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。你對自己的感知，極大地影響著別人如何感知你。感知是現實的——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去做的事情。通過采取下面 10 個策略，你可以獲得你需要的心理優勢來激發你的潛力。

建立自信

1.利索的著裝

雖然衣服并不能成就一個男人，但是衣服確實可以影響一個人對自己的感覺。沒有一個人比你更能察覺到自己的身體外表。當你看上去并不好的時候，這會改變你自己行事的方式以及與其他人的溝通。利用這一點，通過關注個人的外表來實現自己的優勢吧。在大多數情況下，可以通過經常沐浴和剃須，穿著干凈的衣服，以及接觸最新的款式來取得重大的改進。

這并不意味著你需要在服飾上花很多錢。一個應該遵循的最好法則就是“花兩倍的錢，買一半數量的衣服”。與其買一大堆的廉價的衣服，不如像許多人所挑選的那樣買一半數量的高檔服裝。從長遠來看，這是節約開支的，因為貴重的衣服不太容易穿壞，而且能比廉價的衣服更長久地保持樣式。少買衣服也有助于減少你衣柜里的雜亂程度。

2.快一點行走

辨別一個人自身感覺如何的最簡單方法，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，有要會見的人，有要做的重要工作。即使你并不匆忙，你也可以通過在你的步子上鼓起精神來提高自信。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

同樣的，一個人的姿勢流露他的內心。一個具有耷拉雙肩和困倦動作的人顯示出的是缺乏自信。他們對自己正在做的事情不熱情，他們不認為自己是要緊的。通過練習好的姿態，你會自然地感覺到更為自信。挺直腰板，抬起頭，進行眼神交流。你會給他人以積極的印象，并且立即感到更為機敏和頑強。

4.個人商業廣告

建立自信的最佳方法之一是聆聽一篇激勵人心的演講。可惜，能夠聆聽優秀演講的機會鳳毛麟角。你可以通過自己創造一個個人商業廣告來彌補這方面的需要。寫一篇 30-60 秒鐘的演講，內容要突出自己的優勢和目標。每當你需要放大膽子的時候，就面對鏡子大聲地朗讀它（如果你喜歡的話也可以在你的頭腦中默念）。

5.感激之情

在你過分關注你想要的東西時，心中會產生為什么我不能得到它的許多理由。這會導致你滯留在自己的弱點上。避免出現這種情況的最好方法是有意識的擁有一顆感恩之心。每天花點時間在頭腦里面列出你需要感謝的每件事情。回憶一下你過去的成功、獨特的技能、友愛的人際關系以及積極的動力。你將會驚訝你已經進步了這么多，并且受到激勵朝向成功邁出下一步。

6.贊揚他人

當我們消極地想到自己的時候，我們常常表現出以某種形式的侮辱或不屑對待他人的感覺。為了打破這種消極循環，你應該建立贊揚別人的習慣。拒絕卷入到流言蜚語的議論之中，努力贊美你周圍的人們。在這個過程中，你會變得更加討人喜歡，同時建立起自信。通過尋找別人的優點，你會間接地帶來自己的優點。

7.坐在前排

在世界各地的學校、辦公室或者公共場合，人們經常是爭取坐在后面的位置。大多數的人們寧愿坐在后面是因為他們害怕被人注意。這反映缺乏自信。下決心坐到前排去吧，你可以戰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更容易看到你。

8.大膽發言

很多人在小組討論中從來不發言，因為他們害怕人們評價他們說過某些愚蠢的問題。這樣的害怕實在是不合理的。一般而言，人們是比我們想象的更具有接納性的。事實上，很多人都在面對完全同樣的恐懼。作出努力，在每次小組討論中至少發言一次，你將成為一個更好的公共演講者，對你自己的想法更有信心，同時也會被你的同齡人看作是領頭人。

9.戶外活動

與個人外表一樣，身體健康對自信心有巨大的影響。如果你身體不健全，你會感到不安全、沒有吸引力并且缺乏活力。通過戶外活動，你可以改進你的身體外形，給自己以活力，并且積極完成某些事情。有了戶外活動的訓練，不僅使你感覺更好，也創造了你在一天剩下的時間里可能建立的積極勢頭。

10. 關注貢獻

我們常常過于考慮自己的欲望。我們對自己關注過多，就對別人的需求關注不夠。如果你停止考慮自己并且專注于你對世界上其他人所做出的貢獻，你就不會那么多地擔憂自己的缺欠。這將增加你的自信，并且讓你以更高的效率做出貢獻。你對世界貢獻得越多，你就會在個人成功和被人承認方面得到更多的回報。