Are you one of those people who have very little self-confidence and lose their footing as soon as they are put forward? Being assertive on a daily basis is essential for getting ahead, and fortunately it’s something you can work on.
Self-confidence and assertiveness in everyday life are the keys to reaching your high potential. It enables you to face up to any situation and succeed in everything you do. In the worst case, you’ll leave a lasting impression on those around you. Unfortunately, this state of mind is not innate in everyone. Fortunately, it can be acquired through hard work. Here are 15 tips to help you become more self-confident, regain the self-esteem you lack and, above all, never back down from a challenge.
Trust your judgement and your decisions
You don’t have to think you’re smarter than those around you. However, gaining confidence requires you to have faith in yourself and your abilities. Research and inform yourself. Think about the different aspects of a situation so that you can make an informed decision. Then examine the different options available and weigh up their advantages and disadvantages. Take into account the opinions of others and listen to different points of view. But remember to trust your own judgement. Use your past successes and skills to remind yourself that you are capable of making sound decisions. Learn from your mistakes and use them to improve your judgement in the future.
Adopt good posture
We often tend to neglect the posture we adopt. Yet it is important in many ways. You need to get into the habit of standing up straight. First of all, it shows that you have confidence in yourself. In front of an audience, you will give the impression that you have mastered your subject and this will directly encourage people to trust you and drink in your words. Standing up straight with your head held high will systematically influence the way people perceive you.
From a physiological point of view, good posture is also important. It helps to alleviate physical pain, you open up your airways and your voice is positively changed. What’s more, good posture helps to improve digestion, improve blood circulation and reduce stress.
Demonstrate self-discipline and take responsibility for your actions
Wanting to succeed in life without discipline is madness. You need to set yourself goals, but also create the conditions to enable you to achieve them. Everyone is different and may have a different way of operating. However, sometimes you have to work hard to achieve success. The best way to show self-discipline is to start by drawing up a timetable to organise your days and stick to it.
Wake up earlier or later, do some sport, give yourself a few minutes’ meditation every day, read and learn new things… Whatever decisions you make, learn to stick to them in order to achieve your goals. Most importantly, be responsible and take responsibility for all your choices and their implications.
Show respect for others and yourself
There’s nothing worse than people who are full of themselves and show no humility. To blend in perfectly with a group and become a charismatic leader, you need to show respect for others. This includes subordinates as well as your superiors. If you want to be respected, you also have to learn to respect others.
Self-respect includes both the way you express yourself and the impression you leave on others. It’s true that clothes don’t make the man, but they can have a major impact on people’s first impression of you, and that remains the case, whatever you say! So it’s important to be impeccable in both your presentation and your behaviour.
Show gratitude by appreciating what you have
A person who spends all their time grumbling and complaining about everything and anything will in the long run irritate those around them. Even before you open your mouth, people will be completely impervious to what you have to say. Whatever difficulties you’re going through, you have to realise that others are going through much worse. So you need to learn to put things into perspective and, above all, appreciate what you have. When you think about it, there are bound to be positive points in your life that you should take note of. Learn to see the glass as half full, rather than half empty.
Cultivate healthy, positive relationships with others
Why live in constant conflict? Learn to surround yourself with positive people and above all to stay where you are wanted. There’s no point in forcing affection or love. If you feel you’re not appreciated for what you’re worth, get out! The more positive interactions you have with others, the more you’ll flourish. This will have a major impact on your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Show courage by taking calculated risks
It’s not enough to rush headlong into inextricable situations to show that you’re courageous. You still have to be able to get out of them without losing your feathers. Being brave is all very well, but it doesn’t mean being reckless. It’s obvious that learning to get out of your comfort zone will only make you stronger. However, you need to set yourself goals that you can achieve.
Be persistent
Don’t give up. As long as there is life, there is hope. You have to understand that to succeed and, above all, to gain confidence, you have to roll up your sleeves. Putting in the effort, whatever the situation, will only add to your pride when you succeed. Rome wasn’t built in a day. So it’s not by twiddling your thumbs or sitting on your sofa that you’ll achieve your dreams. To make them a reality, you have to get up and go out and conquer your success. This is proof that you’re gaining in confidence and that you’re ready to face any situation.
Work on your diction
Expressing yourself correctly is often overlooked. Both in the vocabulary you use and the way you speak, you need to work on the way you express yourself. Learn to articulate well and speak clearly so that you are understood. Good diction will make it easier for you to interact with those around you and to understand your ideas. What’s more, when your diction is good, those around you will be much more inclined to listen to you and trust you.
Make your presence a plus for others
Can you imagine walking into a room and having everyone roll their eyes at you? Nothing could be more humiliating and fatal to your self-confidence. You need to know how to make people want you, and charisma is the only way to do that. So when you’re with people, you have to make sure that you bring something extra to those around you. To achieve this, you need to find the perfect balance so that your presence is instructive and interesting, without being intrusive. Whenever you’re out in public, make sure you bring something positive to the people around you.
Accept constructive criticism and learn from your mistakes
Don’t take offence at criticism unless it’s completely unfounded. You need to know how to take what is positive and enables you to move forward and leave aside what is said to harm you or drive you down. The more you succeed in sorting things out, taking a step back and putting things into perspective, the more you will grow psychologically. What’s more, you need to learn to look behind you so that you don’t make the same mistakes as you did in the past. It would be a shame to go through situations without learning something that will help you avoid difficulties in the future. If you can do this, you’ll be more serene in your everyday life and you’ll undoubtedly have more self-confidence.
Gaining maturity by managing your emotions effectively
To be confident in any situation, you need to know how to manage your emotions. This doesn’t mean that you should repress or ignore them. Far from it. It just means that you need to learn to channel your energy so that your emotions don’t spill over, especially at the wrong moment.
Can you imagine bursting into tears in the middle of a presentation to your colleagues because you’re under so much pressure? Even if everyone is sympathetic towards you and assures you that it’s no big deal, subconsciously the image they will have of you will be altered. You’ll come across as someone who can’t lead, who can’t be trusted and, above all, who isn’t capable of becoming a leader.
Boost your self-positivity
Learn to be indulgent with yourself and be proud of your achievements! Even if you’re a natural perfectionist, you need to appreciate your victories, no matter how small! To develop positively, you need to have the mindset of a “winner”. This means allowing yourself to fail from time to time without it seeming like a tragedy. The attitude to adopt afterwards is to pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes and move on. The theory of attraction puts it very well: you have to be positive to attract positivity into your life!
Be confident in your physical appearance
This is one of the most important things you can do to be confident in your everyday life. You have to learn to like yourself if you want to feel confident. These days, it’s not uncommon to see people attacking people on the basis of their appearance and putting them down. If you have low self-esteem, criticism of your appearance is bound to be a blow to your morale. Don’t hesitate to do exercises to learn to love your body as it is. Make a note of the parts of your body that you like and focus on them. Otherwise, you could just as easily do sport to sculpt the body of your dreams.
Know how to speak when necessary
Last but not least: learn to speak only when necessary. The less you say, the more weight your words will carry when you speak. It’s often said that silence is golden, and not for nothing. You mustn’t get people used to the sound of your voice or it will become background noise. For your self-confidence and that of others to soar, every time you decide to express yourself, everyone must know that what you have to say is important. You’ll gain a huge amount of self-confidence by adopting this attitude. What’s more, the respect of those around you will be earned effortlessly.
You now have everything you need to gain confidence. Whether in your professional, friendly or romantic relationships, the self-confidence you exude will undoubtedly command respect.
