If you are need of a confidence boost, here is a simple and effective exercise which enables you to improve your confidence in any situation.

The first step is to complete 3 simple statements about your self.

1)      With more confidence I would……

2)      With more confidence I wouldn’t……

3)      I want to be……

You can either complete the statements in terms of your general levels of confidence in every day situations or you may wish to complete the statements with a specific situation in mind in which you would like to develop more confidence, for example an upcoming presentation or job interview.

To help you think of some ideas, here are some examples.

1)    With more confidence I would answer more questions in class.
2)    With more confidence I wouldn’t stay in on a Friday night.
3)    I want to be able to confidently speak to an audience.

In order to gain the full benefits from the exercise, try to think of situations that you feel would really make a huge difference if you had more confidence.

Once you have your 3 statements written down, make two lists; name one list “Confident Person” and the other list “Unconfident Person”.

Now with your statements in mind write down as many attributes that you would expect to see in an unconfident person and as many attributes you would expect to see in a confident person in relation to your chosen situation. For example, for my statement “I want to be able to confidently speak to an audience”, I would include attributes such as confident posture, good eye contact and effective use of gestures in the “Confident Person” list. On the “Unconfident person” list I would include attributes such as poor posture, blushing, no eye contact etc.

Now that you have your lists, take a moment to identify how many of the confident behaviours you feel you possess and how many of the unconfident behaviours you have. How do you compare to the two lists?

You now have the opportunity to choose 2 confident behaviours that you currently do not possess but wish you did. Draw a circle around them. It is now down to you to commit to practising these 2 behaviours in the next couple of days to develop more confidence. Write down a statement saying that you will practice these new behaviours in the next couple of days. If you write down your intentions, you will be more likely to achieve them.

When you have been practising your new behaviours for a week, you can then choose another 2 confident behaviours to practice and so on.

Whilst undertaking this exercise, you may like to keep in mind the following quote.

“What you practice, you become”