How do you encourage yourself when the odds are against you? “Your own confidence and fortitude will determine your success”, said Michelle Obama. As we wander through the journeys of people who have succeeded and made their lives extraordinary, we find that they are adept at encouraging themselves when times are tough. They have the self-confidence to go on in the face of doubt and uncertainty, and they have the discipline to move beyond the initial phase of motivation to actually do impactful work.
While seeking encouragement and inspiration from external sources might be helpful sometimes, we need to cultivate self-confidence and self-encouragement in the long run. These are the qualities that help us overcome the inevitable dull, monotonous, demanding, or low phases of our lives and work towards our goals and dreams.
Healthy Tips To Encourage Yourself
So, how do we learn to build self-confidence and encourage ourselves? Here are some tips that might help you.
1. Competence Builds Confidence
Learning to encourage yourself is like learning a skill. Whenever you’re starting out on a new venture, or a new activity, make sure to prepare yourself for what’s coming. Preparation and competence give you confidence like nothing else can, be it for an exam or a business pitch. When you know what you’re talking about, you can put your best foot forward in the right frame of mind.
2. Know Your Self-Worth
When you start out on an entirely new path, chances are, you face more trials and tribulations than successes. During these times, when the future seems bleak, it is important to know your self-worth at an innate level. Knowing who you are in yourself allows you to assess your work, encourage yourself, and find the best way forward.
3. Understand your Purpose
Meaningful work gives you a purpose and connects you to something bigger than yourself. When you work towards something with all your heart, you find the strength to take risks, encourage yourself, and figure out your way towards success.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
The greatest thief of Confidence is the fear of failure. We often refrain from even starting when we’re afraid to fail. However, inevitably, failure is an integral part of the journey, and the only person who succeeds is the one who falls down seven times and still gets up the eighth time.
5. Be Humble
We often desire to know everything that prevents us from asking and questioning. We tend to close ourselves off any situation that might put us into a place of not knowing. However, we can find newer avenues to expand our understanding when we have the humility to say, “I don’t know”. The willingness to be humble can give us the confidence to explore the charted territory and learn along the way.
6. Build Good Habits
Confidence and self-encouragement come when we do something repeatedly. Motivation gets us started, but habit keeps us going. So, take the time to build good habits that enforce routines based on your priorities. When you get into the zone of working towards your dreams every single day, you build the confidence to get there, one day at a time. And this is what allows you to encourage yourself.
7. Monitor Your Self-Talk
The way we talk to ourselves impacts our lives in a big way. So, if you constantly tell yourself, “I am not a confident person”, chances are, you believe that very strongly. However, instead of generalizing or labeling yourself as an unconfident person, you could say, “I am not confident in writing right now”. This shows that the unconfident state is temporary and that it is about something specific and does not talk about you as a whole person. So, take the time to monitor how you speak to yourself. Extending a kind, compassionate, and encouraging self-talk to ourselves can allow us to work with ourselves and not against ourselves.
8. Surround Yourself with Inspiration
Be it your family, friends, relatives, books, podcasts, music, online content, or anything else. Find things that inspire you, and motivate you to keep working towards your goal. This will make it easier to put in those long hours confidently, instead of doubting yourself every step of the way. Being with people and things that inspire us also allows us to focus on our goals and be consistent with our habits, which in turn builds more confidence.
9. Take Care of Yourself, First
Know that nothing else can work if you are not in a position to show up at your best. Taking the time to care for yourself allows you to bring a fresh perspective to your work. This makes it easier to innovate and deal with challenges than working with a tired mind and a weary body. So, take the time to eat well, sleep well, exercise, and work on your mental health. This will make it easier for you to encourage yourself to work hard and achieve your dreams.
10. Small Steps give Big Results
When we are trying to achieve our goals, we might have a tendency to expect the highest possible outcome. While it is wonderful to set the most extravagant goals for ourselves, the next step is to build smaller ones that pave the path for accomplishing them. Break down your goals into small, achievable, realistic goals that can keep you on track and allow you to measure your progress. This will enable you to keep moving forward and build confidence along the way.
These were ten tips to build self-confidence and self-encouragement. However, self-confidence is always a journey. There is no one who is confident all of the time. Even the most confident person experiences their slippages; how they handle them makes the difference.
Showing up for your dream every day and putting in sincere efforts can allow you to learn the skill of self-confidence and self-encouragement. And like a muscle, the more you practice, the stronger it grows!
Also Read: Working hard and working smart might seem very similar, but this can make all the difference in the long term.
