When you believe in yourself, the world opens its doors of mind-blowing possibilities for you. You never hesitate to seize opportunities. Every day you’re cultivating your skills and planning your actions with precision.
Your confidence soars; there’s nothing you can’t handle. You’ll become everything you dreamed about being and will create a beautiful, fulfilling life.
In fact, believing in yourself is more important than intelligence, talent, or appearance for becoming successful and happy.
Often people who aren’t smart will sky-rocket past the skilled genius who feels insecure about their every move.
If you don’t believe in yourself, then virtually every goal you set will flop. Then you’ll hang your head low and give up, further cementing the belief that you can’t achieve your goal.
But this is not true; you can do it. You’ve been unknowingly lying to yourself for years. Now you accepted these false ideas, and you’re suffering because of them. To varying degrees, this happens to everyone.
Luckily, here are some valuable tips for you to believe in yourself again so you can create a remarkable life:
1. Remember when you used to believe in yourself
“You are what you believe yourself to be.”
— Paulo Coelho
When you’re feeling uninspired and bored with life, think about what has been going on in your mind. Have you been ruminating about painful memories? Do you think you’re not good enough to accomplish your goals? You’re enforcing these thoughts through repetition.
So, the next time you catch yourself thinking these things, counter them with opposing memories. Remember the times you were the life of the party or when you achieved something amazing. Think about the challenges you faced and triumphed over, and know you can do it again because you can! Dwell on these motivating thoughts like you did the bad ones, and you’ll see your mindset and perspective change.
2. You don’t need anyone’s approval to believe in yourself
“Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions … do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.”
— Tina Fey
Are you living your life for acceptance from others? Have you alone chosen the path to where you’re at now? Or did your parents or friends steer you in that direction? If you’re not happy, you can create and take your own path in life.
If everything you do is to win the admiration or acceptance from others, you’ve enslaved yourself to their meaningless opinions.
The more you desire validation from others, the more you’re telling yourself that your opinion doesn’t matter. Valuing others’ judgments more than your own destroys your self-esteem. Moreover, you become a slave to their approval.
You’re placing your entire self-worth into the hands of strangers.
How you feel about yourself and your abilities is up to you. Take control and start molding what you believe to be more encouraging and motivating.
3. It’s easier to believe in yourself if you start every day off right
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”
— Brené Brown
Do you ever wake up and immediately start tearing yourself down with self-defeating thoughts? Then the rest of the day is stuck in that dismal theme. You’ll lose your keys, get stuck in traffic, or forget something important. It’s a downward spiral from there! Thus, emphasizing your negative beliefs.
Instead, create a morning routine that will set you on the right track to an incredibly successful day. One way to do this is to start with some confidence-boosting affirmations. I know, I know, it seems hokey. Either way, this will get your mind thinking optimistically about yourself, and that’ll enhance your morning.
Also, spend a few minutes meditating. Meditation can increase your ability to focus and ramp up your productivity for hours afterward.
Journal to get your thoughts in order and to encourage yourself for the day. Then, before you get to work, consciously expect things to work out for you.
4. Destroy your old limiting beliefs
“Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they’re yours.”
— Richard Bach
If you don’t believe in yourself, chances are you’ve allowed negative messages to play on repeat in your mind. It happens, but you have a choice whether you let them drone on forever.
You re-live the times when friends turned their backs on you. Or when you tried to accomplish something but failed. Maybe you overheard a snide remark about you or your abilities. Those memories can cut to the core, and what’s worse is our subconscious loves to play them on repeat. Plus, the more you hear (or think) something, the more you’ll believe it.
What destructive memories or thoughts keep showing up in your mind?
You might be working or jogging, and suddenly that rude comment from a student back in high school will emerge. Then comes the vicious cycle of feeling like it’s true and how much it hurt you, and so on. Thoughts like that can ruin your entire day!
Write down why you don’t believe in yourself
First, write down these detrimental memories so you can crush these toxic mental habits. Write them out and below each one, an opposite but true statement about yourself.
Then you’ll be ready when they show up in the future. It might be uncomfortable to do this, but contrary to popular belief, that feeling is a good sign! It means you’re doing something life-changing.
For example, if your dad called you stupid, then write down the times where you did something clever. Including the fantastic ideas you’ve had and the compliments, you’ve received. This is your new counter-belief that disproves the original thought.
If the old memories come back, squash them immediately with these new empowering thoughts.
Then prove to yourself that your limiting beliefs are false by doing what you told yourself you couldn’t.
5. Lessen failure’s impact
Those willing to fail multiple times are the people who create astonishing things and are living their dream life.
So, let go of your negative opinions about failure and redefine it as a step towards success! No one tries something incredible and succeeds the first time. So don’t expect that from yourself!
Failing doesn’t mean you should stop trying. It’s a symbol for you to ask yourself, “How can I move past this obstacle? What should I do differently? Where should I improve?”
6. Re-write the rulebook for your life
“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
— Thomas Alva Edison
Most of us have a metaphorical “rule book” that we’ve compiled over the years. Unfortunately, a lot of the regulations are outdated. Furthermore, some of them are harming your well-being and ability to advance.
For instance, rules like:
- “I’m a female, so I can’t work with computers or be powerful.”
- “Someone I loved rejected me, so relationships never work out.”
- “I was told I’ll never amount to anything, so that’s why I don’t push myself to do better.”
- “My dad left my mom and me, so those I love will always leave me.”
These false rules of life will undoubtedly hold you back if you believe them. Re-write the rules to encourage yourself to go for what makes you happy.
Don’t tell yourself you can’t do something because you don’t know until you go for it with all your might.
7. Reinvent your world
“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.”
— Muhammad Ali
Reinvent your world to match your new self-concept. Your environment should reflect how you want to feel. Get rid of all the clutter and junk, and your mood will rise.
When you act like your future confident self, you take care of your house or apartment. You don’t allow the dust to gather, and you take care of everything you own. This proves to yourself that you’re worthy.
Take some time to go through all your belongings and group similar items together. Also, throw away the things you never use.
Buy some plants; this will rejuvenate your energy and mood. Order better lighting to brighten your mood. You might think these things don’t matter, but your environment affects how you perceive yourself and your life.
Think about who you spend time with or interact with and whether they lift you or upset you. It’s to your benefit to cut the toxic people out of your life. Otherwise, reduce how much time you give them.
Plan out where you want to live. What state or city fits your personality the most? Do some research about the costs, stores, crime, and jobs there. Dream for a while, plan to do it, and schedule the actions to get there. Then go for it!
8. Envision your confident future self
“Believe in yourself, and the rest will fall into place. Have faith in your own abilities, work hard, and there is nothing you cannot accomplish.”
— Brad Henry
Imagine yourself after you’ve created your perfect life and think how incredible you’d feel to have made all this happen. Get crystal clear on how it’d feel, then act as if it’s your current reality.
I’m not saying you should tell people you’re a CEO of a corporation and have a private jet. But you can tell yourself that.
Act like it’s real, and the feeling will carve itself into your subconscious, which will then alter your actions. After a while, your life will morph into that dream you had.
To sum up, you don’t need anyone’s approval to do something incredible; just believe you can do it! So, every morning thinks positive things about yourself and meditate on how awesome you’re going to be.
Any time a toxic thought pops up, counteract it with proof that it’s not true. You’re a different person now.
The only thing between you and your dream life is not believing you can do it, but you can, and you will!
So, get to work on fixing up your place and your mindset. You’re about to shock yourself with how phenomenal you really are!
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In the comments, share with us how you’ll believe in yourself!
