What makes self-confident people appear so confident?

They exude self-confidence without trying hard. As they walk, an aura of self-confidence follows them.

But what are the exact elements that make them look self-confident?

It’s actually hard to pinpoint what self-confidence is exactly composed of, and that’s why it seems to be that inaccessible thing that only others have.

Self-confidence appears almost as an inborn personality trait and that’s why it’s so hard to uncover its ingredients.  

In conclusions, we see self-confident people and think that they are this way because they were born this way. Period.

Well… in reality, self-confidence is not as out of your reach as you might think.

If you start to implement different activities and if you start to be more self-aware of the way you present yourself to the world, your self-confidence aura will start to come alive!

Wanna find out how it’s done in practice?

In this article, I want to share with you various activities that you can start implementing on daily basis so you can increase your self-confidence effortlessly.

So keep reading!

1. Have a Good Posture

A hunched appearance is associated with a lack of self- confidence.  

It reflects a lack of energy. It looks as though that person would like to hide from others.

On the contrary, having a good posture makes you look and feel more self-confident.

Try it, now! Are you ready for the following exercise?

• Stand tall and straight
• Shift your shoulder back
• Lift up your chin

How does it feel?

Do you feel that you are in control? Are ready to conquer the day and to reach/exceed your goals?

Now start walking.

Walk with a confident pace and feel proud at every step you take.

There’s everything to like about having a good posture.

It makes you look and feel self-confident, needless to mention the health benefit and how it can relieve some of your back pains!

2. Smile

Now keep that good posture, keep walking and add a smile on your face.  

Here I’m not talking about faking a huge smile, just try to showcase your natural smile.

Keep smiling as you walk straight and notice your self-confidence level going high up.

Have you noticed it?

When you start smiling, you immediately feel better.

You are more prone to approach others. Beyond making you feel this way, smiling does actually reflect self-confidence and makes you look more friendly.

That’s it, my friend, it works!

Smile and your feel your self-confident skyrocket!

3. Dress for Confidence!

I’m convinced that genuine self-confidence comes from within and picking your clothes is actually a direct expression of your inner self.

It shows how you want to present yourself to the world.

After all, you are the one behind that decision. You are the one picking your clothes.

You are the one choosing the image of yourself you want to project.  

When you pick your clothes, it’s a visual representation of how you’d like to be seen.

Think about it?

How would you feel if you were forced to wear a dress? (assuming you’d hate wearing dresses)

How about that: how would you feel íf you were forced to wear the color you hate the most?

Would you feel self-confident? Would you walk proudly?

Most likely not!

So pick something that fits you like a glove, that makes you look fabulous and that especially represents your lifestyle, who you are.

Select your go-to clothes for self-confidence!

 

As a result, when you know that you look great and that you are reflecting a proper image of your inner self, you feel good and confident about yourself.

 

4. Engage With Your Community

I suggest that you put yourself out there by engaging with a new group of people who have the same interests and hobbies as you.

You can, for example, join a sports team, a theatre group, enroll in a dance class etc.

When you engage with your community, you build new relationships that give you of a sense of belonging.

Feeling accepted by like-minded people can really help you believe in yourself more.

> Volunteer

If you’re not ready to put yourself out there, or if you are afraid you don’t have, for example, enough skills yet to join a sports team, then I suggest that you start with volunteering.

It is a very safe environment to start with because association members are not there to judge you.

When you join an association, it’s not about competing with someone else and people are not there to criticize you.

All that matters for them is to work together towards for the same cause and to make this world a better place in the end.  

When you join an association, apart from supporting a cause that is close to your heart, you also give yourself the opportunity to slowly get out of your comfort zone and to grow your self-confidence by acquiring new social skills.

Maybe you need to give a public speech to raise awareness about the cause you’re defending?

Maybe you have to set up a booth in the street and you need to address strangers to let them know about your association?

Maybe you will be given responsibilities?

One thing that’s for sure is that you will gain experience.

You will give yourself opportunities to build your self-confidence in a pressure-free environment.

Give back and get a significant self-confidence boost in return. 🙂

5. Recognize Negative Thoughts and Silence Them

If you want to maximize your self-confidence, I recommend that you start to learn to silence any negative thoughts.

You need to stop them telling you that you can’t do it, that you don’t have what it takes.

Paying attention to discouraging thoughts that don’t believe in you automatically decreases your self-confidence and prevents you from acting.

Negative self-talk, it happens to all of us and it’s hard to control.

Those negative thoughts come to our mind, most of the time without us even knowing why. But that’s’ okay, don’t beat yourself up for that.

However, it’s really important that you learn how to recognize negative self-talk as soon as it occurs, in order to lessen its power.

When you’re able to identify negative thoughts, it’s then much easier not to listen to them and to replace them with neutral thoughts –  or even better – with positive thoughts if you can.

When you’re able to recognize negative self-talk, you can finally ignore your inner critic!

In this article, I share with you the best tips you can use to stop negative thoughts and silence your inner critic for good! Read now.

So that’s why being self-aware of your own thoughts is so important!

6. Practice Positive Thinking

Conversely, having a positive attitude is a true self-confidence builder.

Positive self-talk is encouraging.

Positive thoughts are like your own personal cheerleaders who believe in you and cheerfully support you, no matter what!

You can build a more positive mindset for example by not dwelling on negative experiences, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones and simply by switching your perspective and training yourself to see the glass half full.

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7. Journal: Positive Affirmations and Gratitude

Journaling is a powerful way to increase your self-confidence because it gives you the opportunity to reflect on your highlights of the day, as well as on your achievements and abilities.

> Write positive affirmations to yourself

Journaling is also an opportunity to remind yourself of your worth.

I recommend that you write down positive affirmation to improve your self-image and self-esteem.

