While some are more than just professionals in being confident enough, no matter their surroundings, for others; like me — let’s be real — being confident ain’t something that comes naturally to many of us.
Most people with low confidence, who have had gone through evaluations and assessments know how confidence takes the better of them at the very last moment of their interview session’s initiation.
Don’t worry, however, because I totally understand that not everyone is confident enough to stand the ground firmly while under pressure.
Here in this post, I’ll share with you 30 absolutely doable, simple, and small tricks that can help boost up your confidence levels till and even through that entire evaluation, assessment phase. Here you go.
1. Think and talk positively
That’s right!
While staying positive is a no challenge when your life is smooth and progressing well.
However, it’s only when the chips are down in life, you realize that even the feeling of positivity gets tricky. And that’s exactly when negativity takes the better of us.
It’s vital to train our brains in a way that it automatically goes into fortifying state by recognizing and dealing with negativity before it spirals outta control.
This is crucial because negativity takes over your senses suppressing the desire for self-confidence.
Positivity, being a mental state and attitude, helps steer your mind in the direction of measures that are advantageous in the formulation of self-belief and confidence building.
A positive mental attitude helps anticipate fulfillment, joy, and happiness. It helps strengthen your mind which results in stronger self-confidence.
Try understanding it this way: a house made of sand – a weak base – crumbles upon the pressure that exceeds its tolerating capacity. For the house to remain standing tall even in case of pressure, it needs a strong base; a powerful foundation.
Likewise, if one thinks of the mind as a base, then to build self-confidence, one needs to have a strong and powerful mind; a solid base.
So, to trick your mind into being more confident, the number one thing you need is to aim for a stronger mind which can be achieved when you think and talk positively.
A solid base (strong mind) helps build a firm foundation for your confidence.
2. Invest in yourself by grooming yourself well
Invest in yourself. Grind now; Shine later.
One of the key traits of confident people is that they embrace the fact that looking good makes them feel good.
Therefore, they groom themselves in a way that defines their character and charisma.
Also, to gain the respect of peers, having a groomed look is a vital thing as it helps in gaining self-confidence.
So, grooming matters a lot. In fact, projecting an appealing image of yourself is considered a part of confidence itself.
The better you become; the better you attract.
3. Dress properly to create the impression
While grooming is not the only be-all and end-all of a person’s mien, dressing is yet another way of feeling more confident about self.
Dress properly and you’ll immediately feel self-confidence build up.
Keep in mind, however, that the two, grooming and dressing, properly form an interconnected rationale of one other when it comes to confidence building.
After all, what’s the point of dressing to impress when your dermal condition ain’t appealing enough?
4. Kindness and generosity matter
Simple acts of kindness; whether small or large; make a person feel jolly and good about self. Feeling good about self (self-buoyancy) sparks self-confidence concerns.
Self-buoyancy and confidence often go hand-in-hand together to strike up positivity in people’s minds.
Acts of kindness and generosity make everyone feel better about themselves as it ignites the flame of positive achievement.
This feeling of positive achievement results in increased self-esteem; specifying exactly how kindness and generosity matter in confidence-building.
Not just that, these little acts can even help you fight off anxiety and depression!
Haven’t you ever felt that you have done a good thing in the world after performing acts of kindness and generosity?
5. Volunteering is a plus point for confidence building
Volunteering is a great way, especially for teenagers, to up-scale their confidence levels.
As teenage years are often labeled, for most, as the years entailing a roller coaster of emotions, volunteering and reaching out a helping hand to those in need can actually benefit adolescents with self-esteem building.
Research shows that helping strangers, rather than friends, family, or people you already know has proven to be way more beneficial for self-esteem and confidence building.
The most obvious reason as to why volunteering upscales self-esteem and confidence is the social-interaction experience gained by it.
Helping a community and creating a difference for someone other than yourself gives you a sense of purpose, belonging, and worthiness which are all plus points for self-confidence building.
Of course, some people regard it as NOT a noble reason to volunteer, but, thinking of it as helping your own self while helping others transits the noble notion to humbleness.
6. Choose words carefully and speak slowly
Say it all quickly and haphazardly; people won’t give any heed to your words.
