Confidence is the key to unlocking your potential and achieving anything you want. Confidence is a way of thinking about yourself that impacts how you see the world and interact with others. If you feel good about yourself and believe in your abilities, then you are more likely to tackle new challenges and thrive under pressure.

On the other hand, if you lack confidence, it can have a negative impact on your life. A lack of confidence can hold you back from trying new things or making new friends. Confidence isn’t something that just happens to us; we have to work at it every day. The list below includes 10 simple exercises that will help increase your confidence.

Write a list of your strengths.

This might seem strange and silly, but so many people don’t think about what they’re good at. If you don’t know your strengths and put them out into the world, then you can’t use them to your advantage.

Whereas, when you know what you’re strong at, you can use your strengths to your advantage and strive for what you want in life. Writing down your strengths will give you a new sense of confidence, after all, you're looking at all the things you're good at. You might have to do this a few times before it sinks in and you start seeing the benefits of focusing on your strengths.

Awareness exercise

This exercise will help you to get in touch with your body and the signals that it is sending you. When you feel what is happening in your body, it will be easier to manage your emotions when they arise, and you'll feel more in control of your own body.

Breathing

Sit down in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Focus on your breath for a few seconds, then slowly begin to take slower, deeper breaths. When you feel calm, open your eyes and look around you. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?

Don’t rush through this exercise

Focus on each of your senses and try to become fully aware of each one. When you finish this exercise, you will feel more in tune with yourself. You'll feel at one with your emotions for a while and feel ready to take on what lies ahead. This exercise is especially good before an event that causes anxiety or low confidence.

Body confidence exercise

A lack of body confidence is common, especially among women. This simple exercise can help you improve your body confidence and feel more comfortable with your body. Stand in front of a mirror and focus on your breath. Get in touch with how you feel in the moment.

The mirror isn't your enemy, trust the process

Take a few deep breaths and focus on your body. Focus on how you feel. What do you notice? What do you like about your body? Take your time with this exercise and don’t judge yourself, but rather, observe. You might have to do this exercise a few times before you start seeing results. When you feel like you’ve completed this exercise, end the exercise by thanking your body for everything it has done for you.

Ask for what you want.

This is something that most people don’t do enough of. We often settle for less than we want because we’re afraid of not getting what we ask for. If you want to achieve your goals, then you need to ask for what you want.

The possibilities are endless, but Here's a few examples

If you want a promotion at work, then you need to ask your boss for the promotion.

If you want to make new friends, then you need to go out and strike up conversations with people.

Whatever you want in life, you have to go after it. If you don’t ask for what you want, then you will never get it. While it might seem scary to ask for what you want, most people regret the things they don’t ask for more than those they do.

Just remember that you need to put in the effort too. That promotion wont happen unless you have the skills, and you won't make friends unless you put yourself out there.

Celebrate your wins no matter how small.

So many people don’t celebrate their wins, big or small. When something good happens in your life, make sure you celebrate it, no matter how small. When you celebrate your wins, you are reinforcing the idea that you are capable of achieving great things.

You don’t have to go overboard

When something good happens to you, make sure you take the time to celebrate. It’s easy to get caught up in our everyday lives and lose track of all the good things that happen to us. You can celebrate in small ways, like taking a few moments to sit down and write in a journal about what happened or sharing what happened on social media. There is no right or wrong way to celebrate, just make sure you do celebrate.

Be proud of who you are and where you’ve come from.

A lot of people struggle with feelings of shame and guilt. These feelings often come from comparing yourself to others and being critical of your own actions. Instead of being critical of yourself and your actions, learn to be proud of who you are and where you’ve come from. Being proud of who you are and where you’ve come from will help you to accept and appreciate yourself in a way that you never could if you felt shame and guilt.

Practice feeling comfortable while being alone.

Being comfortable while being alone is an important skill to develop. Being alone is an essential part of life that most people have to face at some point in their lives.

Why be alone?

Confidence is learnt and things such as public speaking or meetings can be scary. So practicing these things at home, alone, will help you build up confidence in that situation.

Be reliant on Yourself, not others

The ability to be alone and feel comfortable while alone will help you to be less reliant on other people and more able to focus on what you have to do in your life. There are many simple exercises you can do to practice being comfortable while alone.

One exercise is to simply sit in your room and be completely silent for an hour. You might find this exercise to be challenging, but the more you do it, the easier it will become.

Another exercise is to talk to yourself in the mirror. It can be about literally anything, but get used to having someone look at you when you speak, even if it is just yourself.

Do the things you’re afraid of

Fear is a natural emotion that all humans experience. Fear keeps us safe, but sometimes it gets out of control and holds us back from doing things that could help us grow as people. If something scares you, then doing it is a great way to get past your fears.

Doing the things you’re afraid of will help to release your fears. You might have to face your fears several times before they start to go away. Having a support system with you to help you face you fears can make the concept easier to grasp and allow you to take the plunge and face your fears.

Anchoring exercise

Anchoring is a psychological technique that can help you to reprogram your thoughts and feelings. It’s a way of changing your feelings and thoughts by using an external stimulus. This can be a word, an action, or a smell.

To anchor your confidence, you will want to find something that will make you feel confident. It can be a word, a smell, or an action. Whenever you do that thing, you will be reminded of how confident you feel. This can be a great way to deal with anxiety, nervousness, and feelings of being overwhelmed.

Commit to the process, not the outcome.

This is a really important tip. When you commit to the outcome, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. You don’t have control over the outcome, only the process. When you commit to the process, you are focused on doing everything you can to achieve your goal.

There will always be things outside of your control that might get in the way of achieving your goal outcomes. The best thing you can do is commit to the process and do everything you can to achieve your goals.

When you focus on the process, your goals may start to change and alter as you learn more about your process. This is a good thing, this will help you to achieve the best outcome you can.