How Your Beliefs Shape Your Confidence
How much do you like yourself?
If I asked you this question, how would you answer? Research has proven that the more you like yourself, the better you will do in life. Liking yourself and believing in yourself are both linked to having better relationships as well as having higher life satisfaction, stronger mental health, and better overall well-being.
What is self-confidence?
Your beliefs determine your confidence. To develop confidence you need to focus on beliefs that build you up. Critical and judgmental beliefs are not good for increasing confidence, but unfortunately our culture promotes these negative ideas and encourages you to be hard on yourself. This is the wrong way to build confidence.
Are confidence and self-esteem the same thing?
Confidence and self-esteem are not the same thing. You could have high self-esteem but be lacking in confidence. People with high self-esteem frequently judge themselves in a negative way and compare themselves critically to others. High self-esteem is about being perfect and hiding how you truly feel about your insecurities. Confidence, on the other hand, is about seeing yourself as you truly are. It’s about loving yourself and being at peace with your flaws and imperfections, whatever they may be.
Why should you work on your confidence?
Confident people are happier, healthier, and more resilient when it comes to stress. They even tend to live seven years longer than others on average. Confidence is built on kindness, acceptance, and trust in your abilities and strengths. Compassion training has been studied as a successful way to train people in building more confidence and self-love.
If you want to build your confidence, follow these compassion principles:
- Stop beating yourself up when situations don’t meet your expectations. The harder that you are on yourself, the more you create negative emotions like blame and shame.
- Reduce the time that you spend consuming media. The more you compare yourself to others, the more negatively you will feel about yourself.
- Embrace your flaws and imperfections. They are what makes you unique. Find ways to accept them and appreciate them!