How to build confidence

How to build confidence

Every single mom on the planet worries about her kids. “Are they healthy? Are they happy? How are things at school?” If these questions are to be answered in a satisfactory way, the kids must have self-confidence, which is why I have put together this short list on how you might give them that. But keep in mind that building confidence in others and inspiring them, is not just for moms but for anyone who wants to help their loved ones. Confidence is major component in being happy and enjoying life.

 

How to build confidence: Be an inspiring and positive mirror

Children learn to mirror their parents, including their parents’ self-confidence. If you’re not confident about yourself and what you can do in life, your child will most likely not be either. I have written other articles, where I list some easy tips on how to do that. And don’t try to fake confidence, kids can spot fake behavior right away and you’ll end up doing more harm than good.

 

How to build confidence: Play with them

Not just every now and then. Children need to play not only with other kids their age, but also their parents. The people that we learn the most from in our lives are our parents, and playing with your children makes them think “I am worth her time, so I must be a cherished person and what I’m doing is right”. Nothing builds confidence like feeling you mean something to those you look up to, i.e. your parents.

 

Encourage them to help around the house

No doubt this will bring up a warning sign in a lot of heads: “I cannot possibly put my child to work at such a small age!” But they don’t see it that way. A toddler who has an interest in vacuum cleaners would see vacuuming as a duty or job the same way that we do. To him/her, it stimulates the mind the same way that playtime does. A girl who likes napkins would not mind setting the dinner table in a fashionable way. Also, children need ways to prove their competence and feel that their contribution is appreciated. Every single child loves to make their mom or dad proud and these are ways in which you can let them do that.

 

Help your child make its own choices

For example by asking them if they think it’s too cold outside to wear mittens or not. Even if they say “I don’t know”, they still pondered the question in their minds. Choosing freely makes children trust themselves and feel good about it. Doing everything for our children does not help them – it rather sends them the signal that you do not trust in their ability, and how do you think that impacts their self-confidence?

 

Praise the effort, not the result

Excessive praise can lead the child to think they need to be perfect and never fail, and then what do you think happens when they do fail? Wanting to please one’s parents, but never feeling able to do so is probably the biggest cause of low confidence in kids. Therefore, teach them that there’s no such thing as failure, there is only progress.

 

For additional info, we have developed apps specifically designed to understand different personality types in children and the development they go through. Check it out! You can also read another article for more information on how to build confidence in children.

How to be confident through that presentation requires training

How to be confident

How to be confident

How to be confident part 2. In this article, I described some practical steps to take in order to boost your self confidence, and since building confidence is like building a house – it needs not only building but also maintenance lest it fall into ruin. Therefore, this article can be seen as part two where I try to describe ways in which you can maintain your newfound confidence and successfully integrate it into being a core part of your personality.

How to be confident: Stay calm

A confident person is a relaxed and calm person. Being confident in general is mostly about not being nervous and it is obviously very closely related to our self-esteem (how we view ourselves). A confident person is a person who believes they can do just about anything, and the reason for them believing so may be because they have high self-esteem. But it could also be because they have succeeded, after years of failure, in whatever they have attempted. Being calm and relaxed on a daily basis will subconsciously help you stay confident in your abilities.

How to be confident: Challenge your comfort zones

Make it a habit to regularly step out of comfort zone. That way, they expand. If you don’t challenge your comfort zones, they shrink. Your comfort zones will eventually be so wide that you won’t need to challenge them anymore.

 

Think only about success

Think about what happens when, not if, you succeed, and forget about what happens if you fail. Either think positive or don’t think at all.

 

Let your successes affect you

By remembering successes and noteworthy achievements, you will build your confidence. Let them impact you and how you see yourself. Remember other people’s praise. Don’t shutter it off by thinking it was so easy and that you don’t deserve their praise. If they praise you, it’s because they think it wouldn’t have been easy for them if they attempted the same. People often praise because they see themselves in that situation and do not think they could have done as well as you did. For example, at a piano concert, would you not clap and praise the pianist when the concert was over?And would you not cheer and praise even more if the pianist was a child of six years old? That’s because the latter is even more impressive than the former.

That being said, it is a bad idea to constantly have your nose in the air, and entertain unrealistic expectations about yourself. Arrogance is not confidence. In fact, arrogance is often uncertainty in disguise.

 

Pay attention to the little details

If people eat your food without wrinkling their nose, that means they like it. But how often do you actually hear people say that around the dinner table? If your boss reads your reports with half an eye and doesn’t have to read the same line twice, that means it didn’t take so much attention, which in turn means you wrote it in a very user-friendly and professional language. If your husband neither praises you, nor complains, that means he’s most likely satisfied. Silence is often an indication of a job well done.

 

For more on how you can increase your confidence further through practical and physical action, check out this article or download our app. Who knows what you might learn for the benefit of more than just you…