Use This Simple Technique Daily to Have More Confidence
I haven’t always been confident in myself.
When I was younger I believed you either had confidence or you didn’t. I thought confidence was something some people were born with and I didn’t understand that it was possible to become more confident let alone how to improve confidence and self esteem.
I’ve had Generalised Anxiety Disorder since childhood - though I wasn’t diagnosed until my twenties - and as my anxiety increased, to the point I was too scared to leave the house, I felt my confidence levels dropping even more.
I felt so self conscious and lacked the confidence to have even a simple conversation with people because I felt I was being judged the whole time.
When I realised that confidence is something you can create, I started to work on my mindset daily and began to create more self confidence and self esteem.
Over the past 12 years, I’ve transformed my life completely, going from being too afraid to leave the house to quitting my 9-5 and travelling the world solo, starting two online businesses and becoming a Confidence Coach for other women who want to increase confidence and self esteem.
For the full story around how I changed my life, listen to this podcast episode:
Surface Level vs Deep Rooted Self Confidence
In my opinion, surface level confidence is the kind you need when you need to show up on a live video, when you need to get on a plane when you’re anxious or when you have to walk into a room full of people.
It’s the confidence you find when you need to do the uncomfortable things that’ll help you move closer to your goals.
Whereas the deep rooted self confidence is the kind you lean on when everything in your life has fallen to shit. When you’re going through a breakup, when you’re struggling to pay your bills, when a client’s stopped paying or you’ve been fired from your job.
The deep rooted self confidence is quiet, supportive and comforting. It’s that inner voice that reminds you no matter how hard of a situation you’re in right now, you will get through it. Whilst the surface level is louder, is bubblier, is more full of energy and can be brought out in the moments you need it most.
How to Create More Confidence with this Simple Technique
I have an abundance of mindset tools, tricks and techniques to help you increase confidence and self esteem but the one I’m about to share is the easiest, simplest techniques to implement.
It’s so simple you can do it whilst you’re laying in bed, before you get up to start your day.
The technique is visualisation.
(Psst: Access my FREE morning visualisation for confidence inside The Confidence Kit)
The idea is that you connect with the idea of you being full of confidence and you do this by picturing yourself moving through your day as your most confident self.
You may picture yourself feeling self assured, knowing you’re making the right decisions every time and with an air of confidence around you.
Head held high, standing up tall and a smile on your face.
You might imagine yourself giving off a confident energy to those who come into contact with you.
You may visualise yourself being welcoming, open, authentic and somebody that people can trust.
When I visualise confidence, for me, I see it as a kind of glow, like a glowing light around me. I imagine a glowing white light around me and I see myself as the person who is calm, collected and makes decisions easily.
I picture myself as someone who doesn't worry about what people are going to say or fear being judged, but instead someone who shows up knowing that whatever I’m doing is going to help people and is going to support people.
So although there might be times where you’re scared, uncertain or anxious, it's trusting yourself enough that you’re on the right path. It’s also choosing to move forward through that fear, instead of letting that fear hold you back.
When to Use Visualisation
Visualisation is a great tool to use on a daily basis. As I mentioned before, it’s great to do first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed. It’s also a great technique to turn to when you’re about to hop on a sales call, if you’re heading into a meeting or before you’re going to travel if flying makes you anxious.
Prepare yourself for the scary situation by taking 10 minutes each day in the lead up to the event, picturing yourself as the most confident version of you who can handle any situation.
In 2018, I became a bestselling co-author of a collaborative book and to celebrate, we threw a launch party. During that launch party, each of the authors got up on stage to share a snippet of their chapter.
Public speaking has always terrified me but in the weeks ahead of the launch party, I spent time every day visualising myself speaking with confidence. I pictured myself enjoying the moment, feeling proud, saying my words clearly and being able to look at the audience without any fear or panic.
Thanks to the visualisation exercise, my speech ran smoothly and I really did enjoy it!
Give the exercise a go and if you find it helpful, leave me a comment below. Inside the free Design Your Dream Life mini course, you’ll find a guided visualisation to help you uncover your perfect day.
To recap, we covered:
The difference between surface level and deep rooted confidence
How to create more confidence with a simple technique
When to use visualisation to feel more confident in yourself