Confidence Building Exercises: #1. Positive thinking

Learning to think positively on a consistent basis takes practice but has been proven time after time to produce incredible results. The power of the mind is something that simply should not be underestimated. Scientists have discovered and confirmed for decades, the substantial effects that the mind has on the physical body and emotional health.

The key is repetition. We have a tendency to form habitual patterns of negative thought when things are not going the way we want them to. If this persists for long, it can have profound negative effects on our over-all mental well being.

Every day, recognize negative feelings, beliefs, and language as they arise during your daily activity. Consciously confront these negative thoughts and push them out of your mind. Immediately refocus on positive thought. Think about the people that you really like or love, consider what it is that you like about them. Think about all the things that you like about your home. Think of the things that you love to do and the places that you love to go. Hone in on these positive things and seek out new things that you notice each day that you really like. Dwell on these positive things. Another thing that is fun and helpful for this is to think about the positive possibilities of the future. If all the things that you are currently working toward, worked out perfectly, where might you be in 5 years? How about in 10 years?

Now discipline yourself to make these activities into habit. This is the crucial part. The repetition is what makes these positive thoughts stick over time and start to change your outlook, approach and attitude. As those things begin to change, so will your life.

Confidence Building Exercises: #2. Deep Breathing

Many people believe that deep breathing is just a way to quickly calm nerves or relieve stress. It certainly does those things but deep breathing is also critical in many other ways including your self confidence. Think about it. Our confidence is deeply affected by our stresses and fears. Deep breathing works to combat both of those things quite effectively. Practicing deep breathing when those fears arise will help to reduce their impact on your self confidence.

The thing to note is that deep breathing should not be reserved exclusively for those instances but instead be practiced and formed into constant habits. You need to train yourself to breath more deeply at all times. Deep relaxed breathing is naturally associated with calm, confident and secure mentalities while short quicker breaths are naturally associated with panic and fear.

Practicing deep breathing will improve your health as well. It helps to expel carbon dioxide from the blood more efficiently and cleans the blood stream. It develops stronger lungs which are core organs that very strongly affect the over-all heath of our physical and nervous systems.

Sit in a quiet place and relax each part of your body starting with the feet and working your way up. Clear your mind by visualizing each deep breath completely filling your lungs and expanding your diaphragm to maximum capacity. Exhale through your mouth but spend twice as much time exhaling as inhaling. Do this for 10 minutes each day and begin training yourself to breath full and deep throughout the day. It will take practice but it will also make a significant impact on the way you feel.

Confidence Building Exercises: #3. Affirmations

Affirmations are a practice that is usually associated with positive thinking and self esteem. Those concepts tie indirectly to our self confidence as a whole but they can also be tailored to use as a confidence building exercise.

Affirmation is the practice of "telling" yourself about your attributes and attributes that you wish to have, in a powerful and positive manner. They are most effective when spoken aloud, boldly, often and with conviction. For example, saying something like "I am a great speaker!" would be an example of an affirmation that focuses on a confidence related trait. You may be thinking that it would feel silly to sit and talk to yourself in this manner but silly or not, affirmations can have an immensely positive effect on the mind over time. I suggest practicing this anytime you find yourself alone which helps you get past the feeling of embarrassment or silliness. For instance, when driving in your car, taking a shower, or any other time you find yourself out of earshot of the nearest would-be critic.

Some great affirmations for self confidence might be:

1. "I know my abilities and I am good at what I do."

2. "I believe in myself and I love being me."

3. "I have experienced success and I can handle any problem that I face."

4. "Fear is only a basic emotion and I will not allow it to limit my life."

5. "I deserve to win and achieve my goals."

6. "I know that I can master any challenge when I focus and commit."

7. "I have many victories because I am a winner by nature."

8. "I do not fear failure; I embrace it because it helps me to grow."

9. "I am strong and my will is powerful."

10. "I have the power to achieve anything that I want to."

11. "Each day my inner strength and power grows greater."

12. "I trust my own judgment and have complete faith in myself."

13. "I can accomplish ANYTHING!"

14. "My life holds great significance."

15. "I am proud of myself for attempting to change and grow."

16. "I will not hesitate. I will charge forward and seize what is mine."

17. "With every new day, I become more powerful and I get closer to my goals."

18. "Today, I will smash through the first limitation that confronts me!"

See how many you can come up with on your own and practice them as often as possible. You will start to see the positive results when these affirmations become a regular part of your day!

These are just a few confidence building exercises that you can practice on your own over time. Take these and develop your own plan to implement them in your daily life. There are also many all-inclusive programs and courses that can get you on a powerful guided path to sky-rocketing your self confidence. You can find some great programs along with many other tips for building self confidence with a little thought and some effort.