5 Psychology Hacks to Build Confidence

Do you suffer from low self-esteem? Maybe you find it hard to believe in yourself and have a lack of confidence? Meanwhile, some people seem to skip through life with unshakeable confidence in themselves and somehow manage to achieve things you wouldn’t dream possible for yourself. Whilst it’s true that many of those people have an innate sense of self-confidence that they’ve had since childhood, for many people, it takes work. And that’s the good news – confidence is something that you can teach to yourself! And once you’ve built your confidence, you’ll be able to tackle goals like never before. Here are five psychological confidence building hacks you can start working on today.

1. Confront your fears

Fear is an important and natural response to many situations which is designed to protect you against things that might be harmful to you. The trouble with fear is that it can also stop you from doing things that could help you to move ahead in life. Out fear response is triggered whenever we’re faced with something we haven’t done before and aren’t yet comfortable with – from public speaking to driving, to starting a new job in a new field. If we never did anything that scared us, we’d never achieve much of anything, which is why it’s important to analyse which fears are serving you, confront the ones that are holding you back, and get on with doing the things you need to do in order to achieve your goals.

Luckily, you don’t need to go guns blazing into your deepest fears straight away. Taking some time to practice facing your fears is an important part of the process. So, start with overcoming small fears you already have, one by one, until you’re confident in your ability to face the bigger ones. And remember, courage isn’t a lack of fear. Courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Tip: You might even like to try hypnotherapy, for those deep-seated phobias.

2. Own your strengths and remind yourself about them

It’s human nature to focus more on the negatives than the positives. If you’ve had a largely good day at work but were faced with one nasty comment from a colleague, boss, or customer, you’re more likely to remember that and let it colour the rest of your day. Focusing on the positives is something that can help to drastically change your outlook on life, have more gratitude for the things you have, and have a great deal of confidence in yourself. Like confronting your fears, it takes some practice. You can start with using notepad, or simply doing this in your head: Every time you think a negative thought about yourself, counter it by writing down or thinking about something that you’re good at or something that you like about yourself. Over time, it will become second nature to remind yourself about your strengths and build upon them. Paired with facing your fears, owning your strengths will also allow you to develop new strengths and build your confidence.

3. Set achievable goals

No matter what your biggest goals are, reaching them is only possible by breaking them down into a series of smaller steps and achieving those one by one. Setting smaller, more achievable goals is also an excellent away to build your confidence. Achieving anything, big or small, will give you a kick of self-confidence and help you to move onto the next, even bigger goal. So, start by setting yourself some realistic and small goals to practice building your confidence in your abilities. If your goal is to get fit, break this down into smaller parts like this, for example:

Goal: Get fit

Smaller goals:

• Hire a personal trainer
• Start by working out twice per week
• Walk to the shops instead of taking the car
• Get advice on overhauling your trolley
• Replace unhealthy items in your shopping trolley with healthy alternatives
• Increase to working out three times per week
• Set reminders to drink 8 glasses of water per day, and so on

By breaking down your bigger goals into more manageable goals, not only do things seem less daunting and more achievable, you’ll build your confidence with each smaller goal achieved.

4. Find someone to compare yourself to (but not in the way you think)

Comparison is the thief of happiness, it’s true. But there is also a fundamentally healthy way to compare yourself to others which is excellent for your confidence. This starts with overhauling your social media feed to only follow accounts that make you feel good about yourself. If you struggle with your body image, for example, following accounts of positive body activists whose figures you can relate to is a wonderful way to stop comparing yourself to unrealistic standards and see that there are successful people out there who look like you. (This has nothing to do with fitness, as being healthy is always important – it’s about surrounding yourself with people who show you that it’s ok to be you and that you are worthy of love, and self-love.)

5. Fake it till you make it

Confidence sells, there’s no denying it. One of the most effective ways to build your confidence is to fake it until you make it. That means, even when you’re feeling afraid, or feeling low, or feeling that maybe you won’t succeed at that next job interview, you tell yourself you’re going to do great. It takes practice, just like anything else, but it absolutely works. Start practising today by telling yourself how great you look, how well you do your job, how wonderful a parent you are, or how you’re going to do an excellent job at your next work presentation. Keep saying it and you will start to believe it.

Combining each of these five confidence hacks will help you to practice self-love and build your confidence in yourself so that you can go on to achieve the things you’ve been dreaming of. Of course, sometimes it can be difficult to get over the hurdles you’re facing alone. That’s why getting some help can be really beneficial. At Integrated Health Specialists, we’ve developed several programs designed specifically to build your confidence and empower yourself. Check out our range of programs today and get in touch to find out more.