Build Confidence

Self-Esteem: 4 Ways to be More Confident in Yourself Today

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Having confidence is important in helping you feel better about various aspects of your life. Maybe you want to be more confident in your professional life, crush goals, and get a promotion. Or maybe, you want to boost your self-esteem and see yourself in a more positive light. Either way, taking the steps to better yourself and build confidence can go hand-in-hand, and lucky for you, it doesn’t have to be difficult.

Here are four steps to build your self-confidence: 

1. Practice Positive Self Affirmations

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve given yourself a pep talk in preparation for what’s to come? These pep talks, also known as self-affirmations, can be a great way to boost your confidence. They’re good for building confidence due to the fact that they get your head into a positive mindset. Additionally, studies have shown that practicing positive affirmations can ultimately reduce health deteriorating stress. By practicing self-affirmations often, you will begin to believe them, leading to the ability to make positive changes in your life.

To get you started, here are a few powerful affirmations that can help guide you on your journey to confidence:

  • I am my best source of motivation.
  • There is no obstacle that I can’t overcome.
  • Challenges are opportunities to learn and grow.
  • I am the best at what I do.
  • I am self-reliant, creative, and persistent in whatever I do.

If you need more suggestions on affirmations, you can say to yourself, don’t be afraid to create your own! You can also find plenty of positive words for any occasion, such as this one here. 

2. Implement a Self-care Routine

Self-care is essential to feel like your best self and can directly influence your confidence. There are many elements of what a self-care routine can look like, but the best part is that it’ll be unique to you. Be sure to incorporate activities that not only help you relax but also benefit you in other ways.

For example, ever heard the saying, “look good, feel good?” There may be some truth behind it! Taking the time to craft a skincare regimen can be just what you and your body needs. Your skin is the body’s outermost layer of protection, so it’s important to give it some TLC in return. If you’re troubled by skin concerns—such as acne—there are specific products and ingredients you should consider implementing into your routine. An acne cream with active ingredients such as tretinoin and niacinamide will be beneficial in clearing your skin as these ingredients not only work to combat blemishes and reduce the appearance of dark spots but also improve both the tone and texture of your skin.

Setting this time aside for yourself each morning and night will leave your skin glowing and your confidence increasing. Of course, a skincare routine isn’t the only way to practice some self-care. Other activities to try are reading, picking up a new hobby, or even getting some fresh air. Giving yourself quality time to nourish your body and relax will reflect in your day-to-day mood and overall confidence. 

3. Change Your Habits To Be More Confident

Changing some of your daily habits in both of your personal and professional life can help transform the way you feel. Maybe you find that you’re the type of person that hates to ask for help. Most of the time, we fear asking for help because we feel as though we’re supposed to have all of the answers and do not want to come off as weak or unknowledgeable. Interestingly enough, some of the most confident people are the ones who take the initiative to ask for help when they need it.

Another habit to be more aware of is your posture. While this may not be something you actively think about in your daily life, it can affect you more than you think. According to research completed by Amy Cuddy, your body language can directly change the chemistry in your brain. To practice better posture, consider power poses that open your body up instead of closing it. Improving your posture comes with a handful of benefits in addition to boosting your confidence, helping you in more ways than one!

Next, aim to strengthen your willpower. To do so, transform your thoughts into something more positive. For instance, flood your mind with thoughts of how much you want something, why you want it, how you’re going to get it, and what will happen once you achieve your goal. Focusing on your goals with a positive mindset and paired with your self-affirmations, you will be sure to help you build the confidence you need to achieve them. 

4. Learn Something New

Allowing yourself to learn a new skill or hobby can be just what you need to improve the way you view yourself—even if it means putting yourself into an uncomfortable situation. Working on something simple such as your communication or social skills can transform the way you view yourself. While, of course, self-confidence doesn’t directly make you better at what you do, it does prime you to take the steps and risks needed to achieve your goals. New skills can help guide you through conversation better, participate in knowledge transfer, and even make you a go-to person for a specific topic at hand. Ultimately, however you decide to begin your self-confidence journey is up to you, but a great place to start is with these four steps.

