Next Up’s Top 5 Tools to Build Confidence! 

1. Make a list of your accomplishments

We recommend writing out 50! Call it ‘My 50 Successes’. Overwhelming? We know it sounds like it at first! But we know you can do it! Remember that success is so much more than jobs and money. Examples of success can be found in all areas of your life! Have you helped a friend through a hard time? Executed a complicated recipe? Have you made it through a hard time? Do you support local? Do you have great friendships? All of these are successes! 

Review this list daily :) 

2. Make a joy list and make it happen!

When we feel JOY, it is a sign that we are connected to our inner G.P.S.! What types of things do you do that make you feel joyful? It can be anything from going to the art gallery, acts of self-care, taking a workout class, singing and dancing, having a one-on-one with a close friend, or checking out neighbourhood shops… really anything that sparks joy! I used to feel guilty for doing these things, because I felt like they weren’t getting me closer to my ‘goal’. Essentially if I wasn’t working, I felt like I was wasting my time. OH how wrong I was! When we engage with activities from our joy list, we become more energized, and our serotonin goes up! That way, when we get to ‘work’ we are in a way better mood to get it done! 

3. Meditate

Anxiety is a thief of joy and confidence! When we are anxious the voice of our inner critic is often chattering away in our head without us even realizing it. Talk about annoying background noise! What if we let that voice playing on loop in the background, for the rest of our lives? By becoming mindful we come to the present moment. When we are in the present moment, we calm our body, mind and breath and have the capacity to notice that chatter. Acknowledging it, is the first step to calming it! By feeling like we have techniques (such as meditation) to choose our mindset (from anxiety to presence), we build confidence by knowing we have the ability to change our thoughts from negative to positive ones. 

4. Affirmations

Our inner critic will run wild if we don’t have tools to harness it. Once we are mindful enough to catch it speaking negatively to us, we must replace its negative statements with positive ones. These are called affirmations! Once we pull the weed that is the negative thought, we plant an affirmation in that place instead… so another weed doesn’t grow in the same place!  For example, if we say to ourselves “you are so lazy”, it’s not too helpful just to think to ourselves ‘ugh stop saying that’. Let’s REPLACE it with something positive such as, “I am worthy of rest and know it will fuel me when I get going”. Affirmations are positive statements, made in present tense, that replace negative thoughts. 

5. The Mirror Exercise

Each evening before bed, look at your beautiful self in a mirror. Really see your eyes… take a few minutes. Look deeply into them! Compliment yourself on something wonderful you did that day. It can be as big as you can imagine, or something very simple. It can even be something you didn’t do! Such as “you didn’t speed on your way to work!” (Lol! That one is for me hehe). Acknowledge yourself! Then say “(your name) I love you”. It’s important to acknowledge and connect with ourselves each day. 

