, but I am a huge fan of his as a person.
This quote exemplifies why helping a fellow human being can greatly boost your self-confidence.
Helping others makes your life better.
Studies have shown that helping others makes you feel better.
A term called “Helper’s High” explains this phenomenon; Whenever you do something selfless for someone – whether that’s giving your partner a massage or donating money to charity – the act stimulates the release of neurochemicals in your brain’s reward centers.
In fact, studies found that just the anticipation of doing something good triggers the release of these chemicals, which in the long run can lower levels of stress hormones like cortisol.
Did I get a little too scientific for you?
No worries — just make sure you do something good for someone else and you’ll immediately feel better about yourself.
#9. Stand tall
Did you know that standing tall is one of the quickest and easiest ways to boost your self-confidence?
A study published by the Journal of Psychological Science found that a tall, expansive posture helps you act and feel more confident than a more drawn-in stance.
Further, social psychologist Amy Cuddy found that your posture can increase confidence-boosting testosterone levels in your body.
Below are the keys to standing up properly:
- Stand tall.
- Keep your chin tucked in and avoid tilting your head.
- Keep your shoulders back, knees and back straight.
- Let your arms hang naturally down the sides of your body.
Those are just some of the basics of proper posture techniques. If you want more details, watch this YouTube video or read this article.
So next time you notice self-doubt creeping in, stand tall to instantly boost your self-confidence.
#10. Get to know yourself
When going into battle, the wisest generals study their enemies and the environment that they’ll be battling in.
It’s hard, sometimes impossible, to defeat an opponent without knowing them
When you’re trying to overcome low self-esteem, your enemy is yourself.
Get to know yourself by listening to your thoughts. Understand what triggers them and how they make you feel.
Stop blaming other people and bad circumstances for your problems.
Get to know yourself — figure out what you’re good at and understand your limitations.
Dig deep and improve the areas in your life that are causing you the most pain.
Might take a while, but eventually, you’ll build greater self-confidence.
#11. Visualize yourself as you want to be
Proper visualization by the exercise of concentration and willpower enables us to materialize thoughts, not only as dreams or visions in the mental realm but also as experiences in the material realm.
— Paramahansa Yogananda
I’ve never met an individual that wanted sadness or failure in their life.
Some people are so accustomed to failing that they expect to fail in everything they do in life.
However, this feeling is not because they want to fail, but because they haven’t figured out how to avoid it.
Next time you feel bad about yourself, visualize yourself as you want to be.
Most self-help gurus would lead you to believe that visualizing yourself being rich and living in a mansion is going to make you feel great.
But if what you want is to be is a farmer who feeds his family from what he grows and sells his products at a local farmers market living in a mansion isn’t going to get you closer to our dreams.
This isn’t about what others want for you, this is about visualizing yourself and YOU would like to be.
Money is great and it can help solve a lot of problems, but just being rich cannot fulfill everyone. That’s why you always hear stories about millionaires committing suicide.
Don’t get me wrong, if I could make everyone an instant millionaire I would, but don’t chase money blindly — know your why.
#12. Accept your past and live in the present
Are past mistakes hunting you down and not allowing you to feel good about yourself?
If that’s the case you must understand that we all make mistakes. Humans aren’t perfect and you aren’t the exception to this rule.
If you were the victim of someone else’s mistakes. Understand that you are not at fault; forgive them and most importantly forgive yourself.
No matter how much we’d like to, the past cannot be changed.
Therefore the best thing you can do is to understand it, accept it, learn from it, and be grateful for it because it’s the reason you are the person you are today.
Sure, you might not be where you want to be, but by accepting your past and living in the present you can change anything you want in your life.
You can’t go back and change the past. You can’t go forward and change the future. You CAN live in the present, create a past that you’re proud of, and a future that you want to be part of.
— Lifestyle Rerevolt
Boost your self-confidence by being who you want to be right now.
#13. Exercise
Research has shown time and again that exercise can significantly increase your self-esteem.
There’s an instant mood-enhancing effect that releases feel-good endorphins after you exercise.
Exercise has also been found to have positive long-lasting effects on your mental health.
This doesn’t mean you have to go get a gym membership and become a gym rat.
You could do simple things like walking around your neighborhood for thirty minutes or jogging half a mile each day.
Whatever form of exercise you like doing, make it part of your daily routine and you’ll get a huge boost in self-confidence.
Conclusion
Self-confidence can be described as the trust you have in your own abilities.
Without it, your life can become drown in a constant sea of failure.
Lucky for you, there are simple things which you can do to instantly boost your self-confidence and enjoy your life.
Above you’ll find the best ways to help boost your self-esteem next time you’re feeling down on your luck.
Helpful Resources
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
I read this book a few years ago and it was the first thing that popped into my head when I decided to write this article.
This book isn’t your typical “think positive thoughts” kind of book, it’s about dealing with all the shitty stuff that we have to deal with on a daily basis.
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
If you want to start kicking ass and taking names this is the book for you.
This is basically a how-to guide on how to stop doubting yourself and start living a more fulfilling life.
The Self Confidence Workbook by Barbara Markway
Some of you might find this book kind of cheesy at first, but if you follow its instructions you’re bound to increase your self-confidence.
Have a pen and paper handy as you’ll be writing a lot.
Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen
If your thoughts are holding you captive, “Get Out of Your Head” by Jennie Allen is the book for you.
Jennie is very religious and it shows in parts of her book, so if that’s not you’re cup of tea consider another suggestion on this list. However, it’s not a religious book so if you don’t mind the occasional bible reference give it a shot.
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
I just reviewed this book and it’s by far one of my all-time favorite books to read.
I truly believe that your thoughts have a profound effect on your life and this book teaches you how to control your thoughts in a way that they become an asset towards the accomplishment of your dreams.
This is a collection of the best Ted Talks on how to boost your confidence.
The list includes talks by scientists, doctors, teachers, and people from all walks of life.
11 Steps on How to Start Loving Yourself
This was the first article I wrote on this blog because I think loving yourself is the foundation for creating a life that you can be proud of.
If you lack self-love read this article or pick up a book on this subject and work on this aspect of your life right now.
What are you doing to build your self-confidence?