Self esteem

Leadership That Cultivates Ethics Boost Employee Productivity

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Matching your leadership style with your core principles may be one of the most underrated factors in helping you grow your business. An organizational structure where the vision, management system and actual operations speak one language, has a voice that reaches further than any marketing campaign. It has the capacity to ignite a renewed confidence within personnel and raise the bottom line to new heights.

What would be your answers to these questions about your company?

  • Does your brand reflect your core values?
  • Is the information on your website About Page the truth?
  • Do your inner and external business affairs use the same system?
  • Do you show your employees the same respect you do your clients?

These are just a couple of question to get you thinking about what ethical leadership entails.

Decision Making

There’s a saying that decision making is nothing more than clarifying your core values. When it comes to black and white issues it’s usually relatively easy to choose what would be the right choice for your business. However, when something complicated comes along, you could easily find yourself in murky waters. Exercising your will within these grey areas is definitely not something to take lightly, it requires a deeper level of principles to help bring the wisest decision to the surface.

In the process of making decisions, we are also choosing between the importance of one thing compared to another. Many decisions in our personal lives are made in a similar way where we check and re-check our priority lists. Again, what we value most will also have the highest level of importance.

Few if any decisions in business are ever completely free from scrutiny. Decisions that went against the core principles and values of your business might be hidden inside your company’s archives for years, but never lose their potency to trigger disaster.

Decisions give external expression to the internal evaluation of what we deem most important.

Setting a Standard

Building a foundation for your business goes hand in hand with setting a standard to which you hold yourself and your employees accountable to. It helps everyone to know the core principles and the most important values. It may take some time, in the beginning, to become familiar with your hierarchy. If you use the different elements in your system often enough it will rather sooner than later become an integral part of every man and woman under your brand name.

Culture

What’s interesting is that such a system sets the stage to help define the culture within your organization. It is a natural flow of elements that naturally match and support one another. It is an organic way of creating the behavior that helps drive a culture true to the characteristic of what you stand for.

Leadership, Character, and Integrity

For anyone, at the top leadership position of an organization, finding the balance between resources, productivity and profitability can lead to restlessness or even sleepless nights. Ask any person with some business experience and they will agree, it takes years to build a financially sound business yet only a few moments to destroy it.

One of the lesser known benefits of aligning your public image with your business’ inner workings and core principles is the potential it holds towards guarding your reputation. Isn’t it true that reputation is one of the most challenging elements of your business to pull back on track once it’s been derailed?

It may very well be that maintaining a good reputation isn’t any different than being the person and organization you tell the world you are.

Managing public opinion becomes a much easier job when what you say you are, is actually so.

Although we do not live in a perfect world, we are creatures that aspire to achieve excellence. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes come to lesser efficient decisions, among other faults. But in this world filled with the unknown, perfection seems nothing more than an illusion. So, it is rather good that upholding a reputation doesn’t mean striving towards perfection as much as it is in maintaining consistency.

Management System alignment

Seeing that as human beings we are fallible, a Management System comes to play a big role in helping your business steer on the right path. Just like an alarm or calendar notification, a Management System should make it easy for people to know what to do, how to do it and when to do it.

A good Management System

  • it’s available in a documented format (either as hard copy or in electronic format
  • it’s accessible by every employee
  • it’s well organized with a good readability score
  • it’s an integrated system that incorporates each aspect and section of your business
  • it’s in use every business day
  • it’s flexible and employees launch revision request.

 Theory vs Practice

Leadership principles have been a point of discussion for many decades now. From finding the niche point for staff members all the way to bettering client relations. By simply looking at books available on this topic it seems there is almost no space left for a fresh title among the vast numbers of books published throughout the history. Yet, books on leadership are frequently being published worldwide.

Books on how to be a good leader have reached from the biggest of companies to the smallest of businesses. Leadership, in its many different shapes and forms, is a regular topic of conversation between volunteer communities, the general public, as well as those in education. Here is the list of the Financial Times’s Best Business books (https://ig.ft.com/sites/business-book-award/) in the category Leadership and Management.

