Self-esteem is determined as a person’s overall subjective evaluation of personal worth or value. Appreciating and loving yourself regardless of the circumstances is considered as self-esteem and factors including self-confidence, feeling of security, identity, sense of belonging, feeling of competence may define it along with many other terms. This self-esteem, this self-confidence all these things, unfortunately, have been sold a lot on the planet. The main reason we need esteem is that we want to be little one up on somebody else all the time. Self-esteem tends to be lowest in childhood and increases during adolescence, as well as adulthood, eventually reaching a fairly stable and enduring level. This makes self-esteem similar to the stability of personality traits over time. In a nutshell, self-esteem is the opinion that you create about yourself and your abilities, it may be high or it may below.
While everyone sometimes or the other must have created doubt about themselves, low self-esteem can leave u feeling insecure and unmotivated. You need to identify few things that are affecting your opinion about yourself. There could be various reasons for that such as being bullied, lack of getting importance, failure or might be something else. Either way, you want to know how to build and improve your self-esteem. Let us now put light on some of the confidence hacks but these hacks are different cause they do require some effort on your part as they can take to get an immediate boost on your mood and self-esteem. Here are five ways you can legitimately increase your confidence when you need it most:
Get out of your head.. and into your body
One of the biggest enemies of confidence on a daily basis is your mind. And because humans have evolved to be on constant alert for danger and threats to survival, many of those thoughts are negative. Sometimes we get so caught up in our negative thoughts that trying to think your way out of that is nearly impossible and that’s why the quickest way to change your mood and your confidence is actually by changing your physiology- by moving your body. And to execute this exercise proves to be the best way to distract you from your negative thoughts but it’s been proven to physiologically increase your sense of well-being by providing feel-good endorphins that help reduce anxiety and boost your confidence. Even if you can’t exercise, deliberately adjusting your posture can immediately impact your mood.
Harness the power of scent
Now, the scent has a very powerful effect on us. A single smell can transport you back to a very specific memory in a way that no other sense can. Smelling better can increase your sense of feeling more put together and well-groomed. A 2009 study showed that wearing fragrances can increase how confident we appear to other people. When you smell good, you feel more confident, so you act more confident. That’s why wearing cologne can often be that changing element in our daily routine that can take us from having a ho-hum day to feeling like we’re on top of the world.
Do an act of kindness for someone else
Another great way to boost your confidence is to stop thinking about yourself and your problems for a second and focus on someone else for a change. We get so caught up in our drama and baggage that sometimes we forget our very simple truth: we have the ability to make other people happy. Surprisingly, knowing that you’ve enlightened someone’s day can help neutralize all the petty concerns that you’ve had about your day. Being kind by showing gratitude and appreciating people around you helps you to feel good about yourself and other people and it can lift your mood.
Take a calculated risk
Another thing that can skyrocket your confidence almost instantaneously is stepping outside of your comfort zone. Facing the fear of uncertainty while taking a risk can help us to grow through the process and become more resilient and confident. Even if you don’t reach your intended target the first time, even if you fail, you will still feel better about yourself because you had the cojones to put yourself out there and try.
Reconnect with play
Another thing that sometimes zaps our confidence is this constant drive to achieve more. Technology has made it so that we’re always on when it comes to working, and the rat race is like more of a grind and ever. In our hectic modern life, we are so engrossed in our work and family commitments that we tend to push ourselves to work harder, to achieve more, but it’s never quite enough. Maybe sometimes the solution isn’t working harder it’s allowing ourselves to discover play. As Charlie Hoehn writes in Play It Away, sometimes the simple joy of reconnecting with play can do wonders for our confidence and our stress level.
No longer we’re beating ourselves up for not pushing and achieving more, we’re just simply allowing ourselves to be. Rather than being productive, you should just let yourself enjoy playing a game, doing a puzzle, playing catch, being a kid again. Ironically, allowing yourself periods of play can reap oodles of health benefits and increase productivity throughout life. So the release that comes with letting go of that stress for only a few hours perhaps can help improve your focus, improve your creativity, improve your confidence and your satisfaction with work and life in general.
Conclusion
Apart from these ways to boost self-esteem, surely there are many more ways and everyone has a different way of doing it. You just need to get up and work on it and you’ll notice that how a simple act can change your perspective, your thoughts and the way you approach your life.
-Ekta Verma