“Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand brake on.” -- Maxwell Maltz

I’m sure you’ve heard many people say that “confidence is the key”. In truth, confidence can really drive you in the right direction in all aspects of life including your career, your relationships and your studies. With a little confidence you can achieve a LOT better results than without, but the question is; how do you build your confidence or just be confident in general? In this blog we want to look into what confidence is, how it is formed and how to maintain strong confidence within yourself. Self-confidence can help you to feel a lot more secure within your own actions in numerous situations, so let’s dive in!

What is confidence and what is the difference between confidence and self-confidence?

Although both are very similar, they’re also sometimes hard to define as separate entities. Confidence is described as “the feeling or belief that one can have faith in, or rely on someone or something” whereas self-confidence is describes as “A feeling of trust in one’s ability, decision making, qualities and judgement”. Self-confidence is so crucial to the everyday human being as we are constantly faced with the need to make decisions and we also need to be self-assured about our own personal qualities and capabilities in order to succeed. Confidence for some may seem easily obtainable however, for the majority of humans it is something that is built up very slowly over a period of time, normally as a child or teenager. It is very easy for your self-confidence to fluctuate during your life time, usually due to influences from both your inner self and outer environment so here at dandi London we want to outline some key areas to focus on when looking to build up your own self confidence!

How to be confident?

Confidence is a very complex subject due to its nature of being sourced from multiple areas within day to day life. For some obtaining workplace confidence can be a walk in the park but that doesn’t always mean that those same people are confident within relationships or within their hobbies. There is no magic cure for poor confidence or self-confidence, but there is certainly some sure-fire tactics that you can use to assist the building of a more confident mindset. 

How to build confidence?

When looking to strengthen your self-confidence your mindset is the absolute key. A weaker, negative, self-destructive mindset is the recipe to destroying your own self confidence in a heartbeat. Looking at situations in a negative light is a one way ticket to lowered self-confidence, therefore always trying to focus on the positives in any situation and especially within yourself, is the key to building up that positive outlook. So let’s take a look at some key focus points to tune into when building the foundations for a positive outlook in life, which will enable a more rounded self-confident focus!

1. Visualisation; 

   People with low self-confidence tend to view scenarios and situations with a negative light. They see themselves failing or not achieving what they want to achieve, therefore due to this negative outlook they will usually find themselves doing exactly what they are scared of, failing. It is absolutely imperative to visualize yourself achieving what you want to achieve, as without a positive outlook, you are unlikely to get a positive result. Visualisation is our first and arguably most important tip towards building up your self-confidence, positivity generates positive outcomes!

2. Test yourself; 

   You must of heard the saying “do something that scares you every day” and if you haven’t, then you have now! If you go through life doing the same thing every day and not testing yourself then you will never progress. Progression is key to self-confidence as a human that is progressing is achieving, therefore generating more confidence within their own ability. I’m not saying you have to scare yourself to death every single day in order to be more confident, but if you simply push yourself that little bit extra, as often as you can, then you are more than likely going to progress in life, therefore moving towards better self-confidence.

3. Help and care for others; 

   If you struggle with low self-confidence, the chances are you struggle to help yourself sometimes, even when from the outside it may seem like an easy situation to overcome. If you suffer with helping yourself and helping your own self confidence then what better way to learn how to do that than helping someone else with a situation they are struggling with. Helping others and general human interaction with someone that needs your help is a powerful way to learn the skills needed to be more self-confident, due to the positivity and positive energy generated when helping someone else to achieve their own goals. Helping others is  a great way to improve your own self confidence within your workplace. A lot of people find that they feel useless at work, or they struggle to achieve the tasks set for them by their managers. Take some time out to help someone that will really appreciate your help, this will then enable you to feel more wanted and provide you with an environment where you can prosper and gain self confidence in your own ability.

4. Defeat your inner critic;

   For a lot of people that suffer with low self-confidence, the voice in their own head is the biggest critic in their life, which is a recipe for non-stop negativity. If you beat yourself up continuously about everything that is going wrong for you then the chances are you are going to be building up a fair bit of negative energy and also setting yourself up for failure. Take some time out to question your own personal thoughts, if you approach a competitive sporting situation thinking you are going to lose and telling yourself “I’ve never won before so why would I have a chance now” – the chances are you will continue to lose. Make a conscious effort to alter that negative voice in your head and turn those negative down thoughts into positive outlooks, you might not always win that sporting encounter, but you might be getting better every time – that is progression, and progression is great for self-confidence!

5. Set realistic and achievable life goals; 

   This is an area that needs specific attention! There are far too many people out there who struggle from poor self-confidence, purely because they are setting themselves unachievable goals and aspirations. If you are currently in an entry level job and you are telling yourself that in 18 months you are going to be the manager, you are more than likely setting yourself up for disappointment and a strong knock to your confidence. By setting yourself goals that push you to be a better version of yourself, but are also achievable with some hard work, you are giving yourself a target to aim for and a means to progress. Rome wasn’t built in a day remember! A great tool to have a look at when goal setting is the SMART tool. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. Those 5 framework credentials allow you to set yourself goals that are meaningful and within reach, take a look and set yourself some goals today, this is a great starting point to implement vision and confidence into your everyday life.

Give these 5 great confidence building tactics a go and use them as a strong starting point towards bettering your self-confidence. We can’t promise you’ll feel invincible within a matter of weeks or months but we can promise they have helped many others strengthen in the area you may be struggling in!

Author note: Embarrassing underarm sweat marks can severely affect confidence. If you suffer from excessive underarm sweat then check out our underarm sweat solutions to solve this problem.