Great Self Confidence

...to live the life you want

Celebrate the Human Body

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Sometimes you start to think that having confidence in yourself is easier than having confidence in the world around you.  I live in a part of the UK that has relatively mild weather, but in the past two weeks my journey to work has been disrupted by snow, ice, flooding and thick fog.  Much has been made of school closures and millions being unable (or unwilling)  to get to work.  The article I was reading at the weekend suggests things are only going to get worse in years to come…

I’ve also had a frustrating two weeks with machinery, my main computer developing a fault that reappeared after being repaired and eventually needed being reset to factory settings – which now means finding discs to reinstall software. Meanwhile my old spare machine gave up the ghost just after the last post, confidence is crucial.

My car has also developed an intermittent fault – it occasionally refuses to start – that my mechanic friend couldn’t diagnose.  Yesterday it stalled and wouldn’t restart for about 15 minutes – on a dual carriageway.  Consequently I now expect it to be unreliable – my confidence in it getting me from A to B when I want to has vanished.

All these examples aren’t here to elicit sympathy [Read more…]

Confidence is Crucial

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Well, what happened to January? Suddenly a twelfth of 2009 has been and gone, never to return.  Despite the miserable weather (its just started snowing), credit crunch and post Christmas slump I’ve quite enjoyed January. Its been a time of reflection, planning and generally rebuilding. Rather than embarking on over optimistic goals (or resolutions) it great to stop and think where you are and what is important to you. A calender year doesn’t have to be the boundary for setting goals. Reflecting on this blog and newsletter, Self Esteem Review, and how best to move forward I came across this quote in a book I’m currently reading:-

People who lack confidence and self belief always underachieve. They’re less adventurous and less likely to get the most out of life. They’re more prone to a variety of stress related problems, including anxiety, eating disorders and mental health problems. Low self esteem is the fundamental cause of most family breakups, poor parenting and relationship problems. In addition, much crime is associated with drug abuse, unemployment, poverty and aimlessness, all of which are related to low self esteem.

365 Steps to Self Confidence, David Lawrence Preston Well, that’s quite a powerful endorsement of the importance of building great self confidence and self esteem – and its just from his introduction! [Read more…]

How to Build Self Confidence Through Activity

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Does ballet increase self confidence?

I have set up my browser with google/ig and get regular alerts on web sites that feature self esteem and self confidence. Looking at my links to self confidence, there have been three recent articles that suggest doing certain activities can boost self confidence. I highlight the comments from the karate and ballet instructors, plus the psychologist who looked at magic tricks.

Karate Helps Self Confidence

This article is about Dubai Karate Center. According their karate instructor Sensei Renjith:-

“Karate is more than a self-defense technique. It makes one confident to face any situation in life. Many parents who have sent their children to me for training have admitted that there has been a radical transformation in the behavior of their children after learning karate…

anyone who familiarizes himself or herself with the sport, can actually develop virtues like patience, discipline and respect towards others.”

[Read more…]

Motivational pictures and Chinese bottles

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self confidence ladderDoes your house or office have any of those commercial motivational/inspirational posters on the walls? Slick, vivid color “perfect” images with a nice quote or bland saying to match. For example a photo of “businessman’s hands” with the following:-

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Part of me likes the concept, its just that the products to me seem too slick – I cannot imagine these inspiring or motivating me. The fact that there is now good business selling “demotivational” products says that others prefer humor and honesty! For instance, a photo of the pyramids with:-

“You can do anything you set your mind to when you have vision, determination, and an endless supply of expendable labor.”

What brought this to mind was story in the news about a shop in Beijing selling “spirit bottles” – empty bottles with meaningful (rather than inspirational) sentiments written on them. [Read more…]

Start Making Friends

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market11.jpg

One thing I have never particularly enjoyed is making “small talk” with strangers. Everywhere we go we are surrounded by new people (a nicer term than strangers) – just try walking down a shopping street. Most of the time we make little effort to interact with them. “Small talk” situations arise socially or at work when we are thrown into a confined space with these new people, and feel we have to interact to be polite.

Yesterday I had to go one stage beyond making small talk. As part of my photography course we went to a local market to do a social documentary project. It was suggested we politely ask stall holders if they minded having their photograph taken before shoving a camera in their face!

It was an interesting morning. Before setting off, most of us expressed misgivings about approaching total strangers and asking if we could take their photograph. We joked about being arrested or punched for our trouble – trying to hide the fact that we weren’t particularly confident. Even our tutor, Simon Lawrence – an experienced photo journalist – reflected on how such situations can create tension.

The worst thing that could happen did – [Read more…]