How Do You Boost Your Confidence Quickly When Life is Trying to Keep You Down? (Here Are 10 Tips)

When you boost your confidence you see life in a more positive light, naturally leading to less stress and the ability to recognize beneficial opportunities.

Would you agree if I said that life is stressful regardless of who you are, where you live, and what career you’ve chosen?

Even the most successful people in the world who have endured tough situations did the following:

• made the conscious decision to take control of their lives,
• take advantage of every opportunity given to them, and
• change their stories into ones of success.

It follows that we must strive to improve the trait of building up that confidence to tackle challenges and grab opportunities, right?

So if you feel as though life is getting the better of you, why not try some of the following ten tips to boost your confidence?

The tips that follow will magically lighten your emotional load, boost your confidence, and encourage you to focus on the positives in life instead of the negatives.

The result? Less stress, and opening your eyes to beneficial opportunities.

And oh, in case you did not know, low confidence is not genetic. You’re not destined to always suffer from low self-confidence but you may have to work harder to overcome that weakness.

Now, let’s look at ten easy tips to boost your confidence.

1. Take care of yourself every single day

Starting from a shower in the morning to washing your face before bedtime at night, daily hygiene is a symbolic way to wash away the negative mojo from yesterday and start fresh today.

Some women also notice a marked difference in their confidence when they add just a little makeup or lip color. Try it!

2. Dress your best

While it may sound cozy to work at home in your PJs, many experts agree that productivity and self-confidence improve when you dress for the day.

One friend told me she did her best work when she wore fancy high heel shoes! You don’t need a full-on business suit to be productive but do choose something more business-casual as opposed to gym clothes or PJs after your shower.

3. Pay attention to your self-talk

Studies state that:

…self-criticism may positively affect cognitive performance by inducing a less confident state that increases internal motivation and attention.

How is your inner ego treating your outer self? If you overeat at lunchtime or devour an entire box of your favorite cookies, does your inner demon give you hell?

Take notice of how you treat yourself when you “fall off the wagon”. Turn that negative self-talk into positive self-talk. Instead of berating yourself for unbecoming behavior, turn that into an opportunity to exercise or to meditate instead. Or take a moment and actually TALK to yourself out aloud with reassuring words.

4. Take action every day

Without taking action, you cannot accomplish anything in life and this applies to every stage. Ask any student who did not prepare for that exam!

Students can’t get an A on a paper or test without studying hard. You can’t balance a checkbook without analyzing your expenses. You can’t earn a promotion without a strong work ethic. You can’t find new clients without marketing your business.

Go one step further and think positively, which will then carry over into your actions. Instead of believing you can’t do something, change that into a can-do attitude. Soon you’ll discover how to find the silver lining in every situation.

5. Set smaller goals and celebrate the win

Whether you need to shop for groceries, email your subscribers, or take time to exercise, set that goal as a priority for the day and celebrate when it’s complete.

Enjoy the accomplishment and that happy feeling it brings! Go one step further and schedule that goal task for early morning so your accomplished feeling lasts throughout your day to keep you motivated.

6. Incorporate small habits into your daily life

What could you do with an extra 10 minutes in your day? Tiny habits are all about taking small, minute chunks of time and using them wisely.

Let’s say you woke up 10 minutes earlier tomorrow. Would you meditate, practice yoga, journal, or simply start your daily routine without feeling rushed?

Small habits could be absolutely anything that will motivate you to do more throughout the day. So this tip really goes hand-in-hand with number 5 above.

You don’t need to solve the world’s problems. Just pick something small and dedicate time to it. Soon you’ll link multiple tiny habits together and have a full-fledged productive routine!

7. Focus on solutions instead of problems

I think this is the best advice I’ve received from my mom. Focusing on problems leads to complaining and I’m certain you’ve seen your fair share of complaining on social media! Don’t become one of them!

When something goes wrong, focus on how to fix it. Find alternatives instead of finding someone to blame. Sure, disappointment or anger over a problem is a natural reaction but the key is not to dwell on this negative reaction.

Do what you can to fix the problem and you’ll find that it immediately boosts your confidence once the problem is resolved (whether you get any credit for being the problem solver or not).

8. Be grateful

Gratitude is so easy to forget about in the course of a busy day. While gratitude journaling is popular these days, practicing gratitude can be as simple as saying, “Thank you for another beautiful day” when you awaken.

Or “Thank you for preventing my getting into an accident” if you have to slam on your brakes. You can also profess gratitude with a simple phone call or email to special friends, simply thanking them for all the good they bring into your life.

Recalling the good in your life can fill your heart with warmth and will also boost your confidence when you realize all your good choices have led you to this place.

9. Conquer self-limiting beliefs

As the old quote from Henry Ford reads,

“Whether you say you can or can’t, you’re right.”

As we grow older, we start to lose confidence in our abilities and those self-limiting beliefs take root in our brains.

To boost your confidence, tackle each of those beliefs by stepping out of your comfort zone. More often than not you’ll come away from the experience thinking it wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. Then you’ll be ready to move on to the next belief!

Don’t allow assumptions to become limiting beliefs!

10. Gain inspiration from people you admire

We can all use a dose of inspiration from time to time but if there is a celebrity, business person, or author you admire, dig into their lives and how they overcame adversity.

This is not to draw comparisons or to make you feel as though you should have done better…but to reinforce the fact that ANYONE can overcome challenges and still come out successfully with confidence. Looking at their challenges,  maybe you’ll realize that YOUR challenges aren’t nearly as bad as you once thought.

Know that whatever happens, you can always boost your confidence.   Give yourself a gentle push every day until you see your mood lifting. Soon your outlook on life will be more positive.

Also read: 7 Easy Hacks to Build Your Self-Confidence