How To Gain Self-Confidence And Live An Empowered Life

by Howard Grant Platt 3rd on July 31, 2013 · 6 comments

in Confidence - Self-Esteem

How to gain self-confidence and live like you are unstoppable. Most people let success slip right through their fingers because they lack the confidence to really go after their dreams. In this article, you will learn how to build self-confidence, believe in, and prepare yourself for success.

The biggest thief of self-confidence is fear, people fear success, as ridiculous as that sounds it is true none the less.

Studies have proven that people will deliberately hold themselves back because they are afraid if they reach a certain level of success they will not have what it takes to hold onto it and this is a sure sign of low self-confidence.

The fear of failure is the same as the fear of success because if you fear what you don’t have you will fear it even more if you have it, you will fear that you will lose it.

How To Gain Self-Confidence And Live Up To Your Full Potential In Life.

How To Gain Self-ConfidenceFirst and most important is you have to prepare yourself for success.

You see if you can get a little taste of success and if you can get past the fear of losing what you have achieved you will gain the confidence it takes to strive to be your best.

We all crave self-confidence either consciously or unconsciously because we know with confidence our fears are washed away and the chains that bind us to mediocrity can be broken away with little to no effort.

Success and self-confidence go hand in hand and this is what makes it so difficult for so many to achieve success even though they possess every other quality they need to become successful as they define it.

“We forge the chains that bind us” but I venture to add that “breaking them again is our liberation and our salvation.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever wondered why so many others seem to be so confident in everything they do while you struggle with little to no confidence at all?

Can you see what a vicious cycle that can be?

Building self-confidence will do more for your personal and professional career than anything else.

You have everything it takes to be a confident and successful person but when you look at others who appear to be highly self-confident and you compare yourself to them what you are really doing is telling your subconscious mind that you do not have the confidence you see in others.

If you really want to learn how to gain self-confidence you must stop comparing yourself to others because you will always find someone who has more confidence then you in one area of life but you have to realize that you have more confidence then them in other aspects of life.

If something is more important to you than it is to someone else the chances are you will display a higher degree of self-confidence in that area and conversely if something is more important to someone and less important to you then they will have greater self-confidence in that area.

Comparing yourself to others can hurt your self-confidence as much as it can help it so it is best to live and judge your life based on your own set of success principles.

Do you really know what self-confidence is? Have you ever taken the time to give yourself a definitive understanding of what self-confidence is and how you would recognize it in yourself?

Before you can learn how to gain self-confidence you must have a clear understanding of what it is otherwise you will not be able to see yourself acting with confidence.

We all have our own definition of self-confidence however the only real difference is how we assign the definition to certain circumstances.

Have you ever heard of the term self-efficacy?

You may not be able to recite the exact definition of the phrase but you have no doubt experienced it throughout your life.

Think of a time or situation where you felt like you could do no wrong. A time when you were faced with a challenge that might stop others dead in their tracks but not you, instead you felt empowered, you knew the situation or circumstance would be difficult but at the same time, you fully believed in yourself and your abilities to accomplish the task at hand.

That was self-efficacy, you were faced with a challenging goal but you had the confidence to take on the challenge and succeed. Improving your self-confidence requires you to take some risks from time to time.

The second aspect that helps define self-confidence is self-esteem. It is similar to but different than self-efficacy.

Self-esteem is the value you place on yourself, it is your sense of self-worth. When you feel worthy you accept yourself and you are happy with who you are and what you have become.

When you tie the two positive sides of self-efficacy and self-esteem together you have a highly self-confident person.

So do you want to know how to have self-confidence? Of course, you do, building self-confidence is something we have all wanted since the first time we felt inferior to someone or some circumstance.

To Be Happy You Must Have Confidence, To Be Successful You Must Possess A Humble Yet Confident Belief In Yourself And Your Abilities.

Howard G. Platt 111

Learning How To Gain Self-Confidence Strategies And Techniques For Developing Self-Confidence!

We already know that improving self-confidence is one characteristic that can change our lives in the most profound ways so let’s discuss three simple tips that you can use to develop stronger self-confidence.

Confidence comes with the belief and faith in one’s ability to accomplish a certain task however there is a big difference between believing and reality.

If you set unrealistic expectations for yourself you will do more harm than good to your self-confidence. It is good to be confident and to chase your goals but you must remain realistic or it could all backfire and actually damage your confidence.

However, setting realistic goals does not mean you should never take any risks in life. Yes, you want to be realistic but you also want to challenge yourself to reach greater heights.

You will not always be assured of success when you set out to achieve a new goal but if you never take any risks you’ll never grow past your current level of success.

Building self-confidence requires one to take some risk from time to time so don’t hold yourself back but at the same time if you happen to fail at some new challenge you Building Self Confidenceshould take pride in the fact that you tried.

The Defeated Man Has No Self-Confidence Until And Unless He Confidently Faces That Which has Challenged Him.

Howard G. Platt 111

Improving self-confidence begins with your thoughts, we all have things we are good at and things we are not so good at and the best thing you can do to improve your self-confidence is to focus on those things that you are good at.

People with low self-confidence tend to focus on all their weaknesses while people with a healthy degree of self-confidence focus on their strengths and try to improve upon their weaknesses.