Knowledge and implementation

As with any level of knowledge we acquire in life, it is the practical implementation that determines whether our knowledge will be useful or not. Every person who has ever read a good book should know, reading something doesn’t mean you’re applying it to your life. It may be that putting some of the amazing pieces of information into practice would be more difficult than we at first imagined.

It is exactly this point – the practical implementation – that set organizations apart. On paper, knowledge can make perfect sense. It is when we try to implement it that we find our current system can either be a hindrance in our path or make the change as easy as walking.

Your leadership style too will impact the degree of difficulty or ease the organization can transition to integrate a foundation that protects your business, employees, and clients against unethical behavior are worth the effort.

Alignment

Here are a couple of elements you can consider integrating as part of one system. Align them with the vision, mission, and strategy of the organization. This will help your organization to speak as one voice. This is where ‘word of mouth’ gets a foothold.

  • Management System
  • Website
  • Social Media Platforms
  • Vision
  • Mission
  • Strategy
  • Objectives
  • Targets
  • Finance
  • HR
  • Resources
  • Operations
  • Company Culture

Different Leadership Styles

Look at the different scenarios around the styles of leadership below and see if it can help you run your business with better productivity. Some leaders can have a combination of these factors present in their leadership style. Each one of these styles has an impact on the productivity and profitability of the organization.

1. Visionary Leader

A visionary leader has the ability to share his hopes and dreams for the business and puts a system in place that supports the people working in it to efficiently reach the objectives in growing the business. Communication is clear, there are no or little blurry lines between different responsibilities.

2. The Dynamic Team Leader

Imagine, a style of leadership in touch with the actual work that needs to be done. A leader such as this has reasonable expectations for their team. This leader involves the team when considering changes to the system. The team is encouraged and draws from their practical insight and accumulative experience over the years. Such a leader taps into the energy of the team dynamic.

3. The Chop & Change Leader

This is a leader who likes to have full control and then do as he pleases. If you are a leader who wants full control and literally chop and change as you like, it’s going to be very difficult to pinpoint what your business requires. It might even be impossible for you to build a system geared toward supporting profitability and productivity. This leadership style is also very stressful from an employee’s perspective leading to further losses. A job where things can literally be flipped upside-down the following day leads to unmotivated employees and unreliable delivery.

4. The Ego Leader

This is a style of leadership that expects something additional from employees without being willing to compensate for it. And then complain about it. Read this article by Rudi Dalman from PeopleHR on leadership ego and that will give a better idea.

5. The Periodic Leader

There is the type of leader who periodically remembers that he is the boss of a number of people. He drops in one morning before golf, dish out orders left, right and center and runs out before any staff member has the opportunity to tell him that three of his orders can’t be acted upon because they are conflicting instructions.

About the Author: Her name is Matilda Prinsloo and you can contact her at
ServingJoy@outlook.com.

Positive Words Research – Leadership That Cultivates Ethics Can Boost Employee Morale And Productivity

Leadership That Cultivates Ethics Can Boost Employee Morale And Productivity

Positive Instructing Technologies: Future of Online Learning

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Disclaimer: This article is primarily intended for teachers and parents. Still, it can prove insights for anyone interested in the converging disciplines of ‘Teaching’ and ‘Learning’. Anyone who can bear the sight of academic concepts tucked in ‘hither and thither’ within the prose. So reader discretion is advised…

What is the best way to impart a quality education?

One that does not restrict the student’s intellectual scope, but encourages it to grow uniformly. Both within the confines of the curriculum and without it.

In this post, I will attempt to address this question, as well as try to anticipate the direction in which the Online Learning venture is headed. The role that ‘positive’ technologies – such as Constructivist teaching models – will inevitably play in the future will also be shed light upon.

When scholars and researchers analyze learning & teaching methods academically, they tend to emerge with not-very-dissimilar conclusions.

“A general optimism/freshness of outlook and theoretical perspective is a critical component of every sound and collaborative teaching regimen.”

The traditional stances pertaining to this issue have largely given way to more information-sharing & knowledge-construction frameworks. These have been explored in full through the progressive/constructivist paradigm of imparting education. As a result, it might be a good idea to explore the future of learning from today’s vantage point.

