10 Ways to Supercharge Your Self-Confidence

Has your confidence been ebbing lately? Feel like a failure? Is it possible to change no confidence to something better? Here are 10 ways to supercharge your self-confidence.
Why have you no confidence? I’m betting it has to do with some fear you have. Fear you won’t “fit in”. Fear that you won’t measure up or that you’re a failure. Fear that no one will hear or see you. Okay. I get it. I have those fears, too. Have you ever heard the phrase “fake it ‘till you make it?” Yup. That’s what you gotta do. I know you’re not feeling it right now but walk through the steps. I’ll be you can fake it ‘till you make it.


Get up out of bed, take a shower, and get dressed. Dress in an outfit that makes you feel like you look good. Dress as if you’re going to a power lunch. Pretend you’ve got the job of your dreams and you’re having lunch with your number one customer at the best restaurant in town even if, in reality, you’re having lunch by yourself at home. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you’re not schlepping around in your PJs.


I love this one from Leo Babauta—Photoshop your self-image. We all have a mental image of ourselves. When we are confident, our self-image reflects that. But when we lose confidence, man what we do to our self-image. So, you gotta photoshop it. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Hmm. Is that as good as you can make it? I don’t think so. Do it again. This time, be your own fairy godmother. Turn that pumpkin into a golden carriage that can take you where you want to go. Right now it doesn’t matter if that’s how you feel inside. Fake it until you make it. In other words, hold that photoshopped self-image up for you to look at several times each day.


I know you don’t feel like it, but go out in public. I don’t care where—a coffee shop, the grocery store, the library. Even the movie theater will work if you do two things. You look for someone you can compliment, hold the door open for someone, or help in some other way. And when you give the help or the compliment you are going to smile, genuinely smile. Do this at least once a day, preferably many times a day. You’ll feel better, I swear.


Dust one shelf. Clean off your desktop. Finish one load of laundry. Wash the car. Pick one small step and do it. Cross it off your list. Doing something, even a small thing makes your day feel more successful which makes you feel more confident. And when you cross it off your list, don’t you feel good?


It doesn’t have to be rocket science. Watch a video, read a book or a blog post, or go to the library and read a biography of someone you’ve heard about but don’t know much about. Stuck for an idea? Press the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google search. Learning can help supercharge your self-confidence.


Do something you love. Something that you do only for you. A bubble bath, play music, paint, run. Spoil yourself for 15 minutes, longer if you can. Ah, I hear you saying you can’t again. Fake it. Do it for 5 minutes if you can’t stand to do it longer. You deserve at least 5 minutes of self-care a day.


Oh, now I the protests are loud. I know. I hate to exercise, too. Again, you’re going to fake it for 15 minutes, longer if you can. Dance stretches, a walk, a run, a bike ride, heck go bowling, walk around a museum. It doesn’t matter how you exercise. What matters is that you move. Moving around will get your blood pumping, your lungs working, and when your body gets what it needs, it feels better.


Get enough sleep, but not too much. This one can be tough. Some people suffer terrible insomnia when their self-confidence tanks. Other people can’t wake up. Science shows that seven to nine hours per day is what your body and brain need. Too little sleep means you can’t focus or your have mood swings or you have no energy to do things. Can’t get enough sleep—talk to your doctor about good sleep habits and sleep aids.

Getting too much sleep? Force yourself to get up and move around. Force yourself to do each one of these ten steps. Too much sleep makes you groggy and you can’t think of what to do. Enlist a friend to help get you up and get going. Arrange a daily phone call or a daily trip to the coffee shop or library.

The right amount of sleep is crucial. Don’t worry if one night a week you extend your sleep or sleeplessness. But your brain will thank you when you get the right amount of sleep most nights.


Forgive someone else for not being perfect and/or for making mistakes. We all do the cussin’ and discussin’ of other people who’s mistake or carelessness or thoughtlessness inconvenienced us. Take a deep breath. Forgive them. Let it go. It may take practice (ie. a lot of pretending) before you can feel you’ve genuinely forgiven them, but keep at it until you do.


Be kinder to yourself. When you hear your negative self-talk, things like: “I can’t”, “I’m so (fill in a negative attribute),” or “No one would want me to…” Be kind. Say wait a minute, why am I being so mean to myself? I don’t deserve that. Forgive yourself for not being perfect and/or for making mistakes. Then remind yourself of the things you did that were positive today (I got a shower, got dressed, complimented the grocery store clerk, etc.)

Like these tips? Here’s an infographic you may download and tape to your mirror on those down days. 10 Ways to Supercharge Your Self-Confidence

10 Ways to supercharge your self-confidence @ lynettemburrows.com

There you have it: 10 ways to supercharge your self-confidence. You’ll notice I didn’t say to do the more than one visualizing thing, or the lists thing, or the stop the bad thoughts thing. If those things help you, great. But for this list, I wanted actionable things. Because in my struggles with low self-confidence it has always taken action to boost it. Repeated action. I start off faking it. It’s not easy. It’s not usually an overnight success, but after a while, I’m not faking it anymore.

I hope these 10 ways to supercharge your self-confidence were helpful in some way. Do you have other ways to supercharge your self-confidence? Please share in the comments.

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