A great deal of unhappiness comes not from what we lack for material goods, but how we view ourselves. We hold ourselves to unreasonable expectations and worry about what others think about us so much that we can’t possibly be happy with who we are. There isn’t one product you can buy or one monumental goal you can meet in order to be happy with who you are. It all comes from self-confidence. These are seven ways to increase your confidence levels.
- Get Off Social Media
Using social media has been linked to poor self-esteem. Having all those lives to compare yours too is a recipe for feeling inadequate. Your friends, celebrities, and others seem to be broadcasting that their lives are incredible, so you dwell on the shortcomings of yours. It can be fine and useful in small doses, but constant social media consumption can waste your time and make you feel terrible about yourself. Take an extended hiatus from social media and see how you can grow your self-esteem with the added free time and growth opportunities available.
- Improve Your Posture
How you present yourself can affect how you view yourself. If you walk around with your head down and your shoulders slumped, you’re going to feel apathetic and not particularly lovable. But if you get your spine straightened out and hold your head up, you can feel much better. The psychology of posture is easy to understand. People who we view as being admirable are ones who tend to have a posture that suggests that they are happy with themselves and don’t want to hide from the world.
- Get in Shape
Body acceptance is a great way to develop confidence, but you can accept your body while also working on it. Working out and eating right doesn’t just help with your appearance. It can also have to make you mentally sharper. Look for exercises that target your fitness goals, such as how to lose weight in your face. You can also find recipes that are similar to ones you love, but healthier. As you push yourself further, you can become much more confident.
- Let Yourself Fail
This one might seem a bit strange, but it’s very important. Confidence comes from embracing your imperfections. The more you let yourself feel, the less scary it becomes. You don’t need to do things with the purpose of failing, but you should do things that don’t have a guaranteed chance of success. When you see that life goes on even in spite of your “failure”, you can realize that what’s actually happened is a major success for your confidence.
- Make To-Do Lists
You might be feeling a lack of confidence because you don’t feel like you get anything done. While you can’t get everything done in one day, you definitely can be more productive. Make to-do lists of things you need to accomplish and feel the satisfaction that comes with knocking items off. You can split this up into long and short-term goals. Come up with rewards to give to yourself for when you knock off your long-term ones. Incremental progress is how self-improvement, and ultimately, self-confidence, originates.
- Help Others
Confidence stems largely from how you’re able to provide for others. Being able to make someone’s day can make you feel like you really do have a purpose. It doesn’t have to be something that takes up your whole day either. You can help a neighbor with carrying their groceries upstairs. You can pick up an outdoor restaurant sign that’s been knocked over. Even if nobody witnesses your good deed, you can still feel great for knowing you’ve made a difference for the better in this world.
- Be Yourself
Having self-confidence doesn’t mean that you have to radically overhaul who you are and become some kind of extroverted alpha with the loudest voice. If you want to be confident, you have to accept who you are and not let anyone try to influence you into changing in a way that goes against your character. There are always things you can improve upon, but you need to have a core identity that you’re proud of. Consider your best qualities and how you can best share them with the world. If you’re a really empathetic person, reach out to people when they’re having a hard time. If you have a certain talent for an instrument, start playing at open mics. This can help inspire other people to stop hiding their true selves.
When you’re self-confident, life becomes better by becoming simpler. You can stop wasting time with frivolous concerns. You don’t stop holding yourself to a high standard, but you do stop holding yourself to an impossible one. Rearranging your priorities and focusing on areas of your life that you know you can improve upon will be the start of a major boost in confidence.
