The path to self-confidence can be complicated and involved. While it may be possible to become more confident with a few small changes in how you think, in many cases, you’re going to have to delve a little deeper and make larger changes in your life to achieve greater confidence.

One vital step to improving your self-confidence is to remove all the negative influences and naysayers from your life. You will never gain a better view of yourself and your positive attributes if someone is constantly putting you down, making fun of you, making you do things you aren’t proud of, or being abusive. If someone is actually abusive, remove yourself from the situation as quickly as possible. Get professional help if necessary. If someone is simply being unkind and uncaring, talking about it may help. Sit down with the other person and have an honest discussion with her about how you feel. Tell the other person how much it hurts you to hear her make derogatory comments about you. She may try to laugh it all off as a joke, but persist in saying that you are being serious about the issue. It may be difficult to let someone go if they have been your friend for years, or even worse, if you’re married to them. In the end, though, your self-confidence is worth more than a broken relationship, isn’t it?

Once you’ve removed others’ negativity from your life, it’s time to sit down and have a good look at your own negative thoughts. Are you your own worst enemy? Do you constantly tell yourself that you’re not good enough, smart enough or pretty enough to accomplish your goals? Do you compare yourself to impossible standards, like millionaires and movie stars? Do you put yourself down for making even the simplest mistakes? Do you let nagging doubts keep you from doing something you really want to do? Remove these defeatist thoughts from your mind for an instant confidence boost.

If your job is weighing down your self-confidence, then it may be time for a career change. If your problem is with your boss or the overall corporate climate, then you may just need to change jobs. If you dread coming to work because you hate the more fundamental aspects of your position like the job duties, it may be time to look into entering a completely different field.

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