11 Tips to Improve Self-Confidence

Bonus Tip: Acknowledge Your Flaws

Why do you wish to improve yourself? Are you someone who constantly seeks self-improvement lessons or are you someone who likes to grow? Maybe you are someone who is willing to make self-improvements for their betterment?

If your answer to all of the above-stated questions is in yes then I would like to tell you that there is always something about ourselves that we can work on. Our potential to grow and learn is limitless so it is impossible to reach a point where you have completely matured and there is no growth left to achieve.

Whenever you believe that you are good at something, remember that you can be even better.

When I was in my early teens, I remember having bad behavior and anger management issues. It often caused me to think more of negative thoughts than positive ones. It all too soon turned into severe anxiety which often became too hard to combat. I heard many a time that I need to work on myself until I realized it myself.

No, I did not wake up one day and just decided to be a better version of myself instead it took me days to prepare myself for a change. You know what they say, old habits die hard. It took me a couple of months to will myself for some self-improvements but my determination to be a better human being was stronger than my skepticism of myself.

Gradually, I started to break out of my bad habits, the small ones initially, like not spending time with my family, lashing out at the smallest of things, not being a good listener, and picking fights with other students at my school. Slowly but surely, I started to see a few improvements in myself and even my family pointed them out.

Eventually, after struggling for two years, I overcame most of my bad habits. And even though nobody is perfect, I still feel proud whenever I look back at my self-improvement journey.

And this brings us to our topic of discussion which is 10 tips for self-improvement. These are the best practices that I personally adapted and which helped me. But keep in mind that the outcome may vary for different people.

Choose a New Hobby:

I know that many of you already have a list of hobbies that are your favorite. But beyond your favorite hobbies, is there something new that you want to do? Maybe learn to play a new sport or an instrument? Learning something new means allowing yourself to be flexible and stretch yourself in different aspects, be it mentally or physically.

If you are into art, like I am, then you can also adopt a recreational hobby. For example, in my case, I learned watercolor painting. You can choose whatever you like from cooking, dancing, sculpture making, web designing, etc. it’s all your choice.

Wake Up Early:

I know, I know, I sound like your mom BUT waking up early in the morning has actually been acknowledged by a lot of people to improve our productivity levels as well as our quality of living. This is probably because when we wake up early, we have a lot of time to dedicate to self-improvement. We can add extra time to our day, soak up some sun that will help your brain switch into its active mode. And it also gives us the time to properly organize everything and do our tasks, of the day, in priority order.

Exercise Regularly:

Speaking from experience, you can see a lot of self-improvement when you are in better shape and that can only happen through physical activity. Every day I wake up at six in the morning and go for a jog at the park near my house for 40 minutes. It not only keeps me fresh and active but also gives me a surge of energy and motivation to last throughout the day.

Keep a Journal and Start Reading:

Keeping a journal is extremely important and I am not saying this because it makes you more thoughtful but because writing about your day can help you preserve your self-improvement journey. If in the future you ever decide to open the journal, you would be able to tell the difference between your past self and your present self. There will always be small or big key moments in your journal that will keep you motivated to be a better person.

Books are said to be a source of wisdom. The more you read the more wisdom you can get. When you start reading a book every day you feed your brain with more and more knowledge. You don’t have to start from novels instead you can start by buying a self-improvement book and then gradually shift to any genre of your choice.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone:

As long as you are in your comfort zone, your growth will be restricted. Because we know that all the things that we do when we are in our comfort zone are already the things that we are used to. Meaning, no flexibility, and change. Real growth comes when you push yourself out of that comfort zone. And to do that, you will first have to identify the boundaries of your comfort zone and how you can step out of them every once in a while.

For example, I was naturally an introverted person so I stepped out of my comfort zone by agreeing to go out with my friends and family more often.

Leave Your Fears Behind:

Your fears can contain you from achieving great heights. They will keep you stuck in the same position and prevent you from improving the quality of your life. Whether it’s the fear of rejection, uncertainty, risk, crowd or public speaking, it can restrict you from self-improvement you have to identify your fears and try to overcome them by working on the areas that need the most attention.

For example, I had a fear of heights and to overcome it I asked my friends to go hiking with me. Now, the point that I needed to pay attention to was willing myself to step out of the house. Once I did that, the next step became comparatively easier and that is how I did the first-ever hiking of my life.

Identify Your Blind Spots:

Blind spots are the areas that we cannot see. Whenever we talk about self-improvement and personal development, blind spots are the things about ourselves that we fail to see. Once we start identifying them, they can help us improve. I identified my blind spots by writing down all the things that triggered me throughout the day. When I say triggered, I mean that they made me angry, anxious, or annoyed.

So once you’re done identifying all your triggers, you can focus on ways to improve them.

Acknowledge Your Flaws and Get to Action:

Nobody is flawless but what’s important is that you dare to acknowledge your flaws understand them, and then come up with a method to improve them which eventually leads to self-improvement, as well. But whenever you do this, remember to have a sense of self-love. Don’t be too harsh on yourself or be self-critical because it is about finding areas that you can work on and not about finding the things that are wrong with you.

And the best way to learn and self-improve is to take an action. Once you have recognized your weak spots, put your everything into improving them.

Avoid Negativity and Bad Habits:

Since we’re talking about self-improvement, there are bound to be bad habits and negativity involved otherwise what do we even need to work on, right? If you know that you have bad habits like procrastinating, behavioral issues, oversleeping, smoking, etc. you also know you have to get rid of them.

Remember when I said that you have to cultivate a new hobby?

Yeah, this is where it comes in handy. Replace your bad habits with good ones and break out of that toxic habit loop.

A man is known by his company. Wherever we go, there are bound to be some negative people. All you have to do is take a step back from them and stop spending too much of your time around them because they will eventually drag you down.

Meditate:

Meditation is known to calm you and make you more conscious while improving your overall mental health. It can also help you sleep better, be organized, be more productive, and generally, be a kinder person. I used to meditate twice a day; once in the morning and once before going to sleep. It has helped me a great deal and has made me calmer and more insightful than before.

See an Expert:

An expert can help you in more ways than you can possibly imagine. My therapist tackled my situation so well by coming up with suggestions and practices which she thought were suitable for me. Sometimes we don’t know what’s best for ourselves and we put so much pressure on our brains as well as bodies, for the sake of improvement, that we eventually crack under stress. However, if we were to consult an expert, they would come up with just the right solutions according to our nature and personality.

I would like to conclude this article by saying that sometimes it becomes difficult for us to know where we should start our improvement journey from. Remember that we need to take baby steps and gradually build momentum to keep going in the long run. The tips that I have shared have the potential to turn your life around but make sure to be kind to yourself because this is where self-improvement starts from.