If you want to get anywhere in life, the most important thing is to be believing in yourself. By not believing in yourself or your skills, you automatically leave yourself open to self-doubt, negative self-talk and more.
While this fact comes to no surprise to most people, the reality is people are still struggling in some fashion.
So many of us don’t have the life that we want.
That or we lose faith in ourselves and stop out of fear or other aspects.
Of course, not everyone is stuck on a lack of faith. Pursuing goals and dreams take a lot of time, effort, and grit. But one of the many problems – and the problem we usually face at first – is the lack of belief.
So if you are in that boat, I encourage you to read on. Even as the world continues to get harder and shifts, these strategies will help you.
Believing In Yourself Means Accepting Your Situation
The first strategy that comes to mind for me is accepting your current situation. Without a doubt, the past is in the past, but it can still weigh on our hearts and mind. Bad events or problems can bar us from progress and if it gets to us it will demoralize us.
And one way to stop believing in yourself is letting those bad events get to us and pin us down.
When you are in those kinds of situations, it’s key to accept the situation you are in. Don’t fight it or resist it.
By denying an event that has happened or trying to justify it, we create barriers and that adds further difficulty in accepting, forgiving, and growing past it.
Of course, saying this is one thing and actually doing it is another. After all, despite this advice, there are millions who are:
- Still in the same job or industry they don’t care about.
- Have clothing they never will fit into in their closet for several years.
- Or are generally unsatisfied with life.
Inc wrote a helpful article that explores accepting your current reality that’s worth a read.
Reflect On Past Successes
Another angle to consider in believing in yourself is reflecting on your past accomplishments. Big or small, I find that reflecting on the path and progress that one has made provides tremendous belief.
Remember that time when you overcame that massive challenge?
Or how about that breakthrough you made on your business or goal?
One way of renewing our belief is by looking back at the awesome things that we’ve done. And it’s important to pay attention to even those smaller details as well.
Another analogy that I love revolves around the start of a habit. One accomplishment people often forget about is the decision to even start:
“You’re already winning and have made a huge step in your life. After all, even if you just started doing something, that’s more progress than sitting there and doing nothing.”
The idea behind this is to make a big deal out of every step that you take. Even if it’s small and seemingly insignificant, it’s still a big step. You are still further ahead than where you were before.
This the same logic as the Kaizen method. Small, yet continuous growth.
So spend some time thinking about the steps or the achievements you made.
Talk With Yourself
A lack of believing in yourself evolves into negative self-talk. As I said, we participate in self-doubt, negativity, and we may even delve into depression or hate speech in some cases.
But one way to bring ourselves out of that is to devote time to talking with ourselves.
After all, we are who we say we are.
As such, it’s important for us to talk positively about ourselves, and to regularly motivate ourselves.
At the end of the day, we need our own approval in order to do anything. If we don’t believe in what we are doing we won’t achieve it. Allow yourself to approve of the thoughts that make you feel good. All the same, spin any negative thoughts or words in a positive way.
One technique I’ve learned is when there is a negative thought say this:
“Thank you for the thought, but that’s not me. Here is what I choose to be and I’ll achieve that by…”
This provides new motivation and in a sense is an affirmation. It’s something to excite us and grow ourselves.
Stop Letting Fear Get To You
Another common deterrent is fear. Fear is one of the several catalysts that block us from goals and holds us back from believing in yourself.
But much like every other roadblock, I find that these events prompt us to learn a lesson. In this case, it’s learning to face our fears and to overcome them in various ways.
Fear for me is essentially a mentor. A harsh one, but still someone to learn from.
Another thing to know about fear is that you can’t remove it entirely. We can’t deny that there will always be things that we are afraid of. What we can do is learn to master it.
That’s where seeing fear as a strict mentor comes in handy. You’re rationalizing the fear as a lesson giver rather than a roadblock to your success and growth. Dr. TC North also provided some in-depth steps to overcoming fear worth looking at too.
Believing In Yourself By Forgiving Yourself
There will be times where we make mistakes. Sometimes these are massive failures while others are small misunderstandings. Regardless of the situation, those of us with low self esteem usually take these events seriously. So much so that they berate themselves.
While we can not deny the fact that we all have mental baggage, what’s important is what we do with it. When negative things happen to ourselves, we get to decide how much it will affect us based on our behaviour.
Berating ourselves or shifting the blame is a poor way of managing those negative events. Unfortunately, these are natural instincts.
