Self-belief is the positive feeling you have inside that tells you that you are capable of anything. You feel empowered, confident, and fueled with virility in the face of challenges and problems.
And those who haven’t got it, those with negative self-belief, probably let many things go by undone. How many things have you let slip by because you lacked belief — and doubted yourself?
Doubts such as:
- Can I really do this?
- Other people are far better suited than me, so let them do it.
- What will others think if I do or say this?
- “I really can’t… ”
- “I don’t deserve this.”
And you’re probably right. As you always get the job, the paycheck, the life that you deep down, believe that you deserve.
But, if you want more, you need to stop telling yourself that you can’t, or don’t deserve it, or someone else is better at it or wishing you were like anyone else.
Here’s What Happens When You Have Self-Belief
Judgment goes both ways. When you judge yourself as capable of success, you increase your chance of becoming so. And when you judge yourself as incapable of success, it reduces your chances of it.
Self-belief helps you trust in yourself and your capabilities. And here are five things that can happen when you do.
1. It gives you the freedom to make mistakes
It lets you cope with setbacks by seeing them for what they are: temporary and not the end of the world.
2. It helps you recognize opportunities
If you believe you can reach your goals, then your mind operates with the highest possible amount of receptivity to detect opportunities. When you have clear goals – you start to notice all the elements needed to reach them, simply because the clarity of your goals, gives meaning to those elements as they reveal themselves to you.
3. It helps you find creative solutions
When you approach a problem, you feel anxious about it and your thinking gets clogged, which makes finding good solutions less probable. Self-belief makes you relax and think clearly. It stimulates reasoning, memory, and creativity, which makes it more likely to find good solutions.
4. It stimulates action and persistence
It’s hard to put in the consistent work needed to reach any worthwhile goal if you don’t have self-belief. And when you fail, you confirm this lack of belief. But if you believe in yourself, you feel motivated to take action and sustain it over long periods of time. You’ll be able to see mistakes or setbacks as a part of the process, and keep on going, which will reinforce your self-belief.
5. It makes others more responsive
If you ask someone for something and you believe they’ll give it to you, they will sense the conviction and be more inclined to respond to your request. If you lack belief, your request will be hesitant, which makes it more likely to be rejected.
How to Develop Self-Belief in Your Life
The ideal recipe for building self-belief is the combination of developing yourself, challenging yourself, and thinking about yourself in more constructive ways that represent who you are.
Self-belief is learnable
You were born with no sense of what you could or couldn’t do. Re-examine and discard many of the limiting ideas you have about your abilities, find out why you have these disbeliefs in the first place.
Set bold but realistic goals
Setting unrealistically high goals and not meeting them is detrimental to self-belief. If you demand too much, too fast, it will backfire. So, set realistic smaller goals, with easy steps to achieve them. When you’ve reached a goal, set a higher one – gradually aim higher as you achieve them – and with each step forward you’ll build more and more self-belief. Always research each step thoroughly for clarity making sure it will get you there.
Acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments
Spend time thinking about your strengths and abilities which will also help improve your self-image. Celebrate your wins with the things you love doing, go out for dinner, watch a good movie, or indulge in chocolate.
Stop comparing yourself to others
No matter how good you are at something, there will always be somebody better than you. And if you focus on this – it will sabotage your self-belief. Stay away from comparisons at all costs.
Develop your skills
Self-belief is a reflection of how good you are at handling the various aspects of your life. And the more you grow as a person, the more reasons you have to believe in yourself. Consciously recognize the ways you grow as a person and measure your progress as you grow. Become a lifelong learner and continually aim to better yourself.
Learn from those who have gone before
Find mentors who have been where you desire to go and learn from them. Make yourself vulnerable to do whatever it takes to learn – and accept it now and then when they criticize you – as it is all in the name of learning and growing, and becoming better and better every day.
Develop your superpower
Think of the typical powers of your favorite superheroes and write them down (the natural pattern of superhero powers is: ability, courage, and competence). Now find only one thing about yourself that makes you unique, that something no one else has. Then prime your mind with this ability of yours every day.
Create a powerful vision
True self-belief comes from developing the vision of whatever it is you need to believe you can do or be. Sit quietly with closed eyes, and visualize the confident person you want to be. This powerful visualization exercise means you can teach yourself how to be confident, have self-belief, and behave in ways that maximize your chances of success.
Self-belief with grace
Your self-belief should be focused on what you want to become. And an important part of self-belief comes from knowing your weaknesses and being relaxed about them. When you accept them as part of you, you start to have more confidence in the knowledge that all humans have them, and it is okay.
The person whose opinion matters the most in your life is your own
So stop seeking acceptance and advice from your parents, friends, teachers, and lovers, because only you know what’s best for you. This exercise could be very helpful: write down 5 reasons why your loved ones would want to agree with your opinion. Now write down 5 reasons why they won’t. Accept it as their opinion only and not as fact – this will help in shrugging off the possible rejection and allow you to move on.
Align your thoughts, words, and actions (congruence)
Which leads to internal stability. Congruence and consistency within a person come off to others as being authentic and self-assured. To be congruent is a sure way to promote self-confidence and self-belief.
Act with integrity
When you always act with integrity, you know you are ethical and authentic in every way – and then you have no reason at all to have disbelief again.
The most important and longest-lasting relationship you can ever develop is the one with yourself. Cultivate this relationship, nourish it with every possible positive trait and everything will fall into place.
