Self confidence is the difference between feeling unstoppable and feeling scared out of your wits. Your perception of yourself has an enormous impact on how others perceive you. Perception is reality — the more self confidence you have, the more likely it is you’ll succeed.

Although many of the factors affecting self confidence are beyond your control, there are a number of things you can consciously do to build self confidence. By using these 10 strategies you can get the mental edge you need to reach your potential.

Build Self Confidence

1. Dress Sharp

Although clothes don’t make the man, they certainly affect the way he feels about himself. No one is more conscious of your physical appearance than you are. When you don’t look good, it changes the way you carry yourself and interact with other people. Use this to your advantage by taking care of your personal appearance. In most cases, significant improvements can be made by bathing and shaving frequently, wearing clean clothes, and being cognizant of the latest styles.

This doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot on clothes. One great rule to follow is “spend twice as much, buy half as much”. Rather than buying a bunch of cheap clothes, buy half as many select, high quality items. In long run this decreases spending because expensive clothes wear out less easily and stay in style longer than cheap clothes. Buying less also helps reduce the clutter in your closet.

2. Walk Faster

One of the easiest ways to tell how a person feels about herself is to examine her walk. Is it slow? tired? painful? Or is it energetic and purposeful? People with confidence walk quickly. They have places to go, people to see, and important work to do. Even if you aren’t in a hurry, you can increase your self confidence by putting some pep in your step. Walking 25% faster will make to you look and feel more important.

3. Good Posture

Similarly, the way a person carries herself tells a story. People with slumped shoulders and lethargic movements display a lack of self confidence. They aren’t enthusiastic about what they’re doing and they don’t consider themselves important. By practicing good posture, you’ll automatically feel more confident. Stand up straight, keep your head up, and make eye contact. You’ll make a positive impression on others and instantly feel more alert and empowered.

4. Personal Commercial

One of the best ways to build confidence is listening to a motivational speech. Unfortunately, opportunities to listen to a great speaker are few and far between. You can fill this need by creating a personal commercial. Write a 30-60 second speech that highlights your strengths and goals. Then recite it in front of the mirror aloud (or inside your head if you prefer) whenever you need a confidence boost.

5. Gratitude

When you focus too much on what you want, the mind creates reasons why you can’t have it. This leads you to dwell on your weaknesses. The best way to avoid this is consciously focusing on gratitude. Set aside time each day to mentally list everything you have to be grateful for. Recall your past successes, unique skills, loving relationships, and positive momentum. You’ll be amazed how much you have going for you and motivated to take that next step towards success.

6. Compliment other people

When we think negatively about ourselves, we often project that feeling on to others in the form of insults and gossip. To break this cycle of negativity, get in the habit of praising other people. Refuse to engage in backstabbing gossip and make an effort to compliment those around you. In the process, you’ll become well liked and build self confidence. By looking for the best in others, you indirectly bring out the best in yourself.

7. Sit in the front row

In schools, offices, and public assemblies around the world, people constantly strive to sit at the back of the room. Most people prefer the back because they’re afraid of being noticed. This reflects a lack of self confidence. By deciding to sit in the front row, you can get over this irrational fear and build your self confidence. You’ll also be more visible to the important people talking from the front of the room.

8. Speak up

During group discussions many people never speak up because they’re afraid that people will judge them for saying something stupid. This fear isn’t really justified. Generally, people are much more accepting than we imagine. In fact most people are dealing with the exact same fears. By making an effort to speak up at least once in every group discussion, you’ll become a better public speaker, more confident in your own thoughts, and recognized as a leader by your peers.

9. Work out

Along the same lines as personal appearance, physical fitness has a huge effect on self confidence. If you’re out of shape, you’ll feel insecure, unattractive, and less energetic. By working out, you improve your physcial appearance, energize yourself, and accomplish something positive. Having the discipline to work out not only makes you feel better, it creates positive momentum that you can build on the rest of the day.

10. Focus on contribution

Too often we get caught up in our own desires. We focus too much on ourselves and not enough on the needs of other people. If you stop thinking about yourself and concentrate on the contribution you’re making to the rest of the world, you won’t worry as much about you own flaws. This will increase self confidence and allow you to contribute with maximum efficiency. The more you contribute to the world the more you’ll be rewarded with personal success and recognition.

自信與剛愎自用的感覺以及不知所措的恐慌感覺都不相同。你對(duì)自己的感知，極大地影響著別人如何感知你。感知是現(xiàn)實(shí)的——你越有自信，你越有可能成功。

盡管有許多影響自信的因素你不可控制，但是，為了建立自信，仍然有一些你可以有意識(shí)去做的事情。通過(guò)采取下面 10 個(gè)策略，你可以獲得你需要的心理優(yōu)勢(shì)來(lái)激發(fā)你的潛力。

建立自信

1.利索的著裝

雖然衣服并不能成就一個(gè)男人，但是衣服確實(shí)可以影響一個(gè)人對(duì)自己的感覺。沒(méi)有一個(gè)人比你更能察覺到自己的身體外表。當(dāng)你看上去并不好的時(shí)候，這會(huì)改變你自己行事的方式以及與其他人的溝通。利用這一點(diǎn)，通過(guò)關(guān)注個(gè)人的外表來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的優(yōu)勢(shì)吧。在大多數(shù)情況下，可以通過(guò)經(jīng)常沐浴和剃須，穿著干凈的衣服，以及接觸最新的款式來(lái)取得重大的改進(jìn)。

這并不意味著你需要在服飾上花很多錢。一個(gè)應(yīng)該遵循的最好法則就是“花兩倍的錢，買一半數(shù)量的衣服”。與其買一大堆的廉價(jià)的衣服，不如像許多人所挑選的那樣買一半數(shù)量的高檔服裝。從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來(lái)看，這是節(jié)約開支的，因?yàn)橘F重的衣服不太容易穿壞，而且能比廉價(jià)的衣服更長(zhǎng)久地保持樣式。少買衣服也有助于減少你衣柜里的雜亂程度。

