You see confidence all around you. And you feel confidence inside you.
Sometimes.
Whether it’s asking your boss for a raise at work or asking your crush out on a date, we all know that confidence plays an important role in your success.
Indeed, people with confidence seem magnetic, fun, and carefree. On the flip side, a lack in confidence can be a serious roadblock between you and your dreams, leaving you feeling powerless and unhappy. Fortunately, confidence is something you can cultivate for those times when it seems elusive.
Here are some easy tricks that can help you turn up your inner confidence – which helps lead to the outer results you most desire.
1. Choose healthy nourishing foods
When we fill ourselves with unhealthy foods such as fast food, candy, and soda, we deplete our bodies of the nutrients it needs to keep us healthy and energized.
As a result, we slump. We feel lethargic and foggy-brained. So we reach for MORE sugar and unhealthy choices like energy drinks or double-grande-mocha-frappa-diabetes-in-a-cup.
Conscious food choices are an act of self-care and self-love. The food we eat literally becomes our body. Do you want a body made out of french fries and doughnuts? Or raw, pure vegetables, organic meats and nuts? By choosing healthier and more nutritious foods, we can feel more energized, clearer-minded, and happier throughout our day. And when we feel better physically, we feel more confident.
2. Exercise
Exercise can not only help keep your body fit and healthy but also reduces anxiety hormones like cortisol, and boosts confidence. Here’s the science…
When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. Endorphins reduce your perception of pain and also trigger a positive feeling in the body, which is why you get that post-workout ‘high’ that feels oh so good.
When you exercise on a regular basis, not only will you get bursts of happy hormones making you feel more confident, you’ll also look more fit and feel better about yourself. You’ll most likely start receiving compliments from others as well about how great you look, which will feed your confidence even more. See that? It’s the confidence feedback loop.
3. Power Pose
Your mind follows your body. When you slump over, you are likely to feel more depressed. Conversely, research shows that you can instantly reduce stress and boost confidence by throwing your hands up in a “V” shape and holding it for just 2 minutes.
We naturally strike this pose in moments of victory and pride, the classic example is after winning a race. But by placing our bodies in this “power pose” position on purpose – at any time – we can actually elicit those feelings of pride and power within us. So, the next time you’re about to head into that important interview or a first date, take 2 minutes to boost your confidence with the power pose.
4. Jam Out
Music can have a powerful effect on your mood. I’m sure there have been times when you’re having a bad day and your favorite song comes on the radio and you can help but dance in your seat and smile. Cranking up the tunes can do great things for your mind and body. Listening to songs that pump you up can help put you in a great mood and lead to more confidence. Make your happy playlist. In fact, Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” is a great place to start.
5. Fail… A lot
There’s an old saying that goes “Every master was once a disaster”. As if to prove the point, the great Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team, once said, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Growing up, we tend to be taught that failure is bad and should be avoided. When we “fail” in school, we get bad grades and end up having to do extra work or pay various penalties.
But failure is an essential part of the learning process. Who learns how to ride a bike without getting some scrapes and bruises?
Likewise, any new skill you want to learn in life may at first come with some failure.
The key is to learn from the failure so you can do better the next time you try.
In fact, in our lightning-speed economy, the new rule comes from none other than Marc Zuckerberg: “Fail fast and break things.” That’s how you advance quickly.
By embracing failure as a necessary part of the learning process and realizing that the faster you fail and LEARN from those failures, the faster you will succeed, you can, in time, gain incredible unshakable self-confidence.
Biography
Best Selling Author, Emmy-Nominated Producer, Screenwriter and Entrepreneur, Adam Gilad leads a community of over 80,000 men and women on their quest to create love and a bold, inspired life. Having served as a Stanford Humanities Center Graduate Research Fellow and host of National Lampoon Radio, Adam blends a bracing mix of research, humor and global wisdom traditions to help men and women break through the habits blocking their ability to open into love and freedom.
He’s a regular contributor to Vixen Daily in the Personal Development and Inspiration section.
