You Do You: 12 Steps to Build Self-Confidence

Regardless of the goal you’re working toward, support is one of the biggest factors. Supportive family who buys and cooks healthy food. Friends who understand why you may decline that extra drink or appetizer when you’re hanging out on a Friday night. Those around you play a big role in your journey to live a healthier life and reach any fitness goal.

But what happens when you don’t always have this support?

While the people around us play a vital role, I would argue that our self-confidence and belief in ourselves plays an even more important one. We have to believe that we are capable of achieving goals. This is what will get us through the tough times and setbacks.

It’s difficult to build an unwavering belief in yourself and exude the confidence to simply be yourself. These tips and tricks are not a “how to” guide. They won’t magically work for everyone. Just like in exercise or nutrition, there is no quick-fix or shortcut. You have to continuously work at it every day.

Personally, one area I find difficult and I’m working on improving is simply being myself and not apologizing for that. I like something that you don’t? Oh well. We just have different opinions. And that is okay! Neither of those is wrong; they’re simply different. As a friend said to be more than a few times: “You do you”.

So what can we do? What are some little changes we can make to help increase our self-confidence and be ourselves through any situation?

1. Take care in your appearance. Shower in the morning. Put on a little bit of make-up. Do your hair how you love. When you look good, you feel good and will exude confidence.
2. Smile. be happy to be doing whatever you are in the present moment. It makes you approachable to others; it will lead to spontaneous conversations and building relationships.
3. Wear clothes that you love and look good on you. Work to not feel pressured by the trends and fads. Wear clothes that you love and look good on you.
4. Get to know yourself. What makes you happiest? What morals and beliefs do you live by? Knowing what they are is the first step to living by them.
5. Know your principles, morals, and values…and live by them. It’s easiest to portray confidence when you’re standing up for those things you believe in and hold close.
6. Think positive. Flip any situation to see the positive side in it. Before we can approach with confidence, we must recognize and bring a positive outlook into the situation.
7. Crush the negative thoughts. Don’t only quiet them with positive thoughts, but take action to remove the negative thoughts.
8. Act positive. In addition to changing our headspace, we have to outwardly manifest these positive thoughts as actions.
9. Exercise. Building a healthy body image through exercise, and exercising because you love your body, helps to build confidence through your appearance.
10. Set a small goal and accomplish it. This is also a productivity hack, this will help you build confidence in your ability to complete projects, as well as reach goals you set.
11. Speak slowly. When asked a question, take a second to formulate your answer before you start speaking. Speak with conviction behind your words.
12. Increase your knowledge and become an expert figure in your field. When you don’t know an answer to a question, admit that you’re not sure. But then take steps to find the answer so you are able to position yourself as an expert to those who ask the questions.

I encourage all of you to try out some of these tips. Remember, these won’t be a quick fix. They won’t solve anything and it will be work. But over time, using these will help you build self- confidence in all aspects of your life and you too can build the confidence needed to be unapologetically yourself and “do you”.

Do you want more information and practical tips? Check out my podcast, The Missing Piece! I talk about each of the 12 tips in depth and give more practical examples on how to implement them into your life! Listen on Soundcloud or iTunes.