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7 habits and actions to cultivate self-confidence

7 habits and actions to cultivate self-confidence

February 29, 2024

People who have a high self-confidence are more successful in the tasks they have to carry out and, in many occasions, in life in general. This psychological variable can be confused with self-esteem, but they are not the same.

That is why these individuals overcome adversity because they feel capable of doing so, and achieve work or life goals because they perceive that they are capable of doing so. Their motivation remains high and they are able to make correct decisions even in the most complex moments.

  • Recommended article: "10 keys to increase self-esteem in 30 days"

Self-confidence is the key to personal development

Many people often confuse self-confidence with self-esteem. But self-esteem is related to the overall assessment that a person makes of himself, is a general feeling, and refers to the esteem, that is, how much a person loves and appreciates.


Instead, self-confidence refers to the confidence that a person has in their abilities with respect to a certain task. It has to do with the competences and abilities, and the beliefs that a person has over the domain of these . For example, if a seller knows that he does a good job as a salesperson, he will surely have greater security when persuading a client, since he believes that he is good at doing it.

Self-confidence refers to a specific area of ​​our life, as opposed to self-esteem, which is a global concept. The seller of the previous example, therefore, will have a high self-confidence at the time of performing his work, but may have a low self-confidence when it comes to having a partner.


Habits and actions to cultivate self-confidence

In the following lines you can find a series of tips that will allow you to cultivate confidence in yourself.

1. Praise

One of the best ways to repeat behaviors again is thanks to the reinforcement . Praise is a good way to remind yourself how well you have done things, and they are a powerful form of verbal persuasion, which according to Albert Bandura is one of the elements that influence self-confidence. Therefore, giving more importance to things that go well for you and minimizing the impact of negative things can positively influence self-confidence. To do this, acceptance is key.

2. Have a positive attitude

Obviously, it is not always possible to have a positive attitude, but, following the previous point, we must make an effort to see the good things in life. Stop comparing yourself with others and start assessing your skills in a positive way has a great influence on how you perceive the challenges that are presented to you on a day to day basis.


In fact, having low or weak self-confidence is associated with negative thoughts and failure , so we must adopt the opposite mentality. We must try to be motivated most of the time, although sometimes it costs.

3. Have successful models

Albert Bandura, one of the most important theorists of this concept, explained in his sociocultural theory the reason why we learn by observation and how some people have a great influence on our behavior, and also on our self-confidence.

In fact, this author thinks that observing other people doing successful activities has a great influence on our own self-confidence. Modeling is a technique widely used in coaching, which is a key methodology for the personal development of people.

4. Accept the past

The acceptance of our own experiences and of ourselves does not only positively influence our well-being and emotional balance, but also in the confidence in ourselves. If when things go wrong we recreate ourselves in them, we may have a negative perception of ourselves and our abilities to cope with a certain activity.

On the other hand, if faced with failures we adopt an acceptance mentality and we understand that mistakes are part of our life, our self-confidence does not have to be negatively affected in these situations.

5. Challenge yourself

Albert Bandura believes that another of the elements that influence confidence in ourselves is to act . If we dare to do something and it goes well, our self-confidence improves. Positive experiences are essential for the perception of our abilities to be positive.

As I mentioned in the previous point, when things do not go well it is better to accept them and move on. Since experiences are a great source of information for self-confidence, and perhaps the most important, it is always better to put yourself to the test, because we can only regret what we have not done.

6. Remember your achievements

Accepting negative experiences acts as protection and maintains self-confidence in a safe area However, it is also important to remind us that there are things we do very well.

This is possible by drawing up a list of achievements, which we can use as often as we wish to remind us of our strengths and our goals. Undoubtedly, a useful strategy for times when we feel less motivated.

7. Prepare well

When we do not have a lot of confidence in ourselves regarding a specific situation, we can always prepare ourselves well, because this can improve the perception of self-confidence. For example, we may not master a subject enough to make a presentation at the university. However, if we prepare it well in advance and inform ourselves appropriately, it is possible that at the moment of exposing that topic our confidence has increased .


7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Self Improvement by Stephen Covey (February 2024).


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