5 tips to increase your self-confidence

Know yourself well

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses, your qualities and faults will enable you to make the most of them and to assert yourself better. This is the first step towards gaining self-confidence. This way, you will be able to put forward your strengths in all everyday situations: at the office, with friends or family. By identifying your weak points, you can work on improving them. Taking stock of your personality and achievements will help you feel unique and confident. In addition, knowing yourself well will allow those around you to get to know and appreciate you better.

Accept compliments

At work, at home, with friends, you perform a variety of tasks every day that may solicit compliments from those around you. Learn to receive and appreciate these positive comments. You can see them as encouragement that you can use to recognise your greatest strengths. You can then use this to boost your self-esteem.

Take care of your posture

Self-confidence is reflected in your posture and in your eyes. Keep your back straight, your shoulders up, your head high and walk with a confident step. Smile more and people will be drawn to you. People who are very self-confident do this kind of non-verbal behaviour. Learn from them. To feel more comfortable, you can look in the mirror to see the difference between your different postures and facial expressions.

Assert yourself!

Self-confidence is not only about how a person perceives themselves, but also about what they think others think of them. It is important to be assertive with others about your choices, values and opinions. It is not good to accept unconstructive criticism, pettiness and hurtful words. If someone hurts your feelings, either through their words or their behaviour, you should politely let them know. Assertiveness is the key to self-esteem.

Go for it!

To increase your confidence, get out of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone can be defined as any place or time where you feel completely at ease, where you are in control. Anything outside of this zone feels like novelty and can feel scary. Taking on new challenges, meeting new people, doing a different activity are all examples of stepping out of your comfort zone. Adapting to a previously unfamiliar environment may allow you to develop other skills and learn more about yourself. The more steps you take, the more pride you will feel.