The dictionary meaning of self-confidence is the feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities and judgment. A self-confident person is in full control of their life, even if things go wrong, their belief in themselves will find some way or the other to come out of the situation. Self-confidence is an essential part in leading a successful life; it makes us take the right amount of risk which is required in order to succeed. Lack of self-confidence restrains us from using our skills to its fullest potential. Self-confidence helps in building our reputation; it is the one thing what people look for in a successful leader.

There are many reasons why people have low confidence. It might be some childhood incident which made the child meek and timid and the same behaviour is carried forward to their adult life or constant criticism by parents or friends or peers which leads to gnawing away the confidence one has. At times we fear that whatever we are doing will be wrong and would be reprimanded for that.Low self-confidence is also a result of setting unrealistic goals and when they don’t achieve the goal, self-confidence takes the hit. It is basically the state of mind that, our ability is not up to the mark and there is a constant need of reassurance that we are good in what we do.

Often people think that like our features people are born with self-confidence but it is not true, self-confidence is a culmination of our thought process and how aptly we put our thoughts into action.As said earlier it is a state of mind and the good thing is that we can change it if we put in our efforts. The way we think and what we believe shapes our actions and action speaks a lot about the level of confidence we have.

Developing Self-Trust is a way to regain the lost confidence in ourselves. Self-Trust is about being credible by developing the integrity, intent, capabilities, and results that make you believable, both to yourself and to others. Every time we make or give a commitment to ourselves or set and achieve a meaningful goal, we become more credible. The more we do it, the more confidence we have that we can do it, that we will do it.

Steer away from negativity; be it negative thoughts or negative people. Being surrounded by negative things will do no good to you and your confidence. You can’t control what others say or do; it is not in your circle of influence but the way you react to things is in your hands. With constant practice, whenever there is a negative thought coming to your mind substitute it with a positive one. Although, it sounds difficult,it does help in believing in oneself and motivates us to push ourselves to do better in life.

Keep Realistic Goals for yourself. You should not expect too much from yourself. Identify your strength and limitations and accordingly set the goals. One of the culprits of setting unrealistic goals is that we tend to compare ourselves with others. We have to understand that all fingers are not same, each of us has our own distinct capability and accordingly, we have to position ourselves.

Accept the fact that we are human and humans make mistakes. Never let mistakes of the past ruin your present and future.Take the experience as a stepping stone and move on. We should cultivate the habit of learning from our mistakes and rectify it if possible. Confidence is one of the things which comes from within. To attain this confidence we have to work really hard and make efforts, which will help us to sustain this quality.