Confidence is the Result of a Healthy Self-Esteem.

Confidence is the outward expression of a healthy self-esteem. Confidence is an attractive personal attribute. We can sometimes show confidence in some areas of our life and not others. We have strengths and talents in some areas of our lives and not in others but overall, if we feel good about ourselves it shows.

What is the difference between self-esteem and confidence? I would have to say that self-esteem is an inside job and confidence is an outside one. They are a team.

I believe that which ever one you work on will impact the other. We can always act 'as if' and get the results in both areas.

How We Feel About Ourselves Shows

We need to raise our self-esteem to improve our lives. We have dreams and goals and in order to make plans and implement steps to make these dreams come true, we need to believe in ourselves.

In previous articles I said that we are all special and intended in this world. We are children of the Universe and as no snowflake is like another, we are like no other person in the world. If we look at ourselves as less than the beautiful person that we arrived on this earth as, we are also doing the same for every other living being on the planet. Why do we think we are different? We are not.

We Can Change our Belief system

Somehow or other, in order for us to build up our self-esteem and hence our confidence, we must believe that we are strong, talented, intelligent and powerful. This is the start.

We need to be aware: of our negative self-talk, of our tendency to down play our abilities, of our need for approval, and our habit of underestimating ourselves. Then we need to make it a priority to change our thoughts to positive and self uplifting. If we want to change our opinion of ourselves, we definitely need to be conscious every minute of the day of our thoughts.

Improve your Self Confidence in 15 minutes--by Mark Tyrrell

I used to be frighteningly under confident in social situations. And although people who know me now would never believe I used to doubt myself so much I literally had to learn confidence until it became a natural part of me. I can tell you relaxed optimistic confidence is just, well so much more fun.

Here I'll tell you about the things that made the most difference to my confidence levels...

Some people have naturally high levels of confidence but everybody can learn to be more confident

Firstly, it's important to get a clear idea of what self confidence really means, otherwise you won't know when you've got it! So, self confidence means:

1) Being calm. For every situation in life you need to run on the appropriate level of emotion. Too much emotional 'leakage' into a experience can spoil the experience. You make great strides towards confidence when you begin to relax in a greater range of situations.

2) Being cool. The second part of self confidence is about being able to relax with uncertainty. To be 'cool' in a situation really means relaxing with not knowing how things will pan out. If you truly tolerate uncertainty, you can do pretty much anything.

3) Not being too concerned with what others think of you. You know when you imagine what some place is going to be like before you go there but when you get there it is totally different to your imagination? That's how reliable your imagination is! Stop trusting your imagination so much. I've long since stopped bothering to imagine what others think of me because so often I've turned out to be wrong.

4) Being specific - where do you want confidence? 'Confidence' is meaningless until you tie it to something specific. You are already confident that you can read these words or can switch a light on and off. So you don't need more confidence everywhere. To get what you want in life you have to establish exactly what you do want. Where do you want confidence in your life? Think about the specific situations now and write them down. You are beginning to steer your brain towards confidence.

5) Understanding that what you expect is what you get. Your brain is an organ that needs clear goals to work towards. When a task has been set in your brain it will do everything it can do to bring about the completion of that task. If you've tried to recall someone's name but can't, hours later you'll often find their name pops into your head.

The 'trying to recall' experience sets the task or blueprint for your brain's future subconscious behavior which eventually produced the name for you - when you weren't thinking about it consciously. You can use this natural mechanism to start feeling more confident. But, to ensure you set the right task for your subconscious mind, the next point is vital.

6) Don't task your mind with negatives. Instead of: 'I don't want to screw up' (which sets the task of 'screwing up' for your brain), set the blueprint for what you do want! Your brain doesn't work towards what to do by being told what not to do. And nature has given you a wonderful natural tool to set the right task blueprints with.

7) Use nature's goal-setter: Now you understand how vital it is to set the right task for your brain, you need to know how to do this reliably. Good hypnosis will strongly 'program' the right blueprint in your mind through the use of your imagination. If you powerfully imagine feeling confident and relaxed while in a relaxed hypnotic state it will be hard for your unconscious mind to do anything else. The blueprint for relaxation has been set firmly into your subconscious mind.

3 simple strategies to get you feeling confident quickly:

1) Think specifically of the time/place/situation you want to feel confident in. Remember 'confidence' doesn't mean anything until you attach it to something specific.

2) Focus on words in your mind right now that describe how you do want to be in that time and place. Maybe words such as 'calm', 'relaxed' or 'focused'. Remember your brain works on clear positive instructions.

3) Close your eyes for as long as you like and think about how those words feel. Then, imagine the situation itself and rehearse it in your mind feeling confident and relaxed. This way you set the right blueprint or 'task' for your unconscious mind.

You can repeat this often to make it more effective and use it with as many areas of your life as you need to. If you listen to a hypnotic cd or download that can make the benefits even more powerful (see my profile below). So if you feel like you'd be blessed with less confidence than some other people you can start redressing the balance by using your mind in the right way right now.

It took me years to learn how to be more confident - now you can do it in a fraction of the time. Good luck!

Article by Mark Tyrrell of Hypnosis Downloads.com.

" You have all that it takes within you right now to achieve all of your dreams and all of your goals."

Eliminate your beliefs quickly … Change your life permanently—Guaranteed

Here is a great article on self-confidence by Morty Lefkoe who is president and founder of the Lefkoe Institute which features a process to facilitate a change in limiting belief systems.


From Confidence, return to Self-Awareness


Return from Confidence to Motivation