5 simple habits to improve your confidence.

As you probably already know, doing something new and unfamiliar usually requires a lot of energy.
 
A habit, however, is often done almost without thought, and tends to require far less of us to be completed.
 
This is why one of the best things we can do for our long-term confidence is to create daily, confidence-building, habits.
 
None of these habits are magic bullets that will get you to your goal effortlessly. But all of them will contribute to your confidence building, so please don’t underestimate them.

Practice self-care to feel better about yourself.

Self-care is the practice of taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally. And when you take care of yourself, you tend to improve both your confidence and self-esteem.

Self-care doesn’t just improve your energy, motivation, and well-being, but it also shows your unconscious that you are someone who you think is worth taking care of.

So make sure you get enough sleep, eat nutritious meals, and engage in activities that bring you joy and relaxation on a regular basis.

And if you "don’t have time" to do these things most days of the week, that’s a sign that it’s extra important for you to prioritize self-care more. And when you do, they’ll have even more of a positive effect.

Take action before you feel confident.

If you’re waiting to feel confident about something before you do it, odds are that you’ll never do it. At least not unless you're forced to.

Confidence is, primarily, built through experience – not the other way around.

So take action on the things that you want or need to do, even if you don't feel very confident about them yet.

When you take action, you build crucial experience and show yourself that you are able to do things even if it might feel like you’re not. And that tends to build massive confidence over time.

Regular exercise increases self-affirming thinking.

I know, I know. You’re tired of people telling you that exercise is important. But unless you’re tired of hearing it because you already exercise regularly, that tiredness is a defense mechanism that is holding you back from your full potential.

It’s a simple fact that exercise is not only good for your physical but also for your mental health. And not just for the obvious reasons, such as that you’ll feel more confident in your physical abilities, increase your energy, and be more alert.

When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, which are basically feel-good chemicals. Having these chemicals in your body will tend to encourage more positive and self-affirming thoughts.

And the more often we have such thoughts, the more natural it becomes for our brain to re-create them spontaneously. Over time, this can lead to more positive habitual thinking about ourselves and our abilities.

And if you don’t have time to regularly go to the gym, play a sport, or do other somewhat time-consuming activities, know that even a daily short, brisk walk, or 15-minute yoga session that you follow on your phone, can make a difference.

At the very least, start taking the stairs instead of the elevators, get off public transport one stop earlier, or take a few minutes to do some jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, or similar before you get into the shower.

Small daily goals do wonders for productivity and confidence.

Setting and achieving daily goals can help you feel more accomplished and confident.

And they don’t have to be particularly big either, at least not for the first couple of months.

So if you’re not already doing this, start by setting easily achievable goals for the day when you wake up in the morning. Things like making your bed or tidying your kitchen, finally making that phone call you’ve been avoiding, creating a to-do list, or whatever else that you know you can do.

When you achieve small goals daily, you're likely to feel an increased sense of accomplishment which can help boost your confidence. And as you go, you’ll find that you’re able to set and achieve bigger and bigger goals, which will do wonders both for your confidence and your productivity.

Become confidently discomfortable.

We’re not always aware of it, but most of us have opportunities to safely step outside of our comfort zone on most days.

It can be something as simple as asking a question that we’re nervous about asking. Speaking up in a meeting. Trying a new snack or food that’s offered to us. Saying hi to a stranger – or better yet, asking them a question. And a million other things.

And doing even small things like these as often as we can, will help us become more confident.

When we do things we feel nervous about, we get better and better at stepping outside of our comfort zone simply because we get more desensitized to the thoughts and emotions that are trying to stop us.

We also show ourselves that when we choose to, our nerves, fear, or lack of experience won’t hold us back. And that will make it a lot easier for us to do more significant things outside of our comfort zone later.

Now, go become confident.

So, which of these habits are you going to implement first?

If you’re really serious about improving your confidence, start today. Don’t wait for “the right time”, don’t think about how or when, just start.

It doesn’t matter that you do it perfectly, that you’re able to stick to it every day, how you feel right now, or anything else.

Building confidence is a process. It takes time and effort, not perfection.

Start putting in that effort now, and you’ll significantly shorten the time it takes for you to reach the levels of confidence that you want.