5 signs you need to boost your self-confidence

Many people live installed in a problem of lack of self-confidence that they resign themselves to carrying around. In fact, on many occasions, these people are not even aware that they need to give themselves new opportunities to demonstrate what they are capable of doing.

In this sense, detect a deficit of self-confidence as soon as possible It is key to feeling better about who we are and enjoying life more in general, without letting personal complexes paralyze us. In this article you will find several key ideas to achieve it.

• Related article: "Self-concept: what is it and how is it formed?"

Self-confidence, self-concept and self-esteem: 3 related concepts

Although our way of perceiving ourselves and interpreting our actions may be more or less biased or wrong, normally, the mental representation of the "I" is complex and has many nuances. It is normal that this is the case, because our identity is a subject that we tend to think about frequently and to which we are constantly incorporating information; it is clear that everything we do and everything that happens to us is related to the "I".

Due to this complexity, in Psychology they have been developing concepts that express different facets of how we see ourselves, being three of the most important self-confidence, self-concept and self-esteem.

• Self-confidence is the set of beliefs and ideas that give us an image of what we are capable of doing.
• Self-concept is the concept of the "I" with all the textual information about oneself.
• Self-esteem is the set of the information of the "I" with the emotional charge of how we feel with that "I".

So that, self-confidence is a part of self-concept, and self-concept is a part of self-esteem; While the first two include only textual information (which can be expressed in words), self-esteem also incorporates a whole series of emotional and emotion-related elements.

• You may be interested in: "The 4 components of self-esteem (explained)"

Signs that you need to boost your self-confidence

Having problems due to lack of self-confidence is much more than experiencing moments when we are not comfortable with who we are. Beyond this subjective facet of the experience, not trusting oneself enough is objectively reflected in our actions, in how we interact with our environment and with others. For example, it makes many promising and exciting opportunities and projects run right under our noses, without daring to take the step and aspire to improve our present situation.

Luckily, there are ways to uncover these kinds of self-confidence deficits relatively quickly, so you can take action sooner rather than later. In the following lines you will find guidelines to check if you have problems of this type: warning signs that indicate a lack of confidence in yourself.

1. It costs you say no

The tendency to say yes to everything they propose to you is a sign that you believe you are always on the verge of social rejection by others; You try to compensate for your supposed lack of positive qualities by conforming to everything that the rest expect of you. It is a lack of assertiveness directly connected to a lack of self-confidence.

• Related article: "Assertiveness: 5 basic habits to improve communication"

2. You assume that you can no longer learn anything

There are those who believe that they are incapable of learning anything else, which is absurd; practically all human beings are capable of learning at all stages of life. These kinds of beliefs are used as an excuse not to leave the comfort zone, putting ourselves to the test in the face of new challenges, it is In other words, it is a way of rationalizing the irrational decision to avoid situations that generate uncertainty and a certain degree of stress.

• You may be interested in: "The 9 most important learning theories"

3. You take for granted that your achievements have been pure luck

It is clear that luck is a relatively frequent factor and that it is often mixed with other elements arising from the merit itself, but for pure statistics, it is practically impossible that everything that goes well for us can be explained by circumstances outside of you, to your efforts and abilities.

• Related article: "What is the locus of control?"

4. You get defensive when you meet people

Problems due to lack of self-confidence can be expressed in the tendency to feel quite uncomfortable at the idea of ​​meeting people. The fact of trying to hide their complexes makes those who do not trust themselves enough feel very stressed in these kinds of situations.

5. You explain your failures by appealing to your "essence"

The belief that what happens to us has to do with something we call “essence” and that it is linked to our own identity is an example of the way of thinking in terms of black and white of those who do not trust themselves enough. It is a psychological predisposition that predisposes us to be unfair to ourselves, to take for granted that we are destined to fail.

• You may be interested in: "Dichotomous thinking: what it is, effects and distinctive features"

Do you want to learn to trust yourself more?

If you have come to the conclusion that you have problems due to lack of self-confidence, don't worry; you can learn to readjust it to better suit your your real skills and talents.

But if you have considered enhancing your self-confidence so that the way you see yourself does not make you lose many opportunities to show what you can do, you should know that if you just sit and reflect for a while about who you are and what your skills are, you will not you will get. Specific actions based solely on introspection are not enough to achieve this, it is important that you adopt new habits and ways of managing your emotions and feelings, and that you apply all that to your day to day in a sustained.

The Meyo application is one of the most useful digital resources in this regard. This app includes multiple routines and exercises in the form of "challenges" designed to improve the user's physical and emotional health in the short, medium and long term. It is a kind of personal trainer in areas such as managing emotions, improving self-awareness, social skills development, adopting healthy routines, and more. You can download it in systems Android and iOS.