There is only one way for you to build confidence and that is to "just do it". If you want to become more confident at swimming, you must first learn to float and then with some more practice your confidence will grow in this area and not the other way round.

A great many people want to have the confidence before they attempt whatever it they want to achieve but unfortunately it doesn't and cannot work that way.

These type of people are the ones who rarely attempt anything new and therefore live quite an unfulfilled life. They are stuck in a mental paralysis to which there seems to be no escape.  They are constantly learning and searching, but never putting what they learn into practice. 

So how do you escape from this mental paralysis? Well there are two ways that you can just do it. The first is to do whatever it is you're wanting to do despite your fear. You're going to make mistakes, you're going to be apprehensive but it's not the end of the world so who cares, just do it.  As T Harv Eker says, "Every master was once a disaster."

If the goal seems too big for you then chunk it down into small manageable pieces that you feel you can deal with. Attempt to do the easiest piece first to gain a little confidence to enable you to tackle the more daunting chunks.  A chinese proverb says, "A trip of a thousand miles begin with the first step".

Then second way to gain confidence is to tackle something unrelated to the task at hand. It must be something that makes you feel a little uncomfortable, Something that will push out your boundaries but not something that is so scary that it will paralyze you.  However, make sure that the unrelated task does not sidetrack you from what you hope to achieve.

The aim of this is the confidence you gain from pushing your boundaries will permeate throughout the rest of your life improving your confidence on every level. This results in you attempting to do things that before you couldn't even bear to think about.  Confident people do the things that others won't, in order to gain the confidence that others don't.

This in turn pushes your boundaries further and further. It's an upward spiral that will be very difficult to break as long you keep on doing things that make you feel a little uncomfortable.

Confidence is just like exercise, you go to the gym three time a week, every week and after a short while you begin to feel the benefit of the exercise and you begin to lift heavier and heavier weights. However if you stop for a few months you fitness level starts to decrease and you may have to start all over again.

If you stop doing the things which make you feel uncomfortable you'll no longer be pushing those boundaries and after a while your comfort zone will start to shrink back to what it once was.  Momentum is the key to building self confidence. 

Remember, it doesn't matter how many tools you have in your mental toolbox for improving your level of confidence you cannot build it without first doing something that makes you feel uncomfortable.  Balance your mental knowledge with your physical action.  Don't be a NATO (No Action, Talk Only).

Have you been struggling with improving self confidence? Do you want to experience yourself as unstoppable but don’t know how?

In this article, I will share with you 7 effective strategies for improving your self confidence. You can immediately put these into practice. Start by choosing the one that you are weakest at and begin practicing it for 7 days in a row. Then, pick the next challenging one and practice it for seven days. Keep at this process until you have incorporated each of the 7 strategies into your daily life. If you really do this, you will see your self confidence explode in a very short period of time.

Keep Your Word
It may seem like a small thing, but many of us are truly challenged by this simple concept. It’s simple, but not necessarily easy to do. The reason that this one is so powerful is because you can instantaneously build confidence in yourself by doing what you say, by when you say you will do it. When you have established yourself as one who people can trust, you begin to trust yourself as well.

Commit
Fear of commitment has stolen more opportunities than I care to admit. When one commits to something or someone and then is being their word to fulfill on that commitment, magic happens. Start by committing to small things and fulfill on them.

Take Action
If you want to feel better about yourself, take an action that is in alignment with bettering yourself. Sometimes we get stuck feeling a certain way when we can quickly shift how we feel by taking some sort of action.

Focus on What You Want
And focus only on what you want. You get what you focus on, so it is crucial that you don’t spend time focusing on or worrying about what you do not want. What you see, is what you get. Make sure what you are envisioning is positive and supportive of you.

Do Something You are Afraid to Do
I once heard someone say, “You are not living if you do not do at least one thing that terrifies you every day”. What could be more empowering and confidence building than feeling fear and taking action anyway? Start small and build momentum. You do not have to face a real lion, only a metaphorical one.

Keep an Accomplishment List
Get a journal and keep a log of your accomplishments. Write how you felt about accomplishing these things and how you felt just before you achieved them. When you are feeling uncertain about yourself or fearful, refer to this journal and remind yourself that even though you felt fearful before, you still were able to make things happen.

Acknowledge Yourself
It is so important to pat yourself on the back and verbally acknowledge yourself for jobs well done, actions taken when you did not feel like it, keeping your word, etc. By doing this, you are rewarding the behaviors that you want more of and you will see more of it.

Let me know if this article helps you in improving self confidence. I would love to hear your success story.