Say it slowly and deliberately; your words will surely carry weight.
To make your words influential, you gotta speak slowly, clearly, and carefully.
Aside from your updo and speech rehearsals, you also need to consider and understand-well how you sound.
It’s something that most people fail to do and that makes them lose confidence at the very last moment.
Understanding the sound of your voice is crucial because according to the research, what makes you believe, like, or trust someone is the sound of people’s voice.
People can understand your mood from the sound of your voice and that’s the downside cause it deteriorates confidence.
So, how exactly should your sound be?
Well, you’ll have to give it a steady rhythm.
Start speaking slowly while choosing the right words, give your sound an upbeat when you are at the crux of your topic, and finish off politely yet, energetically.
That way your mind will adapt with the rhythm making you confident in your speech till the final hour session.
7. Stand firm; not hunched over
Body language is a very good tool to depict your confidence level.
Those slumping shoulders or nervous habits give clear signs of confidence lacking.
Remember not to let such body language or edgy habits derail you from conveying the message that you actually want to deliver.
Try maintaining an assertive posture and stop fidgeting because usually these acts often come off as signs of nervousness which is the last thing you need to appear confident.
The trick is not to allow your body language to undermine your communication because a larger part of your communication is derived from the body language itself.
8. Understand the confidence-competence loop
Confidence is more of a tactile thing whereas competency is transparent.
However, the two are inevitably related.
Confidence builds up with practicing. Repeated practice yields accomplishments, accomplishments show competency, competency further gives confidence(belief in self-capabilities); and the loop continues.
However, it is to be noted that competency is not achieved in a quick burst; it rather takes a long haul to become competent in something.
No matter how long it takes, the fact that you are improving at something actually feeds confidence to your brain in the background.
9. Jot down completed tasks to spur self-confidence of having achieved more
Yes, we know that accomplishments aren’t forgettable; better still, keeping a written, organized record of tasks done successfully helps enhance self-esteem.
It strikes a sense of achieving more goals; even if it were some minor task like making your bed the first thing in the morning.
Having achieved a greater number of goals in a single day, that’s where confidence comes from!
10. Smile the real smile
There’s a good reason why the mantra “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you” by Louis Armstrong still holds weight.
Smiling, as you might have often witnessed, is a chain reaction. When you smile at someone, they probably do the same with you(not to mention there are some mean people though, who can’t reciprocate your smile).
People’s smiles may or may not matter to you but, the main point to understand here is that your smile shows your confidence in self-abilities and your comfort level.
So, you should smile often; not the fake smile, but the real smile. A smile because you want to, not because you are forced to.
Real and genuine smiles exude feelings of a positive attitude. Such smiles can jolt a person from negativity into a positive attitude thereby raising self-esteem and confidence levels.
11. Exercise and stay in the form
Most people lose confidence because of not being fit and in the form.
As a consequence, there strikes a fear of looking ugly which makes one feel uncomfortable and lose self-esteem.
There’s a good reason as to why those beefy gym buffs roam around the streets like they own the place!
Exercising to stay in form physically is a surefire way of raising mental self-esteem.
In a short-term scenario, exercise helps reduce depression, aligns a mind with positivity, and enhances mood. Whereas, in long term scenario, it makes one feel good and obedient about the physical self.
12. Tidy up your belongings and collect things as you go to feel relaxed and confident
A tidy room depicts a tidy mind.
Tidying up your spaces and getting rid of clutter instills greater self-confidence, makes one more optimistic, and calms down the mind.
It is so because decluttering helps improve self-image which in turn boosts confidence.
13. Make your bed the first thing in the morning!
As you grew up, you probably were nagged over by your mom to do this.
It happened to almost all of us but most of us probably never listened to her. But guess what, you should’ve listened to her because those 30 seconds making your bed actually help improve your life.
In his book ‘The Power of Habit’, Charles Duhigg writes that making your bed first thing in the morning helps improve productivity, instills a sense of well-being, and generates stronger skills.
Making your bed gives you self-confidence that correlates with all the positive outcomes of bed making in the above Duhigg’s words.
14. Don’t forget to compliment yourself
Complements are a great way of building self-esteem and confidence. But, not everyone grasps compliments completely.