2.快一點(diǎn)行走

辨別一個(gè)人自身感覺如何的最簡(jiǎn)單方法，是查看她的走路。她的走路是慢的？疲倦的？痛苦的？或者是精力充沛和有決心的？滿懷信心的人走路是快的。他們有要去的地方，有要會(huì)見的人，有要做的重要工作。即使你并不匆忙，你也可以通過(guò)在你的步子上鼓起精神來(lái)提高自信。提高 25% 的步行速度將使得你看上去并且感覺到更加顯要。

3.良好的姿勢(shì)

同樣的，一個(gè)人的姿勢(shì)流露他的內(nèi)心。一個(gè)具有耷拉雙肩和困倦動(dòng)作的人顯示出的是缺乏自信。他們對(duì)自己正在做的事情不熱情，他們不認(rèn)為自己是要緊的。通過(guò)練習(xí)好的姿態(tài)，你會(huì)自然地感覺到更為自信。挺直腰板，抬起頭，進(jìn)行眼神交流。你會(huì)給他人以積極的印象，并且立即感到更為機(jī)敏和頑強(qiáng)。

4.個(gè)人商業(yè)廣告

建立自信的最佳方法之一是聆聽一篇激勵(lì)人心的演講�？上�，能夠聆聽優(yōu)秀演講的機(jī)會(huì)鳳毛麟角。你可以通過(guò)自己創(chuàng)造一個(gè)個(gè)人商業(yè)廣告來(lái)彌補(bǔ)這方面的需要。寫一篇 30-60 秒鐘的演講，內(nèi)容要突出自己的優(yōu)勢(shì)和目標(biāo)。每當(dāng)你需要放大膽子的時(shí)候，就面對(duì)鏡子大聲地朗讀它（如果你喜歡的話也可以在你的頭腦中默念）。

5.感激之情

在你過(guò)分關(guān)注你想要的東西時(shí)，心中會(huì)產(chǎn)生為什么我不能得到它的許多理由。這會(huì)導(dǎo)致你滯留在自己的弱點(diǎn)上。避免出現(xiàn)這種情況的最好方法是有意識(shí)的擁有一顆感恩之心。每天花點(diǎn)時(shí)間在頭腦里面列出你需要感謝的每件事情。回憶一下你過(guò)去的成功、獨(dú)特的技能、友愛的人際關(guān)系以及積極的動(dòng)力。你將會(huì)驚訝你已經(jīng)進(jìn)步了這么多，并且受到激勵(lì)朝向成功邁出下一步。

6.贊揚(yáng)他人

當(dāng)我們消極地想到自己的時(shí)候，我們常常表現(xiàn)出以某種形式的侮辱或不屑對(duì)待他人的感覺。為了打破這種消極循環(huán)，你應(yīng)該建立贊揚(yáng)別人的習(xí)慣。拒絕卷入到流言蜚語(yǔ)的議論之中，努力贊美你周圍的人們。在這個(gè)過(guò)程中，你會(huì)變得更加討人喜歡，同時(shí)建立起自信。通過(guò)尋找別人的優(yōu)點(diǎn)，你會(huì)間接地帶來(lái)自己的優(yōu)點(diǎn)。

7.坐在前排

在世界各地的學(xué)校、辦公室或者公共場(chǎng)合，人們經(jīng)常是爭(zhēng)取坐在后面的位置。大多數(shù)的人們寧愿坐在后面是因?yàn)樗麄兒ε卤蝗俗⒁�。這反映缺乏自信。下決心坐到前排去吧，你可以戰(zhàn)勝這種不合理的恐懼并且建立起你的自信。在房間前面談話的重要人物也會(huì)更容易看到你。

8.大膽發(fā)言

很多人在小組討論中從來(lái)不發(fā)言，因?yàn)樗麄兒ε氯藗冊(cè)u(píng)價(jià)他們說(shuō)過(guò)某些愚蠢的問(wèn)題。這樣的害怕實(shí)在是不合理的。一般而言，人們是比我們想象的更具有接納性的。事實(shí)上，很多人都在面對(duì)完全同樣的恐懼。作出努力，在每次小組討論中至少發(fā)言一次，你將成為一個(gè)更好的公共演講者，對(duì)你自己的想法更有信心，同時(shí)也會(huì)被你的同齡人看作是領(lǐng)頭人。

9.戶外活動(dòng)

與個(gè)人外表一樣，身體健康對(duì)自信心有巨大的影響。如果你身體不健全，你會(huì)感到不安全、沒(méi)有吸引力并且缺乏活力。通過(guò)戶外活動(dòng)，你可以改進(jìn)你的身體外形，給自己以活力，并且積極完成某些事情。有了戶外活動(dòng)的訓(xùn)練，不僅使你感覺更好，也創(chuàng)造了你在一天剩下的時(shí)間里可能建立的積極勢(shì)頭。

10. 關(guān)注貢獻(xiàn)

我們常常過(guò)于考慮自己的欲望。我們對(duì)自己關(guān)注過(guò)多，就對(duì)別人的需求關(guān)注不夠。如果你停止考慮自己并且專注于你對(duì)世界上其他人所做出的貢獻(xiàn)，你就不會(huì)那么多地?fù)?dān)憂自己的缺欠。這將增加你的自信，并且讓你以更高的效率做出貢獻(xiàn)。你對(duì)世界貢獻(xiàn)得越多，你就會(huì)在個(gè)人成功和被人承認(rèn)方面得到更多的回報(bào)。