So you want to be confident? If you are looking for a guide on how to build self-confidence, then this article is right for you. Building self-confidence is not an overnight task. You have to dedicate your time and effort to realize that you are a human being worthy of love and respect. Below are 12 tips about confidence building:

1. Try to determine your insecurities. What makes you feel ashamed of yourself? What does the voice in your mind say? This could be physical appearance, negative emotions, traumatic experiences, friends at school… Anything! Whatever makes you feel unworthy, recognize it, and write it down on a piece of paper. Tear your written insecurities apart to make you start feeling positive about them.

2. You can also have your loved ones or friends to talk about it. Whatever your insecurities are, you should work on them one by one. There is no quick solution. Focus on the root problem and understand that you have to resolve each problem before moving on. See if it is a past emotion that is still having an impact of your present life. This does not mean that you have to eliminate the things that make you feel sad because in most cases you simply cannot. You just have to accept whatever happened in your past.

3. Learn to deal with your mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Even people that are most confident still have insecurities. At some point of our lives, we feel that we are lacking something. This is reality. Know that life has bumps on the road. These insecurities just come and go, depending on how we are feeling, the mood we are in, who we are with, and where we are. In short, they are not permanent.

4. Recognize your achievements or successes. Each of us is good at something. Identify the things that make you excel, and then concentrate on your talents. Allow yourself to take pride in them and give yourself credit for your achievements. Inferiority is just a state of the mind that you have declared yourself as a victim. Do not be a victim. You should learn to express yourself whether through music, art, dance, and etc. You should find something that enjoys you. We are born with strengths and talents. It you are having a hard time to name one or two, take a look at what other people do that you would like to do as well. You can then take some lessons or join an enthusiast club. If you do your passion, it will have a positive therapeutic effect and you will feel accomplished and unique. These things help in building self-confidence. In addition, adding a variation of interest to your life can make your more confident and increases the chance of meeting new friends.

5. Always be contented and thankful of what you have. Most of the times, the root of insecurities and lack of self-confidence is the feeling of not having something whether it is money, good luck, and etc. By being contented of what you have, you can avoid the feeling of being unsatisfied. Find this inner peace, and it will surely do wonders in your life.

6. Stay positive even if you do not feel the same way. Do not pity on yourself. Do not allow other people make you feel inferior. If you belittle yourself, then people will believe the same way too. You should speak positively about all the aspects of your life. Always protect your qualities and strength from other people. If you do this, you are reinforcing those ideas in your mind and it encourages your growth in a positive way.

7. Learn to accept compliments in a nice way. Accept them heartily and throw a positive response by saying THANK YOU. A smile works most of the time.

8. Talking about smile, take a look at yourself in the mirror then smile. Based on the Facial Feedback Theory, it suggests that expressions on the face can encourage your brain to grasp certain emotions. By looking at the mirror and smiling every day, you might feel happier and become more confident.

9. Sometimes, it helps to fake it. Acting confident might make your believe it. Try to pretend a confident version of you. Go with the flow and see how it makes you feel.

10. Always apply your principles. This might be hard, but if you do not have something that you believe in, then you do not have anything. If you do not have something to stand on, then you will fall. Regardless of what happened in your life, you can claim that from this day forward, you have applied your principles to the best you can.

11. You should also help others. If you are kind to people that surrounds you, and you are making a positive change in their lives (even just acting kind to someone who is serving coffee for you), then you will know that you are a positive force in this world. This aids in confidence building!

12. You should avoid being a perfectionist because this will paralyze you and will keep you from achieving your goals in life.