If you would like answers to the questions ‘what is self-confidence?’ and ‘why is self confidence important?’ then this article is exactly what you are looking for!
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
Table of Contents:
- What is Self Confidence?
- Why is Self Confidence So Important?
- Reason 1: You’ll Experience Less Anxiety
- Reason 2: You’ll Increase Your Motivation
- Reason 3: You’ll Develop Resilience
- Reason 4: You’ll Improve Your Relationships
- Reason 5: You’ll Gain Work Opportunities
- Reason 6: You’ll Embrace Your Authentic Self
- Reason 7: You’ll Increase Your Happiness
Let’s jump right in!
What Is Self Confidence?
Self-confidence stems directly from your own relationship with YOURSELF. If you have a healthy self-confidence you are able to trust in yourself and your capacity to take risks, try new things, tackle challenges, and complete tasks regardless of obstacles!
You have learned to TRUST your passions, abilities, and experiences. You believe in who you are as a person and appreciate all the things that make you UNIQUE.
If you lack self-confidence you may experience self-doubt and fail to recognize your own strengths and abilities.
This means you look outside yourself for validation and approval. You may feel inferior compared with others who seem more talented and gifted than you.
When you lack self-confidence, your relationship with yourself starts to deteriorate. You may think less of yourself and DOUBT that you have the skills or ability to get through difficult situations.
If you struggle with low self-confidence you may be carrying these painful experiences with you and continuing to believe you are unlovable- even though this is FAR from the truth!
Let’s answer your question of why is self confidence important with the 7 reasons to developing healthy self-confidence will make your life better.
Reason 1: You’ll Experience Less Anxiety
Being confident in yourself and your abilities helps you to face and combat your fears!
The more you believe in yourself the less fear and anxiety will RULE your life.
Many people with low self-confidence are over-worriers, who see the potential for failure in every outcome.
You may believe you are supporting yourself by imagining every bad thing that could happen. However, instead of helping you to achieve your goals – this has the opposite effect. It helps you remain STUCK in the same situations and keeps you from taking action.
Ruminating on mistakes is another error in thinking that overemphasizes the negative. If you are struggling with low self-confidence then you know what it means to ruminate on your shortcomings.
High or low self-esteem seldom has anything to do with your actual abilities. It is mostly based on the way you perceive yourself, and these thoughts can be inaccurate.
When you think over what you did wrong and what you should have done over and over in your mind, you begin to chip away at the trust you have in yourself.
It is easy to develop inaccurate assessments of what we are capable of when all that we see is our failures rather than acknowledging recent achievements.
Embrace your PERFECTLY imperfect self! Everyone makes mistakes or doesn’t get things right sometimes. It is important to think of how you might do something differently next time BUT you need to keep all of your good qualities in mind as well!
When you break the habit of judging yourself for falling short or making mistakes, you will experience less anxiety at the thought of making future mistakes.
To read more on overcoming anxiety, check out our blog 3 Mistakes When Managing Anxiety
Reason 2: You’ll Increase Your Motivation
As you begin to appreciate your small successes, you will develop the belief that you CAN overcome setbacks that will inevitably arise.
Once you believe that you are capable of reaching your goals or achieving success, there is less doubt and worry holding you back. You will be more willing to take risks and make the necessary changes to achieve your goals.
Think back on a situation that you considered an accomplishment, it’s likely that the situation was difficult and took perseverance.
This memory can provide encouragement or motivation when facing tough challenges in the future. Looking back to see your own success from times past will strengthen self-confidence for the future!
Instead of focusing inward on your fears and failures, you will begin to look outward on the world and what you can do in it- because you trust that you will get through whatever the world throws your way.
It’s important to know that those annoying “what if” thoughts are still going to come up in your mind. You’re still going to have the urge to judge yourself, “I can’t do this, I’ll fail, or embarrass myself.”
Begin to recognize these thoughts and, instead of listening and ruminating on them, reinforce your new beliefs “It’s fine, everyone makes mistakes.” or, “I’ll get it next time.” Then choose to take action anyway.
Reason 3: You’ll Develop Resilience
If you have low self-confidence, you probably have the tendency to shut down at the slightest perceived mistake or setback. When something difficult happens you may perceive yourself as a failure and beat yourself up about not doing things exactly as you had planned.
