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.

自信与刚愎自用的感觉以及不知所措的恐慌感觉都不相同。你对自己的感知，极大地影响着别人如何感知你。感知是现实的——你越有自信，你越有可能成功。

尽管有许多影响自信的因素你不可控制，但是，为了建立自信，仍然有一些你可以有意识去做的事情。通过采取下面 10 个策略，你可以获得你需要的心理优势来激发你的潜力。

建立自信

1.利索的着装

虽然衣服并不能成就一个男人，但是衣服确实可以影响一个人对自己的感觉。没有一个人比你更能察觉到自己的身体外表。当你看上去并不好的时候，这会改变你自己行事的方式以及与其他人的沟通。利用这一点，通过关注个人的外表来实现自己的优势吧。在大多数情况下，可以通过经常沐浴和剃须，穿着干净的衣服，以及接触最新的款式来取得重大的改进。

这并不意味着你需要在服饰上花很多钱。一个应该遵循的最好法则就是“花两倍的钱，买一半数量的衣服”。与其买一大堆的廉价的衣服，不如像许多人所挑选的那样买一半数量的高档服装。从长远来看，这是节约开支的，因为贵重的衣服不太容易穿坏，而且能比廉价的衣服更长久地保持样式。少买衣服也有助于减少你衣柜里的杂乱程度。

2.快一点行走

辨别一个人自身感觉如何的最简单方法，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决心的？满怀信心的人走路是快的。他们有要去的地方，有要会见的人，有要做的重要工作。即使你并不匆忙，你也可以通过在你的步子上鼓起精神来提高自信。提高 25% 的步行速度将使得你看上去并且感觉到更加显要。

3.良好的姿势

同样的，一个人的姿势流露他的内心。一个具有耷拉双肩和困倦动作的人显示出的是缺乏自信。他们对自己正在做的事情不热情，他们不认为自己是要紧的。通过练习好的姿态，你会自然地感觉到更为自信。挺直腰板，抬起头，进行眼神交流。你会给他人以积极的印象，并且立即感到更为机敏和顽强。

4.个人商业广告

建立自信的最佳方法之一是聆听一篇激励人心的演讲。可惜，能够聆听优秀演讲的机会凤毛麟角。你可以通过自己创造一个个人商业广告来弥补这方面的需要。写一篇 30-60 秒钟的演讲，内容要突出自己的优势和目标。每当你需要放大胆子的时候，就面对镜子大声地朗读它（如果你喜欢的话也可以在你的头脑中默念）。

5.感激之情

在你过分关注你想要的东西时，心中会产生为什么我不能得到它的许多理由。这会导致你滞留在自己的弱点上。避免出现这种情况的最好方法是有意识的拥有一颗感恩之心。每天花点时间在头脑里面列出你需要感谢的每件事情。回忆一下你过去的成功、独特的技能、友爱的人际关系以及积极的动力。你将会惊讶你已经进步了这么多，并且受到激励朝向成功迈出下一步。

6.赞扬他人

当我们消极地想到自己的时候，我们常常表现出以某种形式的侮辱或不屑对待他人的感觉。为了打破这种消极循环，你应该建立赞扬别人的习惯。拒绝卷入到流言蜚语的议论之中，努力赞美你周围的人们。在这个过程中，你会变得更加讨人喜欢，同时建立起自信。通过寻找别人的优点，你会间接地带来自己的优点。

7.坐在前排

在世界各地的学校、办公室或者公共场合，人们经常是争取坐在后面的位置。大多数的人们宁愿坐在后面是因为他们害怕被人注意。这反映缺乏自信。下决心坐到前排去吧，你可以战胜这种不合理的恐惧并且建立起你的自信。在房间前面谈话的重要人物也会更容易看到你。

8.大胆发言

很多人在小组讨论中从来不发言，因为他们害怕人们评价他们说过某些愚蠢的问题。这样的害怕实在是不合理的。一般而言，人们是比我们想象的更具有接纳性的。事实上，很多人都在面对完全同样的恐惧。作出努力，在每次小组讨论中至少发言一次，你将成为一个更好的公共演讲者，对你自己的想法更有信心，同时也会被你的同龄人看作是领头人。

9.户外活动

与个人外表一样，身体健康对自信心有巨大的影响。如果你身体不健全，你会感到不安全、没有吸引力并且缺乏活力。通过户外活动，你可以改进你的身体外形，给自己以活力，并且积极完成某些事情。有了户外活动的训练，不仅使你感觉更好，也创造了你在一天剩下的时间里可能建立的积极势头。

10. 关注贡献

我们常常过于考虑自己的欲望。我们对自己关注过多，就对别人的需求关注不够。如果你停止考虑自己并且专注于你对世界上其他人所做出的贡献，你就不会那么多地担忧自己的缺欠。这将增加你的自信，并且让你以更高的效率做出贡献。你对世界贡献得越多，你就会在个人成功和被人承认方面得到更多的回报。