I’ve been talking about self-esteem, self-confidence, and assertiveness a LOT lately – and will keep talking about it! But I thought I’d give you a list of quick tips to help improve your confidence and assertiveness. These should be pretty simple to do, but if you have any questions, just ask!
1. Practice Good Posture
That’s right! Good posture is associated with the production of testosterone (hey, ladies need it too!), which is a big contributor to self-confidence and assertiveness! This will also open up your chakras so that the energy flows through all your centers better – especially the heart and throat chakra which are so often blocked. So, the biggest posture corrections include the following:
- Roll your shoulders back and down – most people hunch their shoulders forward and in, creating a curved back. Roll your shoulders back and down, slightly squeezing the shoulder blades together.
- Tilt your chin upwards so it’s parallel to the ground – most people look slightly downward (or more than slightly!). Practice looking upwards instead. Looking upwards stimulates creativity and projects confidence. Also, you should not be looking down at your computer monitor – that’s bad ergonomic! Raise it up so its eye level!
- Rest your weight equally on both feet – we tend to shift our weight to one side or the other. Not only can this cause hip and back issues over a long period of time, but it also makes us appear uncertain and submissive. Plant your feet firmly and evenly on the ground – even when you’re sitting! If you need one, get a footrest for under your desk.
2. Breath Deeply
Practicing taking a longer and deeper natural breath. We tend to breath shallowly and shortly as a habit (partially caused by our collapsed postures), which leaves us slightly oxygen deprived most the time! Yikes! So, start taking deeper and longer breaths! Do this whenever you need to feel more confident and assertive – not only does your brain appreciate the increased oxygen, calming you down and making you think more clearly, but it also deepens your voice, which fosters more trust and authority in your listeners. Also, if you have a tenancy to speak quickly, SLOW DOWN! Slower speech also fosters more confidence!
3. Make a List of Positive Attributes
We can program ourselves pretty easily just by repetitions of thought. So, if you want to foster certain attributes in yourself, all you have to do is write it out and place it somewhere you will see frequently, like your bathroom mirror or your cell phone. Try “I am confident and assertive,” “I am worthy of respect and authority,” or “I love myself and excel in all that I do.” Or feel free to come up with your own affirmations!
4. Decide on Your Absolute No’s
There are just some things you don’t want to do, don’t like to do, and don’t need to do. These are things that twist your stomach and make you escape to the world of Facebook for hours upon hours. Brainstorm ways that you can remove these items from your life. Delegate to someone else, hire someone to do it for you, remove it from your priorities altogether, or change your expectations. Make a list of these “absolute no’s” and place it somewhere you can refer to it often.
5. Center Your Energy Body
You have several energy field around your physical body, including your energy body. This is where your prana is stored in space. When your energy body is centered on your physical body, you feel energized, optimistic, confident, assertive, creative, and capable. When it comes too far forward, you feel manic, hyper, distractable, unfocused, disorganized, and irritable. When your energy body is too far back, you feel depressed, submissive, weak, lethargic, pessimistic, stymied, and unmotivated. Most of us have our energy bodies too far behind us. Take a couple moments to take some deep breaths and feel where the center of your being is. You SHOULD feel it just behind and a little above your belly button, in your Solar Plexus Chakra. If you don’t feel it there, mentally, using your strength of will, pull your center into your Solar Plexus Chakra. After you’re done, take some more deep breaths and continue on your day. Repeat as necessary!
There you have it!
Those are some quick tips to improve your self-esteem, self-confidence, and assertiveness. Let me know how these worked for you! And if you have your own tips, feel free to share them in the comments!
