Affirmations Don’t Work. 7 Ways to Be Confident
Without self-development, you will never believe in yourself.
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Telling yourself ‘I’m the best’ is like pouring water into a hole in a pot — when you stop doing it, your confidence will drop to zero. Let’s face it: ‘I’m great’, ‘I can do anything’ and ‘nothing can stop me’ affirmations work, but to your disadvantage. When something goes wrong, you will feel even worse. You will experience frustration as a result of the gap between your ideal and real life. Motivational platitudes won’t help you at best and will hurt you at worst.
Try our 7 simple methods and you will really boost your effectiveness and confidence.
1. Reject perfectionism
Be the best imperfect self you can be — Julian Baggini, British philosopher and writer
It’s been a well-established belief that perfectionists are better employees and are driven by positive motivation, rather than fear, so they achieve more in their lives, businesses and careers. The truth is that a focus on perfection can be a destructive force, as Richard Winter writes about in his book ‘Perfecting Ourselves to Death.’ According to the American psychiatrist and psychotherapist, perfectionistic tendencies in some people approach the realm of the unhealthy, contributing to indecision, decision procrastination, susceptibility to obsessions, depression, and sometimes excessive criticism — even contempt — for those who do not grow up to their standards.
Julian Baggini strikes a similar tone, advocating enjoying one’s imperfection. By showing flaws and making mistakes, we become more human,’ argues Baggini, encouraging us to be more forgiving of ourselves and accept our shortcomings.
2. Invest in yourself
Invest as much as possible in yourself. You are your greatest asset — Warren Buffett, American stock market investor
Self-confidence stems from, among other things, a belief in one’s proficiency in a particular field. A salesman should be confident in his sales skills and a manager must consider himself good at managing people.