As it turns out, the more you fail the more experience you gain. As you learn from these experiences you will begin to find more success in your life.
The most successful people in any area of life are often the people who have failed the most, gotten back up, and tried again and again!
As you develop this belief and other self-confidence supporting beliefs you will discover that you have the tools to pick yourself up when things get difficult! You won’t feel the need to be so hard on yourself.
This begins to make you more RESILIENT in the face of difficulty.
Reason 4: You’ll Improve Your Relationships
When you’re not feeling confident, you are always in your head worrying about what other people think about you. Do they like me? Do I look stupid? Should I smile less because my teeth are crooked or do I need to stop talking so much because people don’t like how much I talk? It’s a vicious cycle!
Your focus is too much on yourself to really be present and get to know the person you’re interacting with.
Self- confidence improves your relationships with others because you are more likely to have an AUTHENTIC interaction with someone when you’re not self conscious and worrying about how you come across.
It’s not a big deal if you make a bad impression or slip up and say the wrong thing because everyone else does this too. When you discover this and give yourself a little breathing room, you can confidently approach and interact with people around you.
You can give yourself permission to talk, share personal stories, ask questions, etc. all while being fine if people like you or not because you feel confident in your own skin!
This sort of authenticity makes a HUGE first impression and allows for unique connections and meaningful relationships!
You will also begin to be more empathetic with the people who matter most in your life.
When you’re able to just be present, you will notice that a friend is having a hard day or that your date is really struggling with XYZ. The people around then begin to appreciate you all the more!
If you want to develop stronger personal resilience check out this awesome video → HERE
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Reason 5: You’ll Gain Work Opportunities
Self-confidence is noticed by others! People who are confident in themselves and their abilities tend to win people over, as they are usually charming or at least engaging.
Confident people are more likely to get promoted for jobs because of what they BRING to the company.
They tend to be more positive, outgoing, assertive as well as productive at work because they believe in themselves. They think “I can do anything!” They truly believe it! And they are usually right!
Self-confidence may not be able to change an entire environment but one person who has faith in themselves can influence other people to feel the same way when around them. Who doesn’t want to feel like they can accomplish any task or dream?
Confident people are generally respected for their COURAGE and recognized for being decisive. These traits in turn lead to success both professionally and socially.
Reason 6: You’ll Embrace Your Authentic Self
Self-confidence helps you stay grounded in your authentic self and and celebrate your strengths without reservation. It gives you the ability to accept your shortcomings WITHOUT diminishing your worth.
The “self” in self-confidence is you, in all your unique qualities and character traits. There is NOBODY else who has just the same abilities, experiences, beliefs, passions, qualities, knowledge, talents, etc. The world really would not be the same without you in it because you are valuable and unique!
As you develop a healthy self-confidence you will have a greater ability to show people who you really are.
Self-confidence also means you will also begin to accept and love who you are. When this begins to happen, your relationship with yourself and with others will deepen because you allow yourself to be truly SEEN. This is one of the best reasons why is self confidence important.
To learn more about embracing your authentic self, check out this great resource on authenticity & vulnerability by Brene Brown → HERE
Reason 7: You’ll Increase Your Happiness
As we have seen, healthy self-confidence:
- Decreases Anxiety & Depression
- Increases your desire to get out there and take action
- Increases your resilience to press on in the face of difficulties.
- Improves your relationships and work experiences
- Helps you develop a stronger relationship with your authentic self.
All of these things together will significantly increase your happiness and quality of life. As you develop your self-confidence, you will find that life will begin to feel a little brighter each day.
Self-confident people have mastered the art of living a happy life WHILE dealing with whatever negative situations come their way.
Oftentimes, these individuals will face criticism that could lead to discouragement if they were less secure; however, those who believe in themselves are not affected by what others think. Their self-confidence is a shield that protects them from any negative outside forces, enabling them to remain positive and upbeat.
A person who is confident has an open attitude toward new experiences and opportunities. As a result, they likely have less regret about missed opportunities and new skill sets that help them live a more fulfilling life!
Feeling good about who you are will help you make purposeful choices with your life – choices which support a healthy body and mind.
If you enjoyed learning about why is self confidence important, check out our other awesome resource 30 Basic Affirmations to BOOST Your Confidence [2021] → HERE
That about sums it up with these 7 reasons self-confidence is important.
Which reason did you find most helpful?
Let us know in the comments!