Because when the end is clear, the journey becomes easy (or so they say)!

Note: All theoretical approaches referenced in this article blog post have been acquired through the Spectrum Internet Plans

On Positivity within the Classroom: A Personal Account

Positivity within the Classroom

I’d like to state that by ‘positivity’ I do not wish to make allusions to the concept of ‘scientific positivism’. ‘Positivity’ has to be taken in its more literal and psychologically-subjective sense – to be made sensible for our purposes.

Positive vs. Humane Reinforcement

In virtually all interactive sessions that I had within my classrooms, one core teaching principle seems to have consistently stood my test of time and experience. I call this teaching positive reinforcement.

This is different from humane reinforcement, in which the child on the receiving end of an academic check is left scarred with a debilitating sense of failure. As most psychological authorities would attest, adolescent and pre-adolescent children are particularly susceptible to negative feedback. Even if it should be warranted and conveyed politely.

As I have learned through my fourteen years of classroom engagement, the best way to communicate your disapproval of a student’s work performance is to not intone the said verbal or textual correspondence as such.

Learning from My Mistake

When starting out as a fresh instructor, I continually committed an error. I used to be very direct and straightforward with my impressionable young ‘charges’; as I referred to them in my Victorian state-of-mind back then.

At this point, I’m sure that you can gauge something about my psyche from these involuntary admissions. I generally believe that a teacher should be like an open book, with a transparent subjectivity that can be understood. Charismatic and forceful figures have the uncanny influence of dictating their opinions to others.

It wasn’t long before I discovered the great degree of animosity and willful contempt that started to radiate from each and every one of them. Even from some of my star pupils, who I always attempted to laud loudly in front of everyone.

Instead of imparting learning and improving students social skills, I had unconsciously become responsible for brewing up a mob-like sentiment in the group. One that was fast on its way to imploding from within. That means with pupil turned against a fellow pupil. Which wanted to bind me in a body bag!

Making changes

My moment of redemption actually came from the instigations of one of my more discerning students. This pupil indirectly attempted to point out the egregious folly of my ways. I asked about what I could do to make my attempts at consolidating a more congenial and ‘breathe-easy’ environment within the classroom. She offered an apt retort: Don’t ever criticize, or say wrong, to any one of us, Miss. Like, never!

And I have not only stuck to this wise commandment ever since but have also traced its echoes in some of the leading pedagogical theories of the 20th century. All these theoretical approaches can be thought of as abstract technologies in their own right.

This is because they provide teachers with a tested framework of assumptions. Which can be used to come up with innovative results in particular learning environments.

On the Importance of Positive Intent within the Classroom

But what is true of all of these in-class approaches? It is that the dually-conjoined issues of teacher politeness/compassion and positive attentiveness serve as de facto limiting factors to the success of any instructing venture. If a certain tutor happens to fall short in terms of these matters, he/she risks the viability of the entire academic program.

Irrespective of which theoretical teaching model is adhered to. And till date, I haven’t come across even one educationist, who would be willing to sabotage the one vocation that he/she adores the most – that is tutoring.

There are ‘no wrong answers’, but only different ways of interpreting the same sociological & rational phenomena, therefore a skilled instructor can initiate two-way dialogues with students. Not a one-way exchange of information.

This technique inculcates a sense of confidence in the minds of students. It encourages them to build and refine their own knowledge-bases consistently. When a tutor is conceived as more of a negotiator of knowledge, and not its immaculate & singularly-authoritative repository, true learning can be facilitated.

Learning needs to be dialectical, requiring the constant input of all members. It should not be construed as a canvas to showcase the skills-set of the individual delivering the information.

For the betterment of all, that is!

Online Learning – Its Current & Future Prospects

The advent of the Internet Age brought with it an entire host of opportunities for education services to the masses. With the backing of the One-World vision, the World Wide Web sought to transform the way in which information-dissemination began to be grappled with as an initiative.

