Strengthening Self-Confidence — The Best Tips

Everything seems to be easy for them. Unerringly and convinced, they stand up for their wishes and demands and get what they want. Self-confident people seem to find many things in life easier. But the good thing is that self-confidence can be practiced, and it’s never too late to learn behaviors that help us go through everyday life with confidence.

What does self-confidence mean?

Self-confidence is confidence in one’s abilities, characteristics, and judgment. If we don’t dare to try something new or stand up for ourselves, we lack confidence and self-esteem. These two elements make up our self-confidence:

• Self-confidence refers to the acceptance of our abilities — self-confident people know where their strengths but also their weaknesses lie and can assess their competencies well.
• Self-worth is based on whether you see yourself as a valuable, capable, human being who deserves respect and attention. It arises from our ideas and expectations that we have of ourselves. Adequate self-esteem is an important part of mental health. Low self-esteem, i.e. a feeling of worthlessness, is also a common symptom of Depression.

How does self-confidence develop?

Self-confidence is first built up in childhood and is shaped by numerous experiences — both positive and negative. Parents have a significant influence on the development of their child’s self-confidence. If we experience as a child that we can make a difference through our actions, that our feelings are perceived and reacted to, we can build a good image of ourselves (self-efficacy experience). Our self-esteem grows. However, imprints from the outside world, expectations of our performance, and even our appearance also influence the trust we place in ourselves.

Is it possible to train self-confidence?

Yes, you can! To strengthen our self-confidence, it is important to gain positive experiences to refute one’s own, often unconscious, negative beliefs about ourselves. The AOK supports young people in strengthening their self-esteem, for example with online training for pupils to strengthen their self-esteem. Self-assurance.

5 tips for a strong self-confidence

An upcoming job interview or an upcoming exam situation can make you break out in a cold sweat — but you can breathe a sigh of relief. Scientific studies on the subject of self-confidence prove: A few exercises have been proven to strengthen one’s self-confidence.

Nevertheless, do you notice that negative thoughts, doubts, or fears determine your everyday life? Then it makes sense to get support from psychologists so that you can go through life happier again.

1. Physical Exercises: High-Power Poses

Our self-confidence and well-being have a major impact on our Posture. The origin of this insight lies in sports psychology: an upright and confident posture can motivate athletes to perform at their best in competition mode. Try it out for yourself: In addition to the so-called power pose, in which you stretch your arms vigorously in the air like Popeye, numerous other posture exercises can strengthen our self-confidence.

• Power Pose 1: Place your legs hip-width apart and thrust your arms firmly into your waist. Push the sternum forward towards the ceiling, the shoulders go back. Align your gaze and chin upwards like Superman. Now: Breathe in and out in a relaxed manner. Hold the pose for one minute.
• Power Pose 2: Stand up straight with your arms crossed behind your head. Lean your head in your hands and push your elbows a little further back. Again, hold the pose for at least a minute.

These high-power poses boost your motivation and self-confidence — while improving your impact on others.

2. Create a positive mindset

The power of our thoughts controls our actions — both positive and negative ideas can then become reality. In recent years, lifestyle coaches and podcasters in particular have taken up the topic of beliefs: To strengthen self-confidence, it is about shaking up one’s negative thought patterns and turning them into positives. But sometimes this is not so easy, because: Where do these inner doubts come from and how do you get rid of them? Beliefs such as: “I don’t deserve this”, “I shouldn’t do that”, or “This thought is wrong” are already formed in our early childhood. Parents or close caregivers shape our first ideas of how we go through life. Courageous and self-determined, or cautious, doubtful, and waiting? It is important to become aware of these blocking thought patterns. If you can do that, it’s already a great achievement to be proud of.

Breaking through negative beliefs

• Write down your thoughts: Which sentences accompany you and keep popping up in your head? Writing can first make you aware of what exactly is on your mind — and what negative beliefs are present.
• Positive reversal: The next step is to rewrite the beliefs — reformulate negative expectations and ideas into positive ones: “I’ve never tried that before — it will work out very well!” Or: “Why not — I’ll just give it a try — what could go wrong.” You create your positive affirmation, a kind of mantra that is meant to accompany and strengthen you in the next situation.

It is important to be patient with yourself. The negative beliefs are deeply ingrained. But with a little courage, time, and compassion for oneself, they can be broken.

3. Inner serenity — learn relaxation techniques

When faced with new challenges, a new job, or before exams, our stress level is higher than in everyday situations. Our body releases more cortisol during this time, we feel more stressed and are more likely to be tense and irritable. This also has an effect on our self-confidence. With numerous relaxation techniques, you can achieve more Finding peace and serenity. Especially Breathing techniques can help you to “breathe deeper” and recharge your batteries in tense situations.

4. Do something good for the psyche with sport

Exercise can have a big effect on self-confidence. Regular exercise releases endorphins, which make you feel good and spread optimism.

Exercising regularly will not only make you feel better physically, but you’ll also feel more motivated to take care of yourself. This allows you to work full of energy and strength to strengthen your self-confidence in the long term.

5 Be kind to yourself

It is pleasant and appealing to receive positive feedback from others. However, it is also an easy trap to always seek the approval of others. Do yourself the favor of being kind to yourself — this will strengthen your self-confidence.

Speak to yourself with compassion, benevolence, and encouragement as a friend would. After all, the most important relationship in your life is with yourself — make it a good feel-good relationship.

For example, you can take three minutes in the evening before going to sleep and review the day: How was your day? How did you feel? What went well, and what went worse? Then treat yourself with compassion and reassure yourself with phrases like, “It wasn’t an easy day today, but I did a good job.”