The following strategies may be useful to overcome such self-conquering thought habits. Consider these steps as the building blocks for greater confidence in any aspect of your life. 1. Begin with writing a journal. One benefit in self-analysis is by using a personal journal or diary. Try to ask yourself what is making you feel or think like you cannot get to a point in your life that you want to achieve. Write any thoughts that come to mind. Also, write down what the meaning of self-confidence is to you. Dr. Gordon MacDonald, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship president, speaks about the significance of keeping this spiritual practice: For many years I have kept a daily journal of what I am doing, why I am doing it, and what the results are. Just forcing it onto paper makes me ask what is going on in my life." That method will guarantee a particular quantity of impartiality, for when we look at our feelings and our lives on paper, it is easier to see our faults and the aspects where we are misleading ourselves. Bear in mind, practices such as this do not work for everyone, and if, after experimenting with a journal, it does not increase your self-confidence, merely scrap the idea. 2. Concentrate on your strengths rather than on your weaknesses. Confidence comes from within. You have to concentrate on the positive things about yourself. Remember the past is over; you can only change the future. Write down ten positive things about yourself. Go through your journal and look at all the positive things about yourself. Concentrate on your potentials. These are the reasons you should love yourself and have high self-confidence in yourself. Give yourself credit for every positive thing you have written about yourself. Remember, you're somebody special. 3. Accept and love yourself. Learn to accept and love yourself for who you are as a person. Everyone has their own distinctive abilities, qualities and characteristics. We are all born differently for a reason. Don't ever compare yourself to others. Note also the things that make you unique. Instead of wasting mental energy strategizing how to be more like the herd, you might do better to use some of your thinking time on how you want to set yourself off from the crowd. In your journal, for example, it might be effective to make a list from time to time under the title, How I Seem to Be Different." Write down the interests and preferences that make you distinct. You must also make a list of all your positive traits and strong points on your journal. By doing this, you are telling yourself that you too have praise-worthy characteristics like others. You will like yourself and feel confident about yourself after this. 4. Remind yourself of past successes. Confidence builds on past success. Because you had success before, you can (and will) have it once more. We strengthen our confidence in any interest when we remind or review ourselves of past successes. If you are trying to develop confidence in a new aspect, past success can still be useful in strengthening our confidence. For instance, if you had success in doing something new in the past, recall those experiences when trying something else new even if it is in a completely different part of your life. 5. Motivate yourself. Whether it is for a presentation or for an interview, remind yourself that you can do it. Encourage yourself each day and soon you will find your confidence level increasing. Another helpful way for motivation is that after work or study each day, you should make a list of at least five things that you did well for that day. 6. Take risks. Try doing things that you've never tried before. It's always a little bit of a challenge in doing new things and just the act of accepting these challenges, some little and some big, whether we are successful or not, frequently improves our self-confidence. Approach new experiences as opportunities to learn instead of occasions to win or lose. Doing so brings you new opportunities and can improve your sense of self-acceptance. Not doing so turns every possibility into an opportunity for failure, and inhibits self-growth. People who have a high level of self-confidence do not fear to go out and do it now." They may have no more talent or capability than anyone else, but going out and doing it" is no problem because they feel confident they will succeed. They are less afraid of committing mistakes and utilize more opportunities to succeed than those who have low self-confidence. Self-confident people probably commit more mistakes than those who are not self-confident, but they most likely have far more successes than the average because of their confidence in themselves. 7. Acknowledge your success. Give yourself credit for everything you try. By emphasizing on what you can do, you applaud yourself for efforts instead of focusing on end products. Starting from a foundation of what you must do helps you live within the bounds of your inevitable weaknesses. One's achievements have considerable significance for building a strong sense of self-worth. You must acknowledge your success for every task or job you do. Congratulate yourself each time you succeed. Reward yourself each time you do something that makes you feel satisfied ... go out some place or take it easy for the day. If you don't do well, correct your mistakes. Be careful about reproving yourself, except in severe instances. Remember, you're number one! You must learn to accept who you are, be proud of the person you are. Only then will you feel your self-confidence rise up to the skies! These steps are a regimen for strengthening and building your self-confidence in any life circumstances. Make use of these steps and I am confident, you will be more confident.
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