Increase Your Self-Confidence In Three Easy Steps

In one way or another, we are all plagued by a lack of self-confidence. The good news is that there are always ways to improve your levels of confidence. There are three easy steps to follow and if you work through them then you will see some great results.

Step 1: defining the problem

You cannot gain self-confidence "generally". You must know the part of your make-up that requires attention, because self-confidence applies to certain qualities or abilities we have or should have. You must analyse carefully that part of you that you wish to improve. With improvement of this part comes a natural increase in self-confidence.

A good example is to imagine that your job requires you to address a number strange people and speak to them "cold" (without knowing them). You are anxious and nervous about this, and classify yourself as "shy". Is this the case? Perhaps you just lack self-confidence? So, you must do a self-analysis, and determine what the problem is. If indeed you are shy, then you will know what to correct.

Step 2: discovery of "little victories"

Once you have determined the cause of your deficiency of self-confidence, you can apply a secret technique used by such figures as Napoleon and Winston Churchill. When something is very difficult, attempt only part of it, even the easiest part, and get a little victory. Congratulate yourself. Build up lots of these and you will soon see that you approach the difficult parts in a different way now - with confidence. Try it.

Step 3: be prepared

With the power of your investigation into the problem and the practice with solutions through little victories, you are now ready for the final step: preparation. Whatever it is you needed to gain confidence for, you must now prepare. Be ready at any moment to apply the experience you've now gained to your situation.

The three steps above can be applied to anything in your life. Follow these and you also follow in the footsteps of the great. Here is a small example. There is a well-know story of the greatest of ancient Greek orators, Demosthenes. It is well known that he had overcome a childhood stutter by forcing himself to speak with pebbles in his mouth.

Demosthenes had a brilliant mind, and was a lawyer in private practice in Greece's golden age. He was asked many times to become a public orator, yet he lacked the self-confidence to speak in public. Determined to overcome this, he investigated why and what made him stutter.

With a plan in mind, he put pebbles in his mouth and tried to speak in small and simple phrases at first. He achieved his little victories, one after the other. He became proficient and then, as in step three above, he began to prepare and speak in public. So great was his self-confidence, that he had the courage to challenge Alexander the Great's rule over Athens. His example has survived for over 2300 years, and has been followed by countless people desiring to increase their self-confidence.