A good exercise for building self-confidence would be to take out a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle and on one side list all your strengths, anything you are good at or have succeeded at in the past and one the other side list your weaknesses or anything you would like to improve upon.

When you can write these things down on paper you become more aware of both your strengths and weaknesses so when you are feeling a little vulnerable all you have to is to focus on all your strengths. Trust me this is a great exercise and it really helps to improve your self-confidence so give it a try.

3 Steps On How To Gain Self-Confidence And Personal Integrity

  • First, you must have a sense of right from wrong and then you must stand ahead of the crowd and do the right thing even if it means you stand alone.

Having the strength of character to stand up for what is right regardless of the situation or circumstance is truly the act of a highly self-confident person.

  • Secondly, to gain more self-confidence you must be willing to take chances and to go after what you want out of life despite your fear of failure.

If this is a challenge for you at this point in your life you can begin immediately to face your fears head-on and go after your goals even if you believe there is no chance of you succeeding.

In reality, you will fail at some but you will succeed at others, and with every success, no matter what the size you will gain self-confidence making it even easier to face your next challenge.

  • The third step in building your self-confidence comes from within, it’s believing in and doing the right thing but it’s more than that, it is living by your own set of virtues and displaying those virtues to others regardless of what they might think of them or you.

You see we all have a sense of right and wrong but we don’t always adhere to what we know to be right from wrong and a lot of times this is because we follow the crowd.

Living your life based on your own set of virtues is more than just doing the right thing it is letting others know that you will always follow your virtues, setting aside all weakness, and living a life you can be proud of.

A person with a high degree of self-confidence will never sway from their virtues and they will stand for what they believe to be right and just.

It Is Not The Defeat That Robs You Of Your Confidence It Is The Fear Of The Defeat And The Failure To Act That Robs One Of Their Self-Confidence.

Howard G. Platt 111


How to have the self-confidence that will improve every aspect of your life and not just for a day or a month but for the remainder of your life. You will not build your self-confidence overnight but if you stick to a plan you will be able to improve your confidence over-time and you can make it stick.

If you follow the advice I shared with you in this article you will know how to gain self-confidence in every area of your life and you will be in a constant state of self-improvement.

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Hi, my name is Howard Grant Platt 3rd, and creating this website Positive Thinking For Personal Development has become one of my greatest passions! At the age of 35, I was diagnosed with a rare and incurable medical disorder. As a result of my medical issues, I struggle with various disabilities, which challenge me every day of my life. Positive Thinking has given me the confidence and inner strength to persevere through the most challenging times. I try to use my story to inspire and help others to live up to their full potential. I know my calling in life is to serve others compassionately and to help those in need. Thank you for visiting my site. God Bless!


Howard has written 89 articles on Positive-Thinking-For-You.com

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Leave a Comment

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Howard G. Platt 111 1 August 11, 2013

Hi Elizabeth,

Thank you so much for visiting my site and for leaving such a nice comment about my article.

It is always nice to hear from my readers and even more so when it’s i n the form of a positive review :) I am also happy to hear that this article will play a positive role in helping you to achieve your goals.

Take Care!
Sincerely,
Howard G. Platt 111

Elizabeth Towns 2 August 11, 2013

This article is a great resource and extremely empowering. The formula for developing self-confidence is very clearly defined and challenging!

I am in a place where I can put it into effect immediately. I have challenged myself this year in Stewardship, and one of the sub-categories of that challenge is personal integrity. This information aligns with that area of my life and I will use it to accomplish my goals!

I appreciate this article, the effort, passion and your personal insights.

Howard G. Platt 111 3 August 10, 2013

Hi Cori,

Thanks for stopping by, I was hoping you would check out my site and I knew if you did you would share some of your positive insights and you did not let me down : )

I couldn’t see you buying the cheapies … not your style!

Take Care!
Howard

Cori Padgett-Bukowski 4 August 9, 2013

Hey Howard… great post. :)

I like how Denise Thomas-Duffy put it in her books… setting goals and making incremental upgrades to overcome fears and self-sabotaging behaviors, and cultivate an mindset of success and abundance.

Upgrading something (even a small something, like fancy lingerie instead of the cheapies, hehe) in your life that makes you “feel” successful and abundant is another step closer to accepting that you deserve good things, and helps you keep moving forward in designing the life you want.

Howard Platt 5 August 8, 2013

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for visiting and for the kind words concerning my article. I actually replied to this comment the day you left it but then I had an attack on my site and it took me a couple of days to recover and restore my database. You would think that these hackers could use their talents to accomplish some good rather than causing problems for people like you and I.

I truly did enjoy your site and I recommend that all my readers check it out for themselves as there is some excellent information on the site.

I know that I will be back to read through more of your articles.

Thank you again!

God Bless!
Howard

Kathy Hadley 6 August 5, 2013

Dear Howard,

Thank you for stopping by my site and leaving a comment.

It is my passion, too, to help people to achieve their greatness and be a success in what they choose.

You are “spot on” with this article on confidence and success.

Believe me, being a success didn’t mean there was no fear along the way…it only means that it was overcome.

The more you continue to do what you want to do regardless of the fear, the less and less fear shows up.

Thank you for the connection and the great information.

Kathy
kathyhadleylifecoach.com