How to Gain Confidence Throughout Your Life

Confidence plays a large role in success. 

Whether you’re looking for a promotion, a healthy dating scene or to take the next big step in life, it all boils down to how confident you are. 

Ultimately, we all know what we want in life. And yeah, there are more nuanced steps to help us achieve those things, but having confidence helps convince others and yourself that you’re ready and deserving of your goals. 

What might not be so easy or obvious is how to gain this confidence. 

Fortunately, this journey can be made easier. We’ve compiled a thorough list of tips to help you gain confidence throughout all areas of your life. 

Your Outside Appearance 

Most of our lives we’re told that our outward appearance isn’t what matters. 

While it’s true that it’s not the most important thing, our appearance plays a huge part in how we’re perceived and can help us when figuring out how to gain confidence in ourselves. 

When paying more attention to your outside appearance, you’re also working on how to look more attractive and be your best self. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few pointers:

Grooming

Being well groomed includes caring for what’s on your head, face and body. 

You need to know what cuts and styles look good on you and, more importantly, what look makes you feel good about yourself. Both are important, but feeling good about your grooming will help you gain confidence. 

To help maintain your appearance and thus your confidence, the first step is building a grooming routine and then from there, it’s all about maintenance and sticking to the routine. 

Don’t be afraid to spend time tending to your grooming. If it helps make you feel good, then it’s not a wasted effort. So go ahead and try that face mask!

Smile

Working on your smile is an often overlooked tip when asking how to gain confidence. 

The fact is, we feel better when we smile. This means when we work on our smile, we’re boosting our confidence and showing it to others. 

Practice your smile in the mirror to find that right level of confidence and assurance, without looking too scary or leering. 

To help improve your smile, consult a dentist for any whitening or straightening work. Also, don’t forget to regularly use chapstick to prevent dry lips and a flaky-looking smile.

Clothing

How you’re dressed says a lot about you, especially when there are other people around to see what you’re wearing. When you’re around other people, it’s important for you to look your best.

For example, you wouldn’t want to show up to work (in real life or on Zoom) in a stained tee shirt. If you did, your co-workers and management might question whether you have what it takes to get the job done.

Not only will dressing the part give other people confidence in you, but it’ll help you gain confidence in yourself. 

Revamp your clothing with shirts, ties and even socks that show your personality, while also making you look good and feel confident.   

Fitness 

When figuring out how to gain confidence via your outside appearance, fitness should be one of the factors you consider working on. 

Fitness is a very personal thing, and it’s something that requires different needs for each individual person. If you’re new to the world of fitness, that’s ok too. Start slow and determine the best way to workout for your body type.

By focusing on your fitness and the corresponding release of endorphins, you’re working on feeling better about yourself and increasing your confidence in turn. 

Work On Your Insides

Perhaps even more important than your appearance is how you feel about yourself on the inside. 

For men in particular, this type of self-reflection can be difficult; particularly if you were raised in an old fashioned environment where men had to always be tough. 

In reality, it’s incredibly important for men to get in touch with their emotions and not be afraid to express what they’re feeling. 

Knowing and identifying your emotions can make handling tough times or anxieties less overwhelming and difficult. In fact, that level of emotional depth can help you feel more confident in who you are. 

It’s hard to know how to gain confidence in yourself without first fully knowing who you are, what you feel and how to deal with those inner thoughts and feelings.

Figure Out Your Finances 

After you’ve worked through your outside appearance and inner emotions, you can begin to work on the extra facets of life to help with your confidence. This starts with your finances. 

Money management is one area of life that can make people feel the least confident about themselves. That all can change with some basic goal setting and budgeting. 

It all starts with knowing what you want and then creating the budget you need to help you get there. 

For example, if you want to be a homeowner, your first step is to ask yourself ‘how much house can I afford right now’ and then work out a budget to make those payments without sacrificing other necessities.

Financial confidence becomes easier the more comfortable you get with money management. 

Even without millions in the bank, you can figure out how to gain confidence with the money you do have by being proactive, knowing what you can afford and budgeting.  

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone 

Nothing will give you a crash course in confidence quite like being outside of your comfort zone and trying something new. 

If that thought overwhelms you, here are a few places to get started:

Date

While dating itself might not be new to you, try dating differently to get you out of your comfort zone. 

This could mean flirting on social media instead of in person, going to a cooking class on a date instead of the traditional restaurant or even something as simple as being more open minded about the type of people you ask out. 

Travel

How do you gain confidence from traveling? Being in a new location can help you learn about yourself and what you value in life. 

So, plan that destination trip and immerse yourself in a new culture. Being able to navigate a new city will make you feel proud of yourself and help you realize you can do anything. That level of confidence is of the utmost value.

Activities

It’s easy to get stuck in a pattern of doing the things you know you like. To spice up your routine, try new activities. This could be as simple as a new sport or hobby.

You might be wondering how this will help you gain confidence. By trying a new activity, you might discover something different that you’re really good at. Or, if you’re bad at it, at least you tried and had fun. 

Confidence is gained not only through success, but also by learning from failures. 

Knowing how to gain confidence isn’t simple. The answer is unique to each and every person looking for that boost. 

But, by looking at these tips and different areas of your life you can uncover some elements you need to focus on to truly build it for you. 

Once you’ve gained confidence in yourself, others will have it in you too.