Our thoughts, include our self-talk, limiting beliefs, attitude, and affirmation, all come together and if held in a positive light add to our confidence level. We all need to have a high level of self -confidence, I am not talking about being arrogant or pompous, but having the self-confidence that is going to add value to ourselves and others whom we relate with. Like so many of the items mentioned, our confidence is really an attribute that we choose to make positive or negative. Living a life with low self confidence is a life where we never achieve much of anything significant. With a higher level of self-confidence, we can at least hedge our bets that we will have a more favorable outcome.

 

How do we improve and strengthen our self-confidence? First off, confidence is really nothing more than knowledge. When we were young and first learned to ride a bicycle, we had little confidence, but as we practiced more and more and finally were able to control our balance and speed we were riding. As we continued to ride we gained more knowledge of what was possible and what was not a good idea. This knowledge came from experience. It wasn’t long before we had the knowledge, experience, and confidence to ride a bike as well as the next person. As we think about that process of transitioning from a goal to achievement, let’s look at the steps in closer detail. First, I said that self-confidence comes from knowledge, and that knowledge is gained through experience, and experience is gained through learning or living. All of this starts with a dream of accomplishing something that we currently can not or have not tried to do, a goal.

 

The first time that you do something you are inexperienced and with that being said, you lack some level of confidence because you are not sure that you are capable of doing it. If you were to stop at this point and say that you can’t do it because you have never done it, you will be stuck. But if you get past the point of doubting your abilities and try it, you may find it quite easy, and with each attempt after that, you become better and better at it and you build up your confidence. Now, you have done this same task a thousand times, how confident are you now in your abilities to accomplish it, I doubt that you even think about the process anymore, just like riding a bicycle. It becomes second nature. Confidence comes from repetition, and we can learn how to do things, it just takes a bit of courage to do it.

 

Confidence is truly a choice that we make, and every choice we make will either increase or decrease our confidence level. If each choice you make is based around the idea that you want to succeed or fail, I know that you will choose to succeed. Peter Voogd, in his book 6 Months to 6 Figures says, “The person with the most confidence always wins, and nobody respects an insecure leader. Successful people make choices based on who the want to become versus feeling comfortable in the moment.”

 

Take some time and think about what kind of choices that you need to start making that will improve your self-confidence. Start small and watch what happens when you start doing and making confident building choices.