There is no wondering why my friend Danny Everett was successful and won Gold in the 1988 Olympics. He is the most confident person I’ve ever met.
Danny and I play tennis together a few times every week, and he is such an incredible role model of how to build self confidence. He is always focused on playing at the top of his game, and positively encourages me and other players.
I’ve also watched him build self-confidence in his children and they are amazing kids as a result. It’s really inspiring to see someone putting into action such a positive outlook, as well as helping others raise their belief level in themselves.
How to Build Self Confidence & What it Means to You
The most important trait anyone can have to sustain success and happiness is to have a strong level of self confidence. When you are confident you have the determination and focus to overcome any challenge that will inevitably appear.
The problem is that most people are not 100% confident. Almost every person I have ever worked with has lingering self-doubt, second-guessing, and negative self-reflective thoughts that undermine the positive directions they want to experience.
How Does a Person Let That Happen?
If you are like most people, the eroding of your confidence started when you were very young. It could have been something a parent, teacher, or schoolmate said to you. It could have been something you experienced; perhaps you weren’t the most athletic or at the top of your class academically and that made you feel “less than” others.
Continue reading to find out the 7 thoughts in your mind that caused your life to disappoint you…
Being unacknowledged, teased, or ridiculed would have set a program in your subconscious that shook your confidence from that point on. If you ever evaluated yourself on your looks and concluded you weren’t attractive enough, not tall enough, or not shaped the way you wanted to be, or some other critical opinion, that would have formed a self-concept that you just weren’t enough!
The crazy thing about this is that it continues in your subconscious mind all through your teenage years and the rest of your life. In other words, it doesn’t automatically change or go away just because the years pass by.
This can cause you to be easily manipulated by others because you believe their opinion is more right than yours, or they know better than you. This can lead to you do things that you may not be happy with, such as not pursuing in life what you’d really like to do, whether in your career or even a hobby.
If You Want to Know How to Build Self Confidence, Here is What I Suggest You Do
Think about the kinds of thoughts you’ve had about yourself that have caused you to avoid what you might have wanted to do. Have you had thoughts like:
- I have to learn to be satisfied with what I have.
- I’m not really talented enough to try that.
- I’m not living up to my potential.
- I wish I were better looking.
- I seem to have missed the boat when it comes to opportunities.
- If I get it, I’ll just loose it.
- I’m not lucky like other people who are a success.
Pay attention to your thoughts like this over the next few days. I’d even suggest you write them down as that helps give you focus and clarity on them. In my next article I’ll go further into this all-important subject and show you how to break free and how to help your children too.
Oh, and one more thing. I have a free ebook for you on Self-Esteem, and chapter 3 has a test you can take to evaluate your esteem and confidence level. Check it out now.
Here’s the link to “How to Master Your Self-Esteem in 48 Hours of Less”