It helps help you to reflect a positive image of yourself and of your abilities.

Writing positive affirmations is a powerful way to remind yourself of your worth and strengths. It’s a great way to remind yourself that you are enough.

> Express gratitude

Express your gratitude by expressing what you are grateful for today.

Don’t save gratitude for big events only.

You can record the most positive things that happened to you during the day.

It can be an event or a positive emotion such as smelling fresh-cut grass or feeling the sunshine warm up your face.

Just record any positive events and emotions.

When you practice gratitude regularly, your positive sensors are more alert and your self-confidence consequently increases.

You can be grateful for what you have, for your family, for your friends. You can be grateful for that gift you received today, or for that coffee you had with your friend (either the coffee or the moment, or both!).

You can start the habit of writing down every evening the top three things you are the most grateful for.

 

8. Explore and Try Something New

I’m personally not a big advocate of getting out of a comfort zone in a traumatic way.

In my opinion, getting out of your comfort can even decrease your confidence to some extent…

Finding yourself in a situation you don’t feel comfortable in, doing something scary… those are not things I will recommend you to do to boost your self-confidence.

I don’t think it should start by forcing yourself to do things you don’t want to do.

However, I strongly encourage you to be curious!

I encourage you to start doing things differently. I suggest that you spice things up now and then.

Break patterns, explore!

For example, a nice way to start breaking the routine is taking a new street. Use a different way back home and look at the new buildings you see, let yourself be amazed at the new things you see.

Try a different street, discover a new neighborhood in your city, go to a new grocery shop…

It can be simple things. The point is simply to develop curiosity as a mindset.

Exploring new ways to do things gently boosts your self-confidence, gradually making you feel more bold and daring.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown. Be brave and explore!

9. Treat Others With Kindness

Seeing the positive impact you make on someone else’s life is incredibly rewarding.

Hearing that you made someone’s day thanks to your kind intentions can truly boost your self-confidence.

The simplest things can totally make someone else’s day better.

Help that elderly woman cross the street. Support your friend who is going through a breakup. Cheer her up. Tell her kind words. Smile at the cashier of your local supermarket.

On top of making you feel good about yourself, being kind also makes others feel better. That’s what I call a win-win situation.

Therefore, boost your self-confidence by spreading support and kindness whenever you can!

10. Speak With Confidence

Boost your self-confidence by paying attention to the way you speak!

Have you noticed?

People tend to pay more attention to speakers who present themselves with confidence.

I suggest that you do the following exercise:

Watch your favorite speakers and get inspiration from them.

Observe and take notes on what makes them look self-confident.

Maybe it’s the use of certain words? Is it the way they emphasize certain words? maybe they use pauses?

Take notes and slowly incorporate those elements in your own way of speaking or when you need to speak publicly.

I recommend that you start practicing speaking in a more confident way at home as it’s a very safe zone.

Practice regularly and it will soon become your natural way of speaking.

Pro tip: speaking slowly can also truly boost your self-confidence!

Have you noticed?

When people speak very fast, they rarely appear to be self-confident. They rather appear to be nervous, as though speaking nonstop was a way to get over the situation.

On the contrary, when you speak slowly, you appear as a calm, steady person.

Speaking slowly not only reflects confidence, but it also gives you time to think about the next thing you’re about to say!

It gives you time to pick your words better, thus helping you to convey your message more clearly and effectively.

 

11. Expand Your Knowledge

Learning new skills makes you feel self-confident regarding your own abilities.

Knowing that you know a lot and especially that you have this ability to learn new things is a serious self-confidence booster.

Knowledge is power!  

I feel that we are very often scared to do something new just because we don’t know how to do it.

We start thinking that others will think less of us because we are not good at that activity.

However, just learning and practicing a bit more that activity could certainly make this fear of not performing well disappear.

Learn something new! Get into the habit of learning new things.

Watch a new documentary, practice your hobby and develop new skills, expand your knowledge, read a book. If you practice yoga, learn new poses.

You really can never run out of new things to learn!

You can always pick up a new hobby, start studying a new subject, learn a new language, etc. The opportunities are endless.

So for example, next time you need to learn a new skill at work, don’t be scared and instead gladly accept the challenge!

Knowing a new skill can always serve you.

I think no one ever suffered from knowing too much!

So start learning new skills my friend and it’s going to become your favorite way to build self-confidence.

12. Stop Procrastinating

Why put off until tomorrow what we can do today?

I know the feeling.

You tell yourself you will do it tomorrow. And that tomorrow becomes next week, next month… and eventually you end up never doing it.

And the consequences can be more or less serious.

Do you have that one thing, you’ve been putting off for way too long?

That has been sitting on your to-do list for ages?

You know you need to do it, it’s kind of constantly there, at the back of your mind, but for some reason you never get it done.

Maybe it’s booking an appointment? To the bank? To the doctor?

Maybe it’s buying a new toilet seat?  

Maybe it’s that email you desperately need to send?

Maybe it’s getting in touch again with a friend you haven’t seen for ages?

Maybe it’s that bill you need to pay?

If that’s the case, do that one thing first thing in the morning tomorrow so it’s finally off your to-do list!

You will get a great feeling.

You will feel proud of yourself because you will have finally done it!

Your mind will feel much lighter.

On top of getting that thing finally off your to-do list, a gust of self-confidence will immediately come in your way.

It’d be such a shame to miss that opportunity!

My advice: stop procrastinating and start acting!

Conclusion

Walking, putting on clothes in the morning or even speaking are all activities that can improve your self-confidence if you start paying attention to the image you give of yourself to others.

On top of that, you can double your self-confidence when you turn your life around by daring to explore new things, treating others with kindness and by ceasing excessive procrastination.

Was this useful? What is your go-to piece of clothing for self-confidence? I’m curious to hear!

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