Confident, confident, confident!

Wouldn’t it be nice if that’s all we needed to do when we wanted an instant confidence boost?

Kinda like Dorothy clicking her ruby slippers together while chanting “There’s no place like home.”

Well, we’re actually not too far off you see because today I’m going to show you a little mind trick you can do when you need a booster shot of self-esteem.

And who doesn’t every now and then? So stick around!

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Ok so if you are looking for that surge of confidence, what I am about to share will be very helpful.

It has to do with the power of visualization to change our mindset.

After all, confidence is a state of mind. And if you can change your mindset, you can change the way you think, communicate, and interact.

In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (2004), Dr. Stephen Covey posits that your creative imagination is transformative on your behavior because it aligns with the essence of who you are, including your personal values and goals in life. 

So if we want to be successful at something, we have to be able to visualize what success looks like. We have to know in our hearts and our minds that we can make our dreams a reality.

On a similar note, Oprah Winfrey said “Even the wildest dreams have to start someplace. Allow yourself the time and space to let your mind wander and your imagination fly…You must be a believer before you can be an achiever.”

Our minds are powerful. Tuning them to the right frequency switches on the success factor. But they can also play tricks on us and tell us to be afraid when we shouldn’t. So we have to train and tame our mind so it creates positive thoughts and an optimistic mindset.

In psychology, positive imagery and visualization are powerful tools to change our thought patterns and our psyche. 

Dr. Kirwan Rockefeller, in his book “Visualize Confidence: How to Use Guided Imagery to Overcome Self-Doubt”, talks about the importance of visualization as a means of stimulating the brain. When the visualization is done correctly, the brain patterns you produce are similar to actually having the experience in real life. 

In other words, visualizing confidence can help prepare you to achieve your goals and surmount obstacles that try to get in your way.

Remember Oprah: to achieve, we have to believe.

For me, this comes down to a gentle reminder that helps shift my mindset.

This is a simple but powerful affirmation that you can say inside your head. Something as simple as “I am confident”, “What I’m doing makes a difference”, or “This is getting me closer to my goal”. But it can also be one word like “empowered”, “strong” or “calm.” It can also be words from spiritual or religious texts that you find empowering. Really anything that gives you an invigorating feeling.

Spend a little time coming up with your own affirmational phrase.

This will be your mantra. Your drum beat.

You’ll chant this inside your head before and even during the moment you so fear. 

Let’s say you’ve got the jitters before heading on stage. That would be a perfect time to center yourself and whip out that mantra of yours. Don’t think of anything else, just focus on your mantra and on your breath. 

You’ll find that this is both cathartic and meditative. 

But you can also use your mantra during unfamiliar social interactions or whenever you need a quick confidence boost.

One word of caution: if you are using it during a conversation, feel free to sprinkle it in throughout, but don’t let it drown out what the other person is saying to you. During social interaction, you do want to be an active listener. So if you spend the entire time boosting yourself up, you might be letting your conversation partner down and miss what they have to say.

With this in mind, you can take advantage of natural pauses during the conversation to get a few rounds of the mantra in. For example, if you’re in the middle of an interview, the interviewer might pause to scan your resume. Or maybe you’re at dinner and the person across from you is taking a sip of water or telling the waiter their order. Those are great opportunities to get a few motivational mantra reps in! 

Your quest, dear Explearner, is to come up with your own mantra that means something to you. Something that gets you fired up. Something that fills you with energy. Repeat it to yourself over and over until you know it by heart so that you’re able to use it whenever you need that extra oomph.

Remember, our mindsets are powerful. They can be our best ally in overcoming self-doubt. So supercharge your mind, and science has proven that your desired behaviors will follow. 

So now that I've shared our thoughts, I want to hear about the last time you needed to give yourself a confidence boost. Why did you need the boost? What worked (or what didn’t)?

Share that with me and the Explearning community in the comments below.

And, if you loved this lesson, please be sure to let me know. You can give this video a thumb’s up on YouTube and if you haven’t done so already subscribe to join our tribe of Explearners, so you never miss a lesson. If you ring that bell, you’ll get notified about new lessons and our weekly live streams. 

Email this video to a friend or coworker who also wants to supercharge their social skills. 

While we’re at it, feel free to also share it with your Facebook and Twitter friends as well! 

And remember, the writeup of these lessons are always available on our blog at explearning.co/blog.

With that, have an awesome week, Explearners. 

Thank you so much for joining me and I’ll see you next time for your next Explearning lesson.

Happy Explearning ⚡ 

About the Author and the Explearning Academy:

Mary Daphne is an expert in communication, executive interpersonal skills, and personal development. She is the founder of the Explearning Academy, a platform dedicated to helping individuals enhance their social fluency, boost their careers, and elevate their social game. Through immersive group coaching programs like the Executive Communication Lab and self-guided journeys, participants gain the social superpowers and career catapults they've been searching for. If you're ready to take your negotiation skills to the next level and connect with like-minded individuals, visit academy.explearning.co and explore the various plans available. Join the Explearning Academy community and unlock your full potential.

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