Mental Toughness is a personality trait that improves your performance and wellbeing. One of the 4C’s of the mental toughness framework is Confidence, which is the self-belief to successfully tackle the challenges and opportunities that life presents. The more positive and confident you are (within reason) the more likely you are to achieve a successful outcome.
Here are five simple psychological tricks to help you to increase your confidence to become more positive and confident:
1. Think positively and make your subconscious mind a fortress
Our subconscious mind is the powerhouse behind our beliefs and habits and it makes the vast majority of our everyday decisions. However our subconscious mind can’t differentiate between real and fake inputs, so if you keep telling yourself that you are positive and confident then sooner or later your mind will adopt a consistently positive approach to life. This is how the phrase “Fake it until you make it” originated. You can increase your confidence by thinking and acting that you are positive and confident.
2. Smile and keep smiling
Smiling and being outwardly positive and engaging is attractive to the people around you, who for the most part will respond warmly and positively towards you, which in turn improves your own self-confidence. It is also addictive for you because the ‘ feel good factor’ inspires you to feeling even more positive and to achieve more. Smiling has an amazing positive multiplier effect.
3. Walk tall
A generation ago, my late mother loved to listen to Irish crooner Val Doonican singing his ‘Walk Tall’ hit with its opening chorus
Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye. That’s what my mama told me when I was about knee high. She said son, be a proud man and hold your head up high. Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye.
Val and my mother knew what psychologists have since proved, namely that the taller and more expansive you are, the more confident and attractive you appear to other people. Similarly increasing your stature gives you more self-confidence. Harvard professor and social psychologist Amy Cuddy’s work on ‘Power Poses’ reinforces that body language affects how others see us, and how we see ourselves.
4. Set and achieve goals
By setting goals and targets, however small, and then meeting and beating them gives you momentum and satisfaction, creating positivity and self-confidence. This can be the springboard to you setting more goals that can give you even more positivity and increase your confidence.
5. Seven minutes of exercise a day
You can become more positive and increase your confidence just by becoming more active. Even as little as seven minutes a day exercise will break up negative thoughts and reduce stress and anxiety and improve sleep and happiness. This positive response adds to your self belief and confidence.
To learn more on how to increase your confidence and developing mental toughness contact us.