People often believe that confidence is a trait that comes naturally. In reality, developing a healthy confidence level requires consistently taking the right decisions leading to an increased trust in one’s ability to tackle challenges. In this article by Sandhya Coyle, we explore four effective ways to transform yourself into a self-confident individual.
Set Some Goals
The lack of goals is one of the prime causes of demotivation and low self-esteem. Without goals, you are essentially investing time and effort toward activities that provide you with nothing in return. To turn the tide, follow this two-step method:
The first step is to set some goals, which can be as follows:
Health-Based: Planning to develop a toned or more flexible body, learning a new sport, following better eating habits, etc.
Career Oriented: Learning new skills, working towards a promotion, making a career change, and more.
Education-Based: Pursuing a new degree, learning a language, publishing research papers, etc.
Relationship Focused: Develop stronger bonds with family, make new friends, spend more time with your partner, and more.
Next, you need to break down these goals into achievable steps which can be followed daily, such as working out, applying to 10 job applications, and spending time with loved ones.
Learn the Power of Visualisation
Visualisation involves using the power of positive thinking to overcome challenges. It is an effective way to condition your mind to overcome negativity and set yourself up for success.
Here are three effective visualisation techniques to explore:
Visualise Yourself Succeeding: This involves imaging yourself attaining the goal you have set for yourself, such as visualising yourself landing the promotion you have been looking forward to or reaching your desired weight in the coming months.
Visualise Overcoming Challenges: Rather than bowing down to stress, visualise the ways you can overcome the challenges. For example, imagine how you will bring up the conversation for a promotion to your boss. Additionally, prepare answers for all possible questions they may ask.
Visualise a Happy Place: Create an image of a place or situation that provides you peace and comfort, which can be a happy memory, a calm nature setting, etc. Each time you start to feel stressed, imagining being in your happy place will help replace negative emotions with positive ones.
Practice Yoga
Yoga is widely considered one of the best ways to improve confidence and self-esteem. Here are a few reasons why:
Improved Focus: A core aspect of yoga is learning how to control breathing and concentrate on the present. This allows an individual to disassociate from negative thoughts, and gain clarity regarding their needs and wants, leading to effective goal setting.
Reduced Stress: The combination of breathing exercises and poses leads to the release of endorphins also known as feel-good hormones, resulting in a natural upliftment of mood and alleviation of stress.
Increased Empowerment: Yoga involves various poses and techniques which take time to master. However, in the process, you will experience yourself getting physically stronger and gaining mental clarity leading to greater control over your wellbeing.
Pilates is known to provide similar benefits and is a great supplement to your yoga routine. You can find more information on the benefits of these activities here.
Improve your Finances
As reported by The Health Foundation, more than two-thirds of Brits report feeling stressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the primary reasons for this is uncertainty regarding finances. Here are a few ways to handle financial stress:
Start creating weekly and monthly budgets accounting for every pound earned and spent by your household.
Prioritise income toward savings and paying bills on time.
If you’re a homeowner in need of funds, consider refinancing your mortgage. As reported by Redfin, refinancing involves taking a new mortgage to pay off your existing one. Additionally, you can negotiate lower interest rates and cheaper monthly payments.
A larger mortgage amount can also be approved using your home’s equity. This serves as a reliable and safe method to generate funds to cover expenses or healthcare bills during the pandemic.
The key to becoming a confident individual is embracing the power of positive thinking and making consistent efforts towards achieving your goals.
by Annabelle Harris of elders.center
