Finding Your Inner Strength & Confidence: A Guide
How do I build inner strength?
1. Your self-talk: Is it positive or negative?
Negative thinking happens from feeling afraid or vulnerable. The mind of a person lacking confidence in themselves doesn't always make a distinction between an actual dangerous situation (life-threatening) and an imagined one.
2. Cut out the social comparison.
Comparing yourself with others will not help you. If your mind starts to compare, ask yourself, "How will this help me? Does this move me closer to my goals or further away from them?"
3. Know what you want.
4. Know your strengths.
What are your strengths? What are you good at? Maintain your focus on what you are good at, not on what you may be lacking in.
5. Eliminate the "what-ifs."
This type of thinking is equivalent to getting under that table top and shaking one of its legs. It will destabilize you, introduce doubt, and shake your foundation. Any time you start to think "what-if," change your thinking to "I will."
6. Speak.
Say something! Anyone who has made a mark in this world has spoken up, presented their ideas, and taken a chance. People can’t read minds—they can only read or hear what you’re trying to say.
7. Forget about being perfect.
Oftentimes, people don’t pursue things because they think it has to be ‘just right’. Newsflash- it’s never going to be the perfectly right time to do anything. You just have to take a chance. Overthinking how to approach things, conduct yourself, or say/do something can fill you with anxiety and lessen your chances of taking action.
8. Body Language.
Practice positive body language. To boost confidence, assume a power pose. To show agreement, mirror the other person’s expressions and postures. To stimulate good feelings, smile! Make eye contact with the person you are communicating with, and keep arms and legs uncrossed, as they portray feeling closed-off and not open to ideas.
How do I practice inner strength, confidence, and power?
A lot of your fears stem from a lack of self-confidence in yourself. In order to achieve inner confidence and power, there are a few things you should practice:
1. Celebrate all victories- no matter how big or small.
If you find yourself in a rut of self-doubt and insecurity, start acknowledging when you accomplish things, however mundane they may seem! The smallest of actions can seem like mountains that you have to climb if you’re overwhelmed.
2. Stay persistent.
3. Set attainable goals each day and work towards them
This is important so that you are creating goals that are achievable in the amount of time you want to accomplish them. Use the “SMART” Rule when goal-setting: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.These are pretty self-explanatory but makes it so much easier to attain goals in a specific time frame when you have it planned out.
Make sure you have a specific goal in mind: “I’m going to eat 3 healthy meals per week.”. This goal is a SMART goal because it’s specific(3 healthy meals), measurable (3 meals), achievable(if you eat 3 meals a day, that’s only 3 healthy meals out of a weeks-worth, being 21 meals total), relevant(if you’re looking to lose weight, or just be healthier and eat more veggies), and time-bound(set for a week). This is good for breaking down larger goals into more attainable, smaller goals. This system will help you stay focused, on track, and you’ll end up finding it easier to achieve if you don’t bite off more than you can chew to begin with.