Episode 7: How to increase Self-Confidence ?

Hello Sunshines,

Welcome to episode 7 of The Yogi C Podcast,

Today we are gonna talk about Self-Confidence, what is it, how to build it, the benefits to have it and I will give you some positive affirmations to use to shift your mindset.

So get comfy and let’s get started !

What is Self-Confidence ?

First of all, no one is born with confidence, this is something that gets built through time. Building your confidence is not an easy task, it is done through experiences and once acquired this is a drive that will motivate you in pursuing your goals.

You are a confident person if you are:

• trusting your abilities
• having the will to take risks
• being able to admits when you make a mistake or do something wrong
• being optimistic & positive
• being open to self improvement

Self confidence is also a key to a good mental health state, so you need to work on it continuously through your life.

But be careful though, self-confidence can be mistaken as arrogance. You can still be confident and humble and not put into others people face how remarkable you might think you are.

Tips to Build Self-Confidence

1. Look At What You Have Already Done

On the path of life, we are always focusing on what comes next or what we want to achieve next. This might bring us to loose sight of what we have already done. Remind yourself of everything you have done and you are proud of and make a list: it can be a good result at school, learning a new hobby… 

This way, when you have a low blow in your confidence just have a look at that list and all the good stuff you’ve already achieved. Confidence boost guaranteed !

This can also bring you to list all the things you are good at so whenever you are in self doubt you can check up your skills and talents.

2. Always Stay Curious, Learn New Things

It is important to keep growing and learning new things. You might discover some new hobbies in the process. Try new sports, do art, do manual activities, read books, get into photography whatever can intrigue you, just save some time every week to practice and grow your list of interests. Once you find some activities you are into, it is actually more likely that you will be motivated into building your skills and you will do so more quickly.

3. Give Yourself Positive Pep Talk

In time of blue mood or self doubt, coming to yourself with negative thoughts is only gonna bring you down. In those moments, it is important to work on your pep talk skills. 

What would you tell your best friend or a love one if there were down to make them feel better ? 

Just say those things to yourself. Cheer yourself on !

You can also write some pep talk statement on sticky notes and put it on your mirror or in your closet so everyday you get a look at it and remind yourself of those positive affirmations.

I will give you some examples by the end of the episode.

4. Do Not Compare Yourself To Others

It is the main issue in today’s society. With social media, we have a tendency to compare our life with the one of others.

The problem ?

People only show the good stuff on Social Media. You have to understand that we all go through life at different speed. Some people are gonna settle and build their family and career right after university, some other are gonna travel the world and do different little jobs here and there until they feel like settling down. And both are amazing life to chose ! It doesn’t mean that one is happier than the other, it just means we are all choosing different path to live on our own rhythm.  

5. Self Care Is Not Optional

You have to take care of yourself, you are the only one who can put on the time and effort for your own self. 

In that sense, here are a few things to pay attention to:

Diet: your body and energy is made of what you put in your body. Eat healthy but don’t restrict yourself to the point feeling deprived, enjoy everything in moderation.

Exercise: physical activities help boost self confidence, is good for mental health and it helps with the body image .

Sleep: a good sleep helps you be in a good state of mind. When you are sleep deprived, it can take a toll on your emotions. Good sleep increase optimism and self esteem so get your hours in !

Self care: any self care thing that is soothing and grounding to you is important for your mental health. Wether it is a bath, hair routine, dry brushing, doing your nails… Whatever brings you peace, keep doing it.

6. Face Your Fears, Challenge Yourself

This is one of the most important step to build self confidence. If you always wait to feel more confident to face your fears, you will never do so. If you are afraid of making a fool of yourself or failure try anyway, push through because you will always learn something out of it. You need to experiment to figure things out for yourself.

7. Have A Growth Mindset

Having a growth mindset is scientifically proven to increase self-esteem and resilience. It means you are accepting as much the struggles as the positive outcomes. You keep in mind that effort and hard work is the path to success. You are perseverant which mean that you keep going even in case of failure, you are open to criticism and take it as an opportunity to grow. Cultivate that way of thinking that’s what will help you reach your goal and dreams.

8. Have Realistic Goals

Having goals can involve failure and it is ok. You have to test to figure out what is working for you. That is where setting realistic goals is important, if you dream of things really out of reach where you don’t know the action plan or steps to take towards this goal then, it can damage your self confidence for real. To figure out if your goal is realistic, write it down, then write down the action plan to make it true and finally write if you believe you can make it happen, and be true to yourself !

9. Surround Yourself With Positive People

How do you want your closed one to make you feel ? Once you figured this out focus on building a circle that is the way you need it to be. Reliable, positive, motivating, telling the truth, whatever it is for you make sure that the people you spend time with are uplifting you and motivating you to be your best self and not just keeping you in your old habits out of comfort.

Benefits of Self Confidence

Lacking of self confidence can increase anxiety, avoidance of challenge or social situations, fear of judgement, lack of self care…

On the contrary, being confident has a lot of benefits, here are a few examples:

It builds resilience and enhance your ability to bounce back from any challenge you will experience.

It makes you open-minded into testing new things.

It makes you have healthier relationships because it makes you more open to understand other people and will give you the strength to walk away from situation you think you don’t deserve. 

It reduces your anxiety and increases joy and happiness in your life.

It gives you more energy to get what you want done.

Mantras for Self-Confidence

As I talked about previously, positive talk is key, it can help you convert your negative circle of thought into positive. In this way, it will help you refrain the use of I can’t, it is impossible, I am not able to, I am a loser… and change it to I can, I will, it is possible, I am capable… You mind is powerful, it transmit to the universe a frequency that helps the universe deliver and make that frequency come true. If you are in constant negativity, the universe will deliver negative things, if you rewire yourself into positive thinking then good things will be coming to you. 

That is where the power of positive affirmation comes into play, even if you don’t believe it quite yet, telling yourself some positive mantras helps rewire your thoughts.

Here are some example of positive mantras for self confidence:

And my personal favorite that I have been repeating to myself ever since a child is: