Confidence plus a growth mindset is a winning combination, especially when you are facing big changes like moving, changing relationships, changing careers, growing a business, or facing a health crisis. When life feels challenging or even when it feels like things are falling apart, you do have a choice in how you respond. Your response creates a myriad of outcomes and many of them can be positive like post-traumatic growth or even post-traumatic thriving. There are opportunities to grow and level up. How can you be confident when you may have never faced your current situation? How can you create a powerful mindset when you maybe just want to stay in bed?

Confidence is attractive and a terrific asset for creating success. We love being around confident leaders and confident people. Most of us wish we had more of it. You may be confident in some areas and not in others or maybe your overall confidence has been shaken recently.

The key to confidence is to understand that this is an area that can grow and improve in your life with even just a small amount of attention. Focus on building your confidence and you will start seeing results.

Here are some steps for growing your confidence level.

1. Remember that as a young child, you were born confident. Do you remember singing at the top of your lungs? Or asking any question that you wanted to ask? Or being confident enough to try just about anything?

2. Remind yourself of your limitless potential. You can learn how to do just about anything that you want to do. If you look back on your life, the accumulation of all of your learning and growing up to now has been astonishing.

3. Use positive words to describe yourself (especially during your self-talk). Leave the self-deprecating comments to comedians. There is no good reason to put yourself down.

4. Affirm confidence (especially at night before you go to bed). One of my favorites is simply, Thank you for my confidence in myself and my ability to grow and change.

5. Create a series of achievements. It’s okay to start small. You can build on each achievement so you begin to feel a positive track record. At the smallest level, if you are getting ready to move, tackle one drawer or one closet, eventually everything will be packed. If you are writing an article, write one paragraph, or even one sentence. If you are rehabbing from an illness, keep taking small steps. I remember when I nearly died in 2015, once I was home, I celebrated being able to load the dishwasher, then being able to walk up a flight of stairs, then being able to make the bed. Each improvement in strength boosted my confidence. Eventually, 9 months later, I worked up to going to Europe for 21 days and climbing to the top of a castle.

6. Be around other positive and confident people. Instead of being intimidated by confidence, get inspired and spend time around people who exude confidence.

7. Take action. Become an expert in your field and areas of interest. Learn from other experts. Practice your skills. If you want more clients, become a master of understanding what your clients want. If you want more financial freedom, become an expert at understanding how to grow your money and how to attract opportunities. If you want better relationships, become an expert at interpersonal communications. If you want to master your health, become an expert at understanding what your body needs and then do it.

Confidence is something we call can have, yet few truly do. As you build confidence, you will see your life grow and change in a more positive direction. You will be able to master big changes and come out on the other side smelling like roses.

Mastering your Mindset During Big Changes

1. Discover how to feel much better. How you feel is related to the way you think about life. Simply deciding that you want to feel better sets you on a better feeling path. This path begins with shifting your focus away from unproductive thoughts and pivoting to a higher energy thought. For example, when I came home from the hospital after nearly dying, I woke up in a panic the first few days thinking, “I don’t want to die.” With some effort, I was able to shift my focus to this thought, “How do I want to live?” Then I focused on what I thought would be a quality life. If I only had a short time left, what did I want to do? I immediately felt better and regained a sense of purpose and control. 
2. Begin writing in a daily journal. One of my favorite journals is the (from Amazon) Best Self Journal. Prompt: What would it take right now to help me feel better? Then, ask, “How can I get there?”
3. Open the doorway to experience complete healing. Allow the idea to form that you can heal completely from your experience. You don’t have to see yourself as “damaged goods”. I know that when I lost my brother at a young age, I thought that I would be damaged forever. When I first began to allow the possibility that I could be happy and feel joy, I experienced a turning point and headed back to a feeling of wholeness. When my heart failed, I was initially shocked and frustrated thinking that I had a “bad heart”. I knew on a soul level, my heart was good… and it felt terrible to think otherwise. When I started appreciating my heart for supporting me to this point in life, my attitude change. I was thanking my heart every day for its hard work. Eventually, my heart responded to this appreciation and I experienced spontaneous healing.
4. Greatly improve the quality of your life right now. Work on your bucket list now.  Why wait? If you want to improve your golf game, do it now. If you want to see more concerts, do it now. If you want to spend more time with people you love, do it now.
5. Create peace of mind. Let go of needing to fight against something. Create acceptance and that is the beginning of positive change. When you accept what is going on and get calm, you have a positive starting point for change. Peace of mind enables clear thought and options that you may not see when you are in a frenzy or fury over something you perceive as unfair. Rather than think about what you are against, think about what you are for.
6. Create focused thinking. It’s difficult to have focused thinking when you have a lot going on. Thoughts get scattered and cloudy. Focus your mind using deep breathing exercises and journal exercises. Reduce noise, so you can clearly see options and weigh decisions. Journal Prompts: What are my goals? What help do I need? What do I need to learn?  What action steps do I want to take?
7. Take charge of a full-on blitz for your mind, body, and spirit. When you care for your mind, body, and spirit; you create a holistic approach for creating your “new normal”.  Cultivate thoughts that work for you. Take care of your body combining the best of modern medicine and alternative approaches that make sense for you and move your body in a way that is fun and inspiring. Meditate and pray on a daily basis to stay connected to your spirituality.

When you practice these 7 steps for building confidence and these 7 steps for mindset mastery, you will find your footing and will feel like you are standing on solid ground and living life the way you want to be living it.

You may be surprised to see that you are better than ever, living a purposeful and fulfilling life no matter what is going on around you.

If you liked this, you will love my Art of Abundance Course

Sheri Kaye Hoff, is a Transformational Business Coach known for inspiring, intuition, vision, and massive action, and being a catalyst for personal and business growth, joy, and profits in a way that is fun, relaxing, and fulfilling. She uses both spiritual and practical techniques to obliterate blocks and create transformational change. Sheri is a business, leadership, happiness, and inner game expert. She has overcome nearly dying and has made it her life mission to share the keys to happiness and success. Learn More About Sheri