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Building Self-Confidence

With the right amount of self-confidence, you will take risks, push yourself and try harder. If you are not confident, you will avoid taking risks and pushing yourself or you might not try at all.

So how confident do you seem to others?

Your level of self-confidence shows in many ways: your behavior, your body language, how you speak, what you say, etc. How do you build self-confidence based on reality? You need to be willing to work toward the goal of building confidence. Below are some steps on how to move towards success.

Step 1: Learn About Yourself

• Look at what you have already done and achieved
• Write down the top ten best things you have achieved in your life till now. Add more things as you achieve them. This will allow you to look back and remember all of your successes!
• Take a realistic look at who you are
• The "25 Things That Make Me Special" (doc) (pdf) worksheet is a great place to start.
• Think about what is important to you and where you want to go
• Start to think more positively
• See Self-Image for ideas.
• Commit yourself to success! Promise yourself that you are committed to improving your self-confidence, and that you will do everything you can to achieve it.

Step 2: Start Working

• Pick something you want to work on. Start with small, easy wins.
• Build the knowledge you need to succeed: Identify your strengths and weakness. Make a plan to work on both. Ask your friends, parents, family, educators and others to help you.
• Focus on the basics: Enjoy your minor successes/achievements. Get in the habit of setting goals and celebrating them.
• Learn to handle mistakes, roadblocks, and even failure: Accept the fact that mistakes happen when you're trying something new. You never fail unless you quit trying.
• Learn to Communicate Effectively.

Step 3: Moving Quicker Towards Success

• Start making the goals a bit bigger
• Make the challenges a bit tougher.