5 Daily Actions to Boost Self-Confidence

One thing that held me back from pursuing my dreams for years was a lack of self-confidence. I grew up believing that there was a “right” and “wrong” way to do everything and I was terrified of making mistakes. I also spent more time focusing on things that I didn’t like about myself rather than focusing on the things that I liked about myself. 

Self-confidence influences everything in your life from the image you project at work, to who you pick as friends and romantic partners, to how you cope with challenges in your life. Thankfully self-confidence is a skill that you can develop and strengthen. And just like any other skill, it takes time to master...and mastery is achieved through taking deliberate action. So, here are 5 daily actions to boost your self confidence.  

#1 Identify your principles & live by them

Principles are rules or beliefs that guide our actions. They’re based on our values. Without identifying your principles, you may feel like you’re running around in circles without accomplishing the things that you want. Have you identified your principles yet? If not, don’t freak out, there’s no “right” or “wrong” time to identify them. I actually didn’t identify my principles until 2 months ago! March 17th to be exact. So what I can share from experience is that before I took the time to identify my principles, I felt like a dog chasing its tail. I felt like I had a mountain of things to figure out for my coaching practice and I couldn’t understand WHY I wasn’t pinning any of them down. Now with my list which I refer to every day, I feel more confident and feel much more aligned. 

If you need some inspo, here are a few of my principles: (1) Embrace “failures” as areas of opportunity for growth, (2) Look at the world through the eyes of a child in a candy store, (3) Developing a strength is much more impactful than focusing on a weakness, (4) Don’t let anyone tell you what’s possible or impossible, (5) Be open minded and vulnerable even if it feels scary. 

#2 Stand ike Supergirl 

Studies show that body posture affects confidence. A specific study from Spain (Bri?ol 2009) illustrates how the brain pays attention to your posture to decide how it should feel. How cool is that? It sounds simple, but another action to boost your self-confidence is to stand like Supergirl. You know the pose: head held high, both arms on your hips, cape flying in the wind. OK so maybe you won’t have a cape on (unless you want to!) but you know what I’m talking about. It’s a power stance. Have you tried doing this? Even now as I’m typing this article I shifted my posture in my chair and I already feel better. Stand like Supergirl in the mirror; take a break from your work and stand like Supergirl while you’re preparing a meal. Heck, you could even stand like Supergirl during a commercial break! 

#3 Focus on your strengths

Do yourself a favor and spend more time focusing on things that you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you’re a rockstar at doing. The more time and energy that you spend focusing on your strengths, the more confident you will feel. Make this a daily habit, even if it means writing out your strengths on a piece of paper and sticking it on your computer or writing them out in your journal and reading it every morning and before bed. When I was let go from my last job a year ago, I was filled with self-doubt. And the self-doubt didn’t necessarily come from not having a job anymore, it came from not knowing what I was “good enough” at doing next. 

After a week of wallowing and feeling myself slipping into a depression, I decided to change my behavior. That following Monday I woke up and made a list of all the things I’m good at and I filled myself with so much certainty that I snapped out of the depression, started my podcast, Found Family Podcast, registered to become a certified Life Coach, and had the most kickass few months of my entire life. I got more done in those months that I had gotten done in a few years! To this day, I refer to that list of strengths and it fills me with self-confidence and reminds me I’m a warrior. 

#4 Accomplish 1 task from A to Z

Are you a multitasker? Or...more specifically...someone who takes on too many projects at one time, spreads herself too thin, and tries to change the world in a day? Oh, OK great… so it’s not just me? *phew* My former mentality was: “OK, I’ve got 3 projects that I want to get done by the end of the month, so I’ll start 2 of them today and work on this one for an hour and that one for two hours, and then I’ll…” STOP. I can already feel the headache coming on. While it’s great practice to manage your time and while it’s needed, especially for our jobs, to work on more than one thing at a time, I am learning the importance of seeing things through to completion before moving onto the next thing. 

Since we’re talking about daily actions here, boost your self-confidence by accomplishing 1 task a day FULLY from A to Z. It’s a pretty magical feeling to cross that 1 thing off your list and know that you can move onto something else and NOT have to go back… just sayin’. 

#5 Smile in the mirror 

Do you remember how we talked about doing the Supergirl stance in the mirror to boost your self-confidence? Smile in the mirror every day, too :) That might sound weird, but hear me out. When you see someone else smiling, does it make you feel better? Or, at the very least, does it make you think about the concept of happiness? I don’t know about you, but It sure as heck makes me feel better. By smiling in the mirror you’re visually seeing happiness which can shift your mood. And, the magical thing is that this is something you can add to your “Things I Have The Control Over” list, because you’re controlling how often you see this visual. Don’t wait to see someone else smile… see yourself smile. And, don’t wait to smile until you feel better first. Smile TO feel better. It might not happen right away, but as I shared earlier, just like any other skill, self-confidence takes time to master, so be patient with yourself. 

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