It wasn’t long before major university institutions started offering their distance education services to students. These virtual programs are also bound by the strict legal stipulations observed in the original brick-and-mortar academic sites. Upon the successful completion of an e-learning regimen, a student is subsequently awarded a certified university degree.

Addressing Current Distance Learning Programs

Although current distance education programs are fully interactive and dialogic,  they have faced their fair share of criticisms. Proponents of the current virtual learning model argue in favor of maintaining some semblance of a structure. They argue that the complete dissolution of existing paradigms for the sake of entrenching a more pluralistic model will lead to a state of postmodernist chaos ensuing within the classroom. Their detractors espouse a more ‘internationalist’ view of the teaching/learning environment.

With the contention that currently exists between these two pedagogical camps, one thing is certain. The future of online learning will definitely feature a more diversified blending-in of all known theoretical approaches. And the teaching virtues of a rigorous brand of optimism and continual hope will form an integral part of this learner-oriented future.

And in my opinion, the world, with all its legions of young learners destined to take the reign of global management from their predecessors, will be better off for it!

Author’s Bio

Rosie Harman is an Educationist, a Book-Lover, and a Culture-Critic, who likes to recount her professional experiences (of being a Middle School teacher) using the medium of words. She lives in Ann Harbor, MI, and can often be found taking long walks around Lake Michigan. She regularly blogs at Spectrum Cable Company.

Here at Positive Words Research, we are looking to share with our readers original content that hasn’t been published on other sites so if you are comfortable with Positive Words Research being your sole publisher, we are more than happy to share with our readers your inspiring and empowering story.

online learning

SELF-CONFIDENCE definition and meaning | Dictionary of Positive Words

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Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself. Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Doing what you believe to be right, even if others mock or criticize you for it. Governing your behavior based on what you think and not based on what other people think. Being willing to take risks and go the extra mile to achieve better things.

Find below more details about the positive word self-confidence !

Self-confidence in 10 most widely spoken languages in the world

Chinese (Simplified):自信心 (read phonetically: Zìxìn xīn)

Spanish: auto confianza

English: self-confidence

Hindi/Urdu: आत्मविश्वास (read phonetically: aatmavishvaas)

Arabic: ثقة بالنفس  (read phonetically: thiqat bialnnafs)

Portuguese: auto confiança

Bengali: আত্মবিশ্বাস (Read phonetically: Ātmabiśbāsa)

Russian: самоуверенность (read phonetically: samouverennost’)

Japanese: 自信 (Read phonetically: Jishin)

Punjabi (Javanese): ਸਵੈ ਭਰੋਸਾ (read phonetically: Savai bharōsā)

Other languages:

French: confiance en soi

German: Selbstvertrauen

Dutch: zelfvertrouwen

Italian: fiducia in se stessi

Romanian: încredere în sine

Five affirmations (mantras) about self-confidence

Repeat these affirmations looking at yourself in the mirror standing in the winning position (on your feets, straight position, hands up in the air like if you have just won at a race, legs a little spread apart from each other)

I am confident. I love being confident. I am independent of the good or bad opinion of others.

I am the greatest. (Muhammad Ali self-affirmation)

I am the captain of my ship and the master of my faith.

The Universe has my back. I expect boldly the reality that makes me happy.

I believe in myself 100%. I believe 100% in my ability to succeed.

Self-confidence quotes

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ― Rob Siltanen

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” – Rumi, The Essential Rumi

“Always be yourself and have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and try to duplicate it.” – Bruce Lee

“If you’re presenting yourself with confidence, you can pull off pretty much anything.” Katy Perry

“You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.” Wayne Dyer

Five useful resources about self-confidence

Find in the below resources (articles or videos) many ways in which you can practice confidence in yourself more every day.

How To Be More Confident – A Step-by-Step Process for Becoming Truly Confident

3 tips to boost your confidence – TED-Ed

The skill of self confidence | Dr. Ivan Joseph | TEDxRyersonU

Powerful: Confidence Spoken Affirmations with binaural tones for Healthy Self-esteem

Building Self-Confidence. Preparing Yourself for Success!

Positive Words Research – SELF CONFIDENCE definition – meaning | Dictionary Positive Words

Self-confidence