Self Confidence For Women

Self confidence for women can be an issue. So many women don't have freedom to live their lives the way they want to because they lack confidence to go for what they desire. Why do women lack self confidence? How healthy is your self confidence? How can we re-build confidence in ourselves? Read on to find out......

Why Do Women Lack Self Confidence?

I believe that self confidence for women is an issue because of the beliefs that they have formed, often from an early age. Some have grown up in homes where girls are only valued insofar as they are useful to wait on the males of the house. Some grew up with love, but their society taught them that women belong in the home with the children. Still others may have lived through an emotionally and physically abusive relationships which led them to have certain negative beliefs about themselves.

The issue with self confidence for women often comes from negative beliefs. These negative beliefs may come from our life experiences, our societies' mores or what others have told us. These may be beliefs such as:

I'm only capable of being a mother

I'm unattractive

I'm a failure

I'm rubbish at......

etc etc!

When we hold beliefs such as these, we are limiting ourselves as we will not attempt different activities that could benefit us, if we've already decided we're going to fail!

What Do You Believe About Yourself?

Self confidence for women can grow through re-writing negative beliefs. In order to re-write these beliefs, we need to identify them. Ask yourself these questions and write down everything that comes to mind:

What do I believe about my potential?

What do I believe about my appearance?

What do I believe about my desirability?

What do I believe about my role...in my family? ..in my community? ..in the world?

What do I believe about my earning power?

What do I believe about my value?

Take your time with this, it's a powerful exercise. You may be surprised by the results. It's clear that if you hold many negative beliefs about yourself you are going to have problems with self confidence.

How Can We Re-build Our Self Confidence?

The good news is, you can learn self confidence! Some tips on confidence building:

Love and care for yourself as a cue to others to treat you with the same respect.

Play to your strengths; focus on what you're good at and build on it.

If you come up against a challenging situation; make sure you're fully prepared.

Try not to worry and get anxious; instead focus on the positive in any and all situations. Remembering: "What you resist persists".

Push yourself to try new things, start small, but be willing to fail (failure is an opportunity to learn)

Deal with specific areas of low self confidence using visualisation: see yourself dealing with that situation in a confident way, feel the confident feelings. Use the affirmation: Every day I have greater confidence in my own abilities and worth.

Use this self confidence statement paraphrased from the classic self help book "Think And Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill (in the public domain).

Self Confidence Statement

1.I know that I can achieve whatever I have decided to achieve in life, therefore I demand of myself persistent, continuous action in the direction of this goal and promise myself to do it.

2.I realise that the habitual thoughts in my mind will eventually shape my actions and therefore manifest into a physical reality; therefore I will spend 30 minutes daily concentrating my thoughts and creating in my mind a clear mental picture of the person I intend to become.

3.I know that through self-suggestion any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually come to fruition, therefore I will spend ten minutes daily to working on my self confidence.

4.I have a written big goal for my life and I will never stop trying until I have developed enough self confidence to achieve this goal.

5.I realise that no wealth or position can last if built upon injustice, therefore I will not take part in any transaction that does not benefit all parties. I will succeed by attracting to me the forces I need, and the cooperation of others. Others will be willing to help me, because of my willingness to help others. I will get rid of hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude towards others can never bring me success. Others will believe in me because I believe in them, and in myself.

6.I will sign my name to this statement, memorise it and repeat it aloud daily, believing that it will gradually influence my thoughts and actions so that I will become the self-reliant and successful person I wish to become.

Self confidence for women is achieveable; with a little time and effort invested in ourselves!