Are you confident in yourself? You should be. It has everything to do with how successful you are/become. Don't worry, though, just because you currently aren't confident doesn't mean you always have to remain that way. With some effort, you can become confident and set yourself up for a life full of success!
Growing up as a bullied child, I severely lacked confidence. Then at 15 years old my father introduced me to a book that changed my life called "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz. It was my first experience with personal development. From the book I learned that if I wanted to create happiness and success, I had to believe I was capable of doing so. Once I shifted my belief, the rest followed. Now here I am, married to the love of my life, with 3 beautiful children, an author, and successful network marketing business owner. None of this would have been possible without having confidence that I could achieve such incredible things.
Now I want to give you some helpful tips to help you find confidence in yourself.
1. Improve your health. It's hard to be confident when you don't feel good or like what you see in the mirror. This happened to me in 2008 after I first started my career as a Financial Advisor. I hated my job, fell out of shape, was drinking every night, and quite frankly just felt like shit. I avoided the mirror because I didn't like what I saw. Then came a moment that I was tired of feeling that way and decided to change. I committed to my first home workout program, got my nutrition back on track, and got into the best shape of my life. I've been committed to a healthy lifestyle ever since. It's boosted my confidence drastically! Once you make the shift to becoming healthy, you will experience the same thing. Get yourself on a good workout and nutrition plan (I can help recommend one), commit to it fully, stay consistent with it, and you will not believe how much better you feel about yourself.
2. Read personal development. I don't care if you like to read or not, personal development is crucial if you're someone that lacks confidence and tends to think negatively. There are thousands of books available that address this topic, including my book "Just Suck It Up"! I already recommended "The Magic of Thinking Big." I read that book over and over again until the principles Dr. Schwartz taught were drilled in my mind. But it wasn't like I was able to change overnight. Every day for years I took what was taught and applied it to my life. Over time I was able to replace negative thoughts with positive ones and gain confidence in myself. It's a process. You must have patience. Start reading a personal development book (or listen to its audio version), and apply what is taught every day until you, too, gain confidence. All it takes is 10 minutes a day. Everyone has 10 minutes to read something that can change their life!
3. Overcome your fears. Fear is debilitating. It creates a lack of confidence. The only way to become confident is to go out there and overcome your fears. You can only overcome them if you tackle them head on. You will come to discover that which was scary wasn't really all that scary. The fear itself was the worst part about it.
4. Visualization is key. Most people who lack confidence cannot visualize where they want to be. They cannot see themselves achieving success and accomplishing their goals. You have to be able to close your eyes and visualize yourself exactly where you want to be and actually believe it. Believing it is the hard part! In 2010 I had a vision of being the top distributor in the country. I made that vision a reality ONLY because I believed that I could actually accomplish it! When you visualize it, believe it, your mind tends to create the path to accomplish it.
That's it for now. These are three steps that you can take to start gaining confidence in yourself! Questions? You can always email me at Josh@JoshSpencer.com.