“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you have imagined.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Do you know you have to believe big in order to dream big?! Without enough self-confidence, it could be overwhelming to even visualize your dream, let alone to pursue it! Remember if you are confident, whatever your dream life might be, you are already halfway there. So how to build your self-confidence to bring your dream to life? Here are some strategies that I want to share with you:
Define confidence. Think about what confidence means to you personally and then observe the behavior of the people you consider to be the most confident. You can also read articles and books from reputable sources about self-confidence. Understanding the importance of self-confidence will be your motivation to become more confident.
Practice confidence. Do something productive every day that makes you feel good about yourself. Little things like regular exercise and a healthy diet can improve your health and overall mood which in turn will lead to a more confident mindset.
Seek motivation. Surround yourself with positive people, read anything that motivates you, talk to people that you admire for their confidence and success, and use their experience and knowledge to help you on your own journey. Set small and attainable goals for yourself each week to increase your self-confidence and your momentum.
Seek inspiration. Make a list of things that give you inspiration to be confident. Surround yourself with reminders of those things like pictures, books, music, etc. and actively create an environment of inspiration in your personal space that makes you feel empowered.
Be positive. Maintaining a positive mindset will do wonders for your self-confidence. When you find yourself having negative self-talk, such as “I don’t know how to do it”, or “I am not brave enough to do it”, there are two ways to navigate that situation: First, reframe it into self-affirmation to rewire your brain with positivity and possibility, such as “I am resourceful to figure out how to do it”, or “I am becoming stronger and braver every day”. Second, simply add a magic word to your self-doubt to transform it into a positive statement, and the magic word is “YET”. So instead of saying “I don’t know how to do it” as if that’s a permanent definition of your capability, you can say “I don’t know how to do it YET”. That brings you hope and possibility. It makes you feel you are totally capable of doing it and it might just take a little bit more time and effort but the mindset is: You Can Do It! And when you believe you CAN, you WILL!
Believe big before you can dream big! By implementing these simple strategies, you will become more confident every day and you will be able to dream big and go after your dream, and most importantly, to bring your dream to life!!