If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison
In my previous post, I talked about 15 things that happen when you believe in yourself.
Since self-belief changes all aspects of our lives for the better, I want to hammer home what I’ve learned and help you adapt this critical belief as a permanent fixture in your life.
Not a Yo-Yo like resolution: one minute you’re high with a zest for life and dozens of goals. Next minute, you want to bash your head against the wall.
Nope, we don’t want that, do we?
We want this life-changing belief system to take up permanent residence in our brain.
Let’s first recap what happens when you believe in yourself. You can read the full blog post here.
Believing in yourself makes you:
- be a go-getter
- proactive
- positive
- goal-oriented
- responsible
- appreciate every win
- generous to others
- kinder to yourself
- start
- finish
- motivated
- resilient
- feel satisfied, and fulfilled with your life
- confident
- attractive
It’s an impressive list.
Imagine feeling each of the positive emotions, empowering yourself to achieve whatever you set your mind to.
The tips outlined below will help you do just that.
I learned each tip by vigorously implementing it myself. I have since made substantial progress with my life.
So much so that my self assessment of my overall happiness level went from 5 to 8 (10 being the highest).
5 was a terrible place to be (trust me, you don’t want to be there!).
8 is super; I couldn’t be happier.
Being a work in progress, I’m now eyeing a higher score.
“What If I don’t Believe in Myself?”
No matter how fragile your self-belief is now, believing in yourself is one thing worth pursuing blindly.
When I found my (self-assessed) happiness level plummeting to 5, I was at my lowest point.
My self-belief is virtually non-existent. My confidence was shattered. My self-esteem was fractured.
Everything changed when I embraced my weak self-belief and was determined to strengthen it.
No matter how weak your self-belief is, you’re good enough.
Make one life-changing choice today: believe in yourself. You have everything in you to make believing in yourself stronger.
Each practical tip outlined below will make believing in yourself easy.
Practical Tips to Make Believing in Yourself Easy
1. Find Victories in Every Corner
We’re a bundle of energy.
A mind with positive energy is creative and uplifting and gets things done with forward thinking.
Negative energy does the opposite.
You want to encourage yourself and instill a “can-do” attitude in all that you do.
Don’t wait for others to do that for you. Building self-belief based on others’ input is futile and as weak as a sand castle.
A firm foundation comes from your own actions and results.
Comb through your day and pick out every victory you have accomplished.
Make a list, let it be a source of inspiration, and cheer yourself on.
Collecting all your achievements and reminding yourself of what you can do makes believing in yourself easy.
Win small. Win often.
– Sage, Money Habit Muse
2. Create a Vision
Imagine floating in the ocean, aimless and lost. You don’t know which way is up or down.
That’s what living without vision looks like.
To work on our belief system, we need a vision that enables us to see forest beyond trees and rocks.
Having something to live for makes us stretch our abilities and strive to become an improved version of ourselves.
Pause for a bit and think about the future life you want to live. Describe it in details. Put it on paper.
Your vision sets things in motion, inspiring you to believe in yourself, act on achieving goals, and forge a better version of yourself.
A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
3. Bring the Vision to Now
We set short-term goals comprising steps and tactics to realise our long-term goal, our vision.
Believing in yourself is a cumulative result of taking consistent action on short-term goals.
The more goals we achieve, the stronger our self-belief becomes.
Bring your vision to life now by breaking it down into as many units of shorter-term goals as you can.
Break it down to month, week, day, and hour—finally now.
Make sure your activity right now is in harmony with your vision.
Today’s action is aligned with your vision, which makes believing in yourself easy.
The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.
– Nolan Bushnell
4. Find Courage in Action
The moment we step outside our comfort zone, a predictable human nature sets in.
Doubt lurks with an uneasy flutter in the stomach.
It’s a natural response that happens to everyone.
The paradox is that the more often you expose yourself to uncharted territory, the dimmer your sensitivity to the unknown gets and the bolder you become.
Understanding this and pushing yourself frequently outside your comfort zone makes believing in yourself easy.
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way. We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.
Aristotle
5. Narrow the Gap Between the Current Skills and Vision
When you compare your current knowledge and skills to your vision, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or doubt that you have what it takes to achieve success.
But don’t sell yourself short. Remember, you have the time to gain the knowledge and skills necessary for your vision.
Besides, you don’t have to be good at everything. You only need to be great at specific things.
This realisation will take any doubt away right off the bat.
Improving your current skills and narrowing the gap between the skills you need and your vision will make believing in yourself easy.
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
6. Plan Your Day
Planning my day used to be an immense challenge for me. I loved being spontaneous. I craved unpredictability. I still do, but I also realised that I needed order in my life.
I’ll never tell you to map out every minute of your day because it’s not something I aspire to. But if it’s your thing and you’re a super organiser, go ahead.
I have since changed my exercise goal from a relaxed approach to a one hour, thirty minute vigorous routine with one day of rest per week.
Aside from the above, I also adapted the following:
- Wake up and go to bed at a fixed time
- Listen to the guided meditation before bed
- Go out for fresh air and sun
- Write
- Read
- Eat healthy food
These are the very basic things I have in my daily planner.
Whether you’re a super organiser or a spontaneous person like me, planning your day minimises chaos and gives you structure, a sense of control, even peace.
And following through on your daily plan increases self-trust, making believing in yourself easy.
It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?
Henry David Thoreau
7. Drop Perfection
Have you ever tried to catch the wind in your palm? (Um, not that one!)
Perfection is like the wind you want to hold in your palm but can’t.
The impractical burden of achieving perfection hinders us from either starting or completing a project (or both).
Forget perfection and instead produce your absolute best work today.
If you pass the below question with a resounding yes, congratulate yourself, close it, and open a new page.
“Is this your best today?—did you give your 100%?”
You gain confidence from completing your project, which makes believing in your ability easy.
Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.
Salvador Dali
8. Be Friendly with Yourself
This is almost too easy if you do everything outlined above.
If you want to work your way down the list, I recommend you begin with “Plan Your Day.”
Your daily planning includes the things that are important to you.
Ticking off the items on your planner gives you a sense of fulfilment and happiness (bonus: your inner critic goes quiet).
You become friendly with yourself, which makes believing in yourself easy.
Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it. Whatever you are feeling, love yourself for feeling it.
– Thaddeus Golas
9. Never Lose Hope
Things don’t always turn out as we hope, but it’s important you don’t lose hope, no matter how hopeless it seems.
Sometimes, it feels like the sky is falling. You’re the only one in the entire universe.
But remember, we all go through trying times. Think about the last time you faced hardship and how you got through.
There was a time you thought you couldn’t go on, but you did.
Summon your inner strength; you already have it. You’re a warrior: you can overcome any obstacle, just like you did in the past.
Recognising that strength within you makes believing in yourself easy.
The human capacity for burden is like bamboo—far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.
Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper
Final Thoughts
Just as no one can live your life for you, no one can make you believe in yourself. You cannot make others believe in you.
You’re the only person who can believe in yourself, and it comes down to a simple choice: you believe in you or you don’t.
Make a choice to believe in yourself today and align your behaviours using the tips outlined above.
You’ll find that believing in yourself gets easier and stronger.
And in no time, you will gain unwavering self-belief that helps you achieve whatever you set your mind to and live the successful life you deserve.
You Might Also Enjoy…
- 100 30-Day Challenge Ideas that will Change Your Life
- Defending the Belief You’re Good Enough
- Personal Development and Self-Help Books
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