When it comes to the focus on self help these days everyone seems to be talking about the need to build your self confidence. Are you among those people who need a boost in this area or do you believe yours has a good solid foundation?

Even for those of us that feel we have fairly high self confidence, there may be times during our life where our confidence is put to the test and might even become quite shaky. Maybe, we take a class where we don’t do as well as we had expected and we just can’t grasp the information no matter how hard we try.

Or perhaps, we’re not exactly the sporty type but for whatever reason we end up surrounded by a group of athletes. Or let’s say, we find ourselves incapable of achieving something that others seem to find quite easy to do.

These can all challenge self confidence and if you didn’t build your self confidence on a good strong foundation you just might find that your confidence fails you. It’s quite easy to say we have high self confidence when things are going our way and we’re feeling on top of the world but the true test of our confidence comes during those trying points in our life.

However, when you build your self confidence strong enough during these times of challenge, it will see you through and help you to achieve an even higher level of confidence that will with stand whatever life sends your way.

So, whether your lack of self confidence is a new found experience for you or something that has been with you throughout your life as an internal conflict there are many things you can do to build your self confidence strong and long lasting.

Begin by taking a look at some of the suggestions presented below:

Take on Tasks Even in the Face of Uncertainty

That doesn’t mean you should try out for a professional sport team when you’re not the sporty type and have no experience what so ever. What it means is that you should push yourself to take on new challenges one step at a time.

If becoming more athletic is interesting to you than start out with a beginner lesson and build up on your ability until you reach the level you feel comfortable obtaining. These small steps help to build your confidence and set up that foundation we talked about earlier.

Trying to start out by taking on a whole athletic team shakes confidence but working your way up and praising yourself for your progress along the way no matter how small will help to boost confidence.

Once you have successfully achieved these small steps, then you can take bigger ones. The idea is, start small and work your way up from there and watch your self-confidence build as you go along.

Focus Positively On Your Strengths And Don’t Under Estimate Your Abilities

Too often when people think about doing something new or challenging, the first thoughts that pop into their head are things like, “I can’t do that.. I won’t be any good… Someone else could do that much better than me…” Once that negativity gets stuck in your head it’s hard to move forward.

Even if there’s a small encouraging, positive voice buried deep underneath those negative words, you would never hear it. You’re too busy telling yourself all of the reasons why you “can’t”, to ever hear anything that would say otherwise.

Talk about a self confidence killer. There is nothing more destructive to your confidence than all the negative self talk rolling around inside your own head. However, there is nothing that helps to build your self confidence more than replacing it with words of encouragement. So, FORCE yourself to think of the good, encouraging side rather than the bad, negative side and you will be absolutely amazed with the results.

Provide Help To Others In Your Areas Of Expertise

An important way to build your self confidence is to extend help to other people in your areas of expertise. The purpose here is to boost your confidence and remind yourself of the strengths that you do have while at the same time helping others along the way.

This helps to take the focus off of yourself and place it on other people which allows you time to take a step back away from yourself and focus on other people’s needs instead of your own. Feeling good about yourself for helping others goes a long way toward helping to build your self confidence. If you offer your time to help others, you can’t help but feel good about yourself.