7 habits and actions to cultivate self-confidence.

A practical guide to increase self-esteem and enjoy every day.

People with high self-confidence are more successful in the tasks they have to carry out and, in many cases, in life in general. and, on many occasions, in life in general. This psychological variable can be confused with self-esteem, but they are not the same.

That is why these individuals overcome adversities because they feel capable of doing so, and achieve work or life goals because they perceive that they are capable of doing so. Their motivation remains high and they are able to make the right decisions even in the most complex moments.

• Recommended article: "10 keys to increase self-esteem in 30 days".

Self-confidence is key to personal development.

Many people often confuse self-confidence with self-esteem. But self-esteem is related to a person's overall assessment of himself, it is a general feeling, and refers to esteem, i.e., how much a person likes and appreciates himself.

Self-confidence, on the other hand, refers to the confidence a person has in his or her abilities with respect to a given task. It has to do with competencies and skills, and the beliefs a person has about mastering them.. For example, if a salesperson knows that he/she does a good job as a salesperson, he/she will surely be more confident when persuading a customer, since he/she believes that he/she is good at it.

Self-confidence refers to a specific area of our life, unlike self-esteem, which is a global concept. The salesperson in the example above, therefore, will have high self-confidence when it comes to performing his or her job, but may have low self-confidence when it comes to having a partner.

Habits and actions to cultivate self-confidence

In the following lines you can find a series of tips that will allow you to cultivate self-confidence.

1. Praise yourself

One of the best ways to repeat behaviors is thanks to reinforcement.. Praise is a good way to remind yourself how well you have done things, and is a powerful form of verbal persuasion, which according to Albert Bandura is one of the elements that influence self-confidence. Therefore, giving more importance to the things you do well and minimizing the impact of negative things can positively influence self-confidence. To do this, acceptance is key.

2. Have a positive attitude

Obviously, it is not always possible to have a positive attitude, but, following the previous point, we must make an effort to see the good things in life. Stop comparing yourself to others and start valuing your abilities in a positive way has a great influence on how you perceive the challenges you face in your day-to-day life.

In fact, having low or weak self-confidence is associated with negative thoughts and failure, so we must adopt a positive mindset.So we must adopt the opposite mentality. We should try to be motivated most of the time, even if it is sometimes difficult.

3. Have successful role models

Albert Bandura, one of the most important theorists of this concept, explained in his sociocultural theory why we learn by observation and how some people have a great influence on our behavior, and also on our self-confidence.

In fact, this author believes that observing other people performing successful activities has a great influence on our own self-confidence. Modeling is a technique widely used in coaching, which is a key methodology for people's personal development.

4. Accept the past

Acceptance of our own experiences and of ourselves not only positively influences our well-being and emotional balance, but also our self-confidence. and emotional balance, but also on our self-confidence. If when things go wrong we dwell on them, we may have a negative perception of ourselves and our ability to cope with a given activity.

On the other hand, if in the face of failures we adopt a mentality of acceptance and understand that mistakes are part of our life, our self-confidence does not have to be negatively affected in these situations.

5. Put yourself to the test

Albert Bandura believes that another of the elements that influence self-confidence is acting. If we dare to do something and it turns out well, our self-confidence improves. Positive experiences are essential for the perception of our capabilities to be positive.

As I mentioned in the previous point, when things do not go well, it is better to accept them and move on. Since experiences are a great source of information for self-confidence, and perhaps the most important, it is always better to test ourselves, as we can only regret what we have not done.

6. Remember your achievements

Accepting negative experiences acts as a protection and keeps self-confidence in a safe zone, however, it is also important to remember your achievements.However, it is also important to remind ourselves that there are things we do very well.

This can be done by making a list of achievements, which we can use as often as we wish to remind us of our strengths and goals achieved. Undoubtedly, a useful strategy for those moments when we feel less motivated.

7. Prepare yourself well

When we are not very confident about a particular situation we can always prepare well, as this can improve the perception of self-confidence. For example, we may not have mastered a subject well enough to give a presentation at university. However, if we prepare well in advance and inform ourselves appropriately, it is possible that at the time of the presentation, we will be able to give a good presentation, by the time we present that topic, our confidence may have increased..