One thing nearly every creative soul can relate to is periods of their lives where they struggle with their sense of self-worth and confidence. The beauty of confidence is that you can practice and intentionally cultivate it. It’s not something you either have or don’t… so if you believe that right now… all I ask is that you keep an open mind as you read this post and learn how to build confidence.
The Confidence Challenge
Confidence comes from having a deep sense of self-worth. Confidence can be *incredibly* challenging for creative souls, as creatives typically desire to pursue a path that challenges societal norms.
For the past century, our society has become deeply attached and attuned to capitalism, encouraging us to fit our skills into a tidy role and mould as a valuable cog to the corporate machine. Unfortunately, this tends to make us believe that our sense of worth is directly linked to the money we make or our daily work hours.
But this isn’t how creativity functions! And if you’re a creative entrepreneur or soul, one of the reasons you may be struggling with your confidence is that you are currently equating your sense of self-worth to your productivity. If you are, don’t be hard on yourself! This is the effect of deep societal conditioning.
Begin to open your eyes to other creatives around you who are living unconventionally to generate proof for your mind that it’s possible to do things your own way!
Understand That Confidence is a Muscle
Muscles are toned through practice and repetition. So just as a training plan helps you work specific muscles in the gym, you can create a ‘training plan’ for your sense of confidence!
The knowledge that you can build any trait you desire is a core aspect of a resilient mindset, which is the foundational mindset to cultivating your deepest desires and dreams.
Just as in the gym, you wouldn’t try to set too many goals at once; at this point, consider 1-3 areas of your life where you’re ready to build confidence, such as…
- How you show up in relationships
- How you show up online to share your message
- Confidence in your abilities in your work
It’s Never ‘Too Late’ or ‘Impossible’ for You
Thanks to neuroplasticity, we all can rewire our beliefs and thoughts, no matter our age, circumstance, or how ‘timid’ we feel right now. Understanding to your core that we are neuroplastic beings capable of rewiring any belief we may hold is one of the core ways to create sustaining habits and routines. And really, building confidence is just like building any other habit; it takes patience and practice.
Also, consider the fact that many of us were confident before we learned otherwise (as toddlers, bravely taking our shaky first steps, for example)... there was a time in your life when you felt deeply attuned to this part of yourself. You’re capable of getting back to this part of you.
Rehearsing with Visualization
You can actually ‘practice’ or ‘rehearse’ situations in your mind before they happen to practice embodying confidence. This meditative positive visualization allows you to envision yourself in that situation, behaving with self-compassion and confidence.
For example, say you struggle with confidently describing your work when you meet someone for the first time. Practice envisioning meeting a perfect soulmate client in the environment you most love: a cozy cafe on a walk in the wilderness. Embody and envision what the version of yourself who has zero fear, expectation or belief in her lack of self-confidence would do. What would she say? How would she carry herself?
Watch The Comparisons
We are all guilty of this time and again, but if you tend to compare yourself to others you know or follow online, you begin to enter the territory of envy. Research shows that when you become more envious and lost in comparison, the worse you tend to feel about yourself.
Hear me loud and clear: the only helpful comparison you can learn from is comparing present to past versions of you. When you do that, you will see just how resilient, strong, unique and confident you really are in how you’ve navigated everything life has brought your way.
Affirm Your Confidence
Affirmations and mantras are transformative because they’re a tool that allows you to speak into existence what you most desire.
The way you speak to yourself matters.
Even if when you first start with your affirmation, you only believe it a teeny bit… you are worthy of that time for yourself.
Try one of the following.
- I am confident and creative.
- I show up confidently and boldly.
- I am always enough; it’s safe to be myself.
- I am worthy of pursuing my soul’s purpose.
The best way to work with affirmations is to integrate them into your daily routine by placing them on sticky notes in core areas of your environment, like your mirror, workstation or bedside.
I highly recommend that you use a mirror to do your affirmation work.
Journal to Build Confidence
At this stage, I encourage you to open your journal and begin freewriting on the following prompts.
- What does confidence look like to you?
- Where are you already confident?
The key is to find an area of your life where you already feel very capable and confident and to use what you know to be true from that to infuse into other areas of your life.
For example, I had a client who really struggled with her confidence in business + having a profitable business. When I asked about other areas in her life where she felt very confident, she immediately and readily said she knew how good a mom she was (and said so very confidently). I asked her to break down the reasons WHY she is a good mom, and most of them came down to core character traits that can be translated to other areas of her life (like her creative business!), such as her fun-loving spirit and unwavering patience.
Open your journal and free write now about the area(s) of your life where you are ALREADY confident.
Now, consider,
2. Why are you so confident in this part of your life?
3. WHAT about yourself allows you to do that? (personality traits and characteristics, skills, etc.)
4. Identify The Gaps
When you consider the areas where you want to be more confident and then the areas where you already are very confident, what do you see? Where are the gaps between where you are now and where you want to be? Between where you are now and what confidence level you want to embody. This will begin to give you a clue as to how to reconnect with your self-worth and confidence.
70 More {Free} Journal Prompts For You To Build Your Resilience + Self Confidence
Continue your self-discovery journey by diving deeper into journaling. In this free printable (and digital) journal, you receive 70+ prompts to journal your way to resilience + self-confidence.
About Lauri
I’m a coach and guide for creative goals desiring to work through feelings of self-doubt, so you can passionately pursue your soul’s purpose.
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