How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you climb a ladder? One rung at a time. How do you build confidence? One step at a time. As Aristotle reminds us, whatever we learn to do, we learn by doing it. Change makes most of us feel uncomfortable. It arouses anxiety. But when you take small steps, the anxiety is more manageable. That’s why it’s important to have a go at things which you would previously have found scary on a regular basis.
Do you find it hard to talk to people? Strike up a conversation with one new person every day! Do you keep quiet even when you have something to say? Speak up, say your piece! You gain encouragement and feel more confident every time you build on each small success.
Don’t let uncomfortable feelings stop you, they come partly from your subconscious programming and partly from what you tell yourself about the situation. Stay calm, change the self-talk (using the Four Step Method), and persevere. Remember, courage is not the absence of fear, but ignoring fear and proceeding in spite of it. “Try a thing you haven’t tried before three times: once toget over the fear, once to find out how to do it, and a third time to find out if you like it or not. Virgil Thomson” You now have all the basic tools and techniques for building your confidence and self-esteem.
Keep practising them while you proceed to the next few sections. (We’ll revisit some of them later in more detail.) Meanwhile, we move on to the essential area of self-awareness. Knowing yourself is a cornerstone of all personal growth. It’s hard to change anything, including yourself, without understanding how it is now. All I ask is that you undertake the exercises with truthfulness and sincerity.You may try to hide certain aspects of yourself from others, but there’s no point in hiding them from yourself if you want to make genuine progress.
To Grow In Confidence
Clarify your intention and set goals.
Train yourself to think more confidently.
Imagine yourself as confident.
Act as if you are confident.
Plus
Develop greater self-awareness.