Instead, we need to rewire our thinking. We need to decide to forgive ourselves in those situations. After all, if you want to believe in yourself, you need the confidence to accept your mistakes. But also to move past them and use them as lessons.
Believing In Yourself By Being Optimistic
Broadly speaking, optimism pays off significantly in a variety of ways. One such way is through a higher sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and confidence. At the end of the day, this is what you need to start believing in yourself.
Optimism also helps you in having a generally positive attitude. After all, negativity reinforces bad habits and negative outlooks.
Gaining optimism is surprisingly easy as well. Activities like:
- expressing gratitude;
- doing things you love and enjoy;
- having affirmations help in boosting your mood;
- and even things like setting goals and working towards them.
These kinds of actions will make an impact in changing our reality.
Get Training From Life Coaches
One thing I started to invest in is my own mindset. After spending months working, a lot of other aspects of my life started to fall apart.
While I wouldn’t say it was a cause for concern, I understand how powerful it can be to have someone coaching you. The same can be said for resources that guide you and give you steps to go through.
A life coach is especially helpful in giving you the tools to believe in yourself. The biggest reason is that a life coach not only can give you balance in life but also to help you recognize strength and abilities.
Some that you never realized you had.
What’s also key is that a life coach can help you to identify the sources of doubt and negativity. Through this, they can help you in guiding you to overcome those issues.
But above all, they will stay by you and continue to believe in you no matter what state of mind you’re in.
That level of confidence is inspiring, even if you don’t know the person all that well. Sometimes knowing someone is out there cheering for you is enough.
Believing In Yourself By Letting Life Move You
I believe that life has a way of progressing. There will be changes in our lives that will impact us and change our direction forever. What this does is create new opportunities and gifts for us.
This is the flow of life, and I think it’s important to look at this critically and allow this progression to move with us. If it’s something we are driven to do and passionate for, life will guide us along and it is our duty to follow it.
But while this advice may seem a little out of context, it still is a tactic to believe in yourself.
For example, my success so far stems from me believing in my writing abilities. This has led to me taking certain actions and be granted opportunities from various places. What’s also significant is that my overall attitude towards writing as a profession shifted.
I went from someone who did writing as a hobby to now being someone who runs a writing business. All because I let life guide me little by little.
Even in periods now where I’m happily content with everything and I’m not sure where to go, I let life pull me.
Why do I do this?
Because I know life will give me a new obstacle at some point.
That’s not to say I’m actively looking for problems, but I’ve come to understand that life is a series of obstacles. It’s these obstacles we must overcome in order to continue growing.
From our health to our business, friendships, and mindset. A problem will come up and we must learn to allow it in and work through it.
Connect With Others
I’m not just saying to find a life coach and be done with that. There are many other people that are contributed to our success and well being. Even if we don’t intend to become famous or ultra-wealthy, our life is a result of people around us.
If you want to believe in yourself, take some time to connect to others who believe in you and your skills. It doesn’t have to be immediately, but their positive attitudes will rub off on you too.
This strategy isn’t anything new either. Look at every famous person and they will point to someone or several people they can attribute their success to.
Even if we’re not planning to make it as big as them, there will always be that one person to push us and get us to where we want. A family member, a friend, or a professional or co-worker.
The thing is we won’t know who it is until we get out and make connections.
Energize Yourself
While the main factor for low self esteem is a negative mindset, exhaustion can take a minor toll on us too.
You know the feeling after a long day of work where you feel utterly drained, right?
While your thinking then isn’t overly negative it still can prevent you from getting the motivation to do anything else.
However, there is a way to avoid that state entirely. Maybe it’s avoiding burn out, but some other things to consider is simply fuelling your body. Some ideas to consider are:
- Stretching for a few minutes every hour or two.
- Have a healthy and energizing breakfast.
- Staying hydrated throughout the day.
- Monitor your blood sugar and keep it in check.
Look For The Good
While this is certainly part of optimism, this is an especially important tactic regardless. Even in dark and negative situations, it can cause a lot of issues. Again, it’s very easy for us to doubt ourselves and to believe less in ourselves as a result.
By taking the time to look for the good, we are forcing ourselves in an optimistic situation. Not only that but we can gain more than we lost. For example, we can learn valuable life lessons that can shape us forever.
For sure, nothing can replace mistakes or losses, but the gains can be worth the losses. That’s enough reason to consider looking at the good in our lives.
Believing In Yourself
Believing in yourself is a matter of mindset. Learn to develop your mind and grow from negativity and you’ll have an easier time believing in yourself.
To your growth!
Eric S Burdon