Blocking compliments is something very common in our culture, however, people who learn to accept compliments openly are better at self-esteem, confidence, and are courageous.
You can certainly flip the script of negativity and lack of confidence by complimenting yourself.
Rather than blocking off other people’s compliments to you, try accepting them with an open heart.
Gradually you’ll learn to accept and believe in those compliments and when it happens, you will be confident enough about yourself. Being confident about yourself makes you confident in life.
15. Make eye contact with people you interact with
While most of us find it easy to make eye contact while interacting with people, others find it difficult to hold a glance at the people they are speaking to.
Escaping eye contact while speaking gives a clear sign of nervousness and confidence-lacking.
Being an important non-verbal social cue, eye contact helps project assertiveness and confidence, thereby tricking your mind into being more confident, even when you feel otherwise.
16. Get nice photos to understand your appearance which in turn boosts confidence
Understanding how you look is a surefire way of building confidence as it helps grow self-esteem.
One way to do this is to take nice photos of yourself taken and understand your appearance.
Once you understand the attractiveness you hold in your appearance, you’ll become more confident.
When you steer clear of your insecurities and self-doubts in front of a camera lens, you eventually build up the courage to be confident in life as well.
17. Engage in good social interaction with strangers
Speaking to someone randomly, without creeping out anyone, is inevitably a great way to trick your mind into feeling confident.
Sure talking with strangers is an uncomfortable and even anxiety-producing thing for most of us but, it instills in people the confidence to interact better and portray their messages clearly.
The practice of talking with strangers helps increase confidence when positive interactions start outweighing anxiety and negative interactions.
Having acquired the confidence of interacting with strangers, you might observe a substantial increase in your confidence in other walks of life like trying out a new hobby or speaking up at work.
That’s because these too require the same type of confidence as that required to drum up an interaction with a stranger.
18. Don’t exploit your weaknesses by putting others down
We live in a world where people are mostly guided by a misconception that power can only be achieved by letting others down.
That’s a wrong notion!
Here’s a thing, ‘You can’t build yourself up by tearing others down’.
Putting others down is a way of reflecting, in a disguised form, that you are unhappy about something. It represents a poverty mindset and is directly correlated with your confidence.
We rise by uplifting others.
19. Don’t bluff and be wary of the toxic environment
Arrogance is something that rather than boosting up your confidence hinders it at large.
It’s because arrogant people often come off as if they have understood what real confidence is and in regards to this they might talk over someone in meetings or discussions thinking that it’s what confident people do.
These over-confident, otherwise known as arrogant people who bluff around, voice opinions without thinking about the impact of their horrendous tone on their surrounding environment simply because they think confident people make their voice heard.
Through their bluff, these people become a reason for a toxic environment creation where people talk badly about one other.
This spurs a situation in the back of their mind where they start thinking that the same is done for them in their absence.
And that’s when their confidence collapses. So, remember bluffing ain’t gonna get you nowhere!
20. Enhance your vocabulary, be articulate
Some of us often face the harsh reality of tongue-boundedness in our interactions with people.
This can be countered by reading more books and articles to gain vast knowledge and enhance vocabulary.
The habit of reading books or articles marks as the best way of both enhancing vocabularies and becoming a better person.
It is the essence of different worlds you explore through the written words that help you gain confidence and learn to face real-life situations more wisely and gracefully.
Not only this it helps grow your knowledge base by enhancing your vocabulary, modifying your viewing angles, thereby, making you feel confident in yourself and your experiences.
Remember, to fight out the frictions you might come up against in your life, words are important because they can either make up your confidence or break it.
That’s why vocabulary and knowledge matter the most!
21. Practice martial arts to improve physical strengths which in turn gives a direction to mental self-confidence
Just as normal exercise helps you maintain both physical and mental balance in life, martial arts is also a great way to build up your physical strengths.
Once people feel confident in their physical abilities, they become ready to embrace adversities because confidence in physical strength follows mental confidence.
22. Be careful of your diet and nutrition
Diet and nutrition are almost as important for confidence building as a key to the lock.
It’s because anxiety and depression gulp down your confidence-building potential.
By maintaining a proper diet and eating the right foods, you can help fight off anxiety, feel better, and enlighten your mood.
For example, a high-carb food eases your mind by allowing the brain to receive more serotonin which makes you feel relieved, relaxed, and confident.
23. Keep your chin held high and challenges held underneath
Again, body posture and gestures matter a lot.
A good body posture projects a confident image of a person.
Slouching posture is what mostly affects self-confidence, hindering it at large. It restricts your thoughts and confiscates the ability to perform a job ‘well-done’.
However, standing tall with your chin held high portrays a confident image and therefore, inculcates confidence in people.
Experts say that to maintain such a posture, you gotta pretend as if a taut string holds up the crown of your head.
Although it appears as a vulnerable posture with your throat being exposed yet, it depicts your confidence and relaxed-mindedness.
24. Deep breathes help eradicate anxiety
Just as proper diet and nutrition help fight off the anxiety that hinders confidence, deep breathes help calm your nerves by activating your parasympathetic nervous system.
With the help of the right breathing techniques, you can feel relaxed, controlled and a centered person with higher self-esteem and confidence levels.
Professionals keep their heads held high and appear confident in all fields of life because those high-held chins allow them to see everything, including the challenges, lying underneath them.
Meaning they become confident to embrace challenges as they occur.
25. Dream and Ask yourself “What if?” to visualize your confidence
If you ask people about how to transport around the world in a split-second, they’d probably respond with one word — imagination.
That’s right!
Imaginations are the number one method of tackling self-defeating behavioral patterns.
Experts utilize the power of imagination for confidence building by practicing enough imagination, allowing it to tap into all of their five senses.
This makes them confident enough to hear, feel, smell, see and taste anything without the constraint of it present physically.
That ‘What if?' is what allows you to delve into the imaginations and think of various possibilities.
By delving into imaginations, you can visualize yourself better and can, therefore, plan out for all those fears and insecurities that rob you of your self-confidence.
26. Listen to some soothing playback tracks
That’s more of a subjective thing, as it wholly depends on your own taste and opinions.
Several pieces of research have proven that playing soothing tracks creates an environment that is conducive to enlarging people’s creativity.
The conception of listening to soothing playback tracks relates to assertiveness in abilities, strengths, personal judgments, and much more.
This ultimately leads to self-esteem building which makes people feel confident in themselves.
Being a subjective thing, find which playback tracks the best work for you and go for it to delude your mind into feeling confident.
27. Failures are inevitable, accept them as they happen
That’s natural, you can’t always have all the ups in life. It’s always a mix of ups and downs.
This notion is so natural that even if you are good at something, you can still face the harsh reality of failure-though with the minimum probability.
Therefore, accepting life to be a mix of ups and downs with failure being a part of life, can help you become confident.
It can be achieved by regarding failures at par for the course of success.
28. Good-quality sleep is vital
The efficacy of the brain is vital for confidence levels to strike up and that’s where the factor of enough sleep comes in.
Tiredness and lack of good-quality sleep hinder even the normal functionality of the brain; set aside productivity.
So, to delude your mind into being confident enough, good-quality sleep is an essential thing to consider.
29. Recalling adversities and hindrances overcome in the past might come in handy
Striding into the future whilst recalling all the adversities and hindrances overcome in the past will surely give your confidence a boost.
It's because these depict your strengths to counter adversities and challenges.
Not only do the hurdles overcome in the past, give a boost to your self-esteem, but also, they serve as a surefire way of transforming your worth into self-confidence.
30. Stop self-comparisons with others. Instead, try to be a better version of your former self.
That’s what you should always aim for, ‘trying to be a better version of yourself.
If you fumble up in the quest of comparing yourself with others, neither would it be a fair judgment nor will it help you with your self-esteem.
Remember that every person has a set of abilities and skill sets that are unique to them.
You can’t just compare yourself with others and derive better results for your future.
Rather than self-comparison with others, it should be a self-comparison with your former self that can help you understand your abilities and strengths.
This expedites your self-esteem boosting your confidence.
When you are living the best version of yourself, you inspire others to live the best version of themselves!
Do you think I have missed something in the list above? Have you got any other better way (other than those in the list) of deluding your mind into feeling more confident?
