PRACTICE!

Self-confidence doesn’t magically appear overnight. But it will happen a lot faster if you practice. Wait! How can I practice self-confidence? I believe it starts with the things you tell yourself. There are two ways you can look at an obstacle. You can tell yourself “oh I could never do that” or you can say to yourself “I’m perfectly capable of overcoming that obstacle.” So, what happens if you don’t succeed the first time –  you try it again! The only thing that fail means is:

FIRST
ATTEMPT
IN
LEARNING

Practice your confidence by speaking in a clear confident manner. Look people in the eye. Stand up straight. Walk with a purpose. Speak out against bullies. If plan A doesn’t work go to Plan B (ALWAYS have a Plan B!) and if you have to use Plan B, it becomes plan A and you need another Plan B!

You don’t even have to do anything to practice confidence. Not anything physical that is. Just closing your eyes and visualizing yourself being confident in a situation will help you actually be confident.

I heard about a study where two basketball teams were used to evaluate the effectiveness of creative visualization. One team practiced scoring points for an extra hour every day. The other team did no additional physic practice but instead spent an hour visualizing themselves making every basket. When the comparison was done the team using creative visualization actually improved more than the team who did the extra hour of physical practice. You can do that too! Imagine yourself standing up to someone who you feel a little intimidated by. Or just pretend you are walking confidently down the street and imagine people thinking to themselves “wow there goes a really confident person!”

When my first karate instructor autographed his book for me – it said “keep practicing and you’ll be a black belt someday” and I believed him– and look what happened to me!