Improving Self Confidence

By Anne Marshall

Why is it so important to develop a healthy self-confidence and a positive self-image? You might like to think about that for a moment.

You know, your self-confidence is arguably one of the most important qualities you have. It reflects your assessment of your own self worth and it plays an important part in determining your happiness in life.

We can all feel a lack of confidence from time to time and most of us have one or more areas of our lives where we would like to be a little more confident, positive and sure of ourselves.

Here are a few simple tips to start you on the road of improving your confidence:

1. Be honest with yourself. Admitting you would like more confidence in one or more areas of your life is an essential step.

2. Identify the fear. If you can, aim to identify the underlying fear that is holding you back. For example, I recently realised how much I lacked confidence when walking down a steep cliff path. I realised that it wasn't anything to do with the height or downward motion but it was a residual memory of falling and hurting my back many years ago. The unconscious triggering of that painful memory was making me tense up and feel unsure of myself, with the end result that I was indeed more likely to fall. Being aware of any underlying fears will be a tremendous help but if this doesn't come easily for you, consider asking for some skilled help in this area.

3. Be aware of your expectations, they can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, in my own case, the more I expected to fall, the more likely I was to tense up and stumble, so reinforcing my lack of confidence in this area. Breaking this cycle of negative expectations is crucial to building up your confidence levels.

4. Watch your self talk throughout the day. You will probably notice that you often speak to yourself in a way that you would never speak to others? You know the sort of thing, calling yourself an idiot for making a mistake and so on. The way that we talk to ourselves is called self-talk and each of the thoughts we have about ourselves is stored and processed in our subconscious mind. Eventually these thoughts accumulate to create our beliefs and self-image. If you repeatedly focus on something with vivid imagery, and strong feelings and emotions then the subconscious mind has no choice but to accept it as real. So make sure you self-talk stays positive.

5. Celebrate! Yes, even for the minor successes in your life. Being grateful for something and celebrating it's presence in your life reinforces the belief that you can be, do and have what you want and is a wonderful way of boosting your confidence levels.

So consider, what could you achieve if you had more confidence? Would you take on new responsibilities at work, or go out more? Whatever you chose, know that it is possible with just a little bit of focused effort and a willingness to change. At the end of the day deciding to improve your confidence could be one of the most important decisions you ever take.

Anne Marshall is a Vitality Coach and Consultant specialising in confidence and wellness coaching. You can listen to a 45 minute recoding of her Confidence seminar free on line at http://www.enhancingvitality.com/confidence.html You are also welcome to contact her directly via http://www.enhancingvitality.com/contact.html if you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this article.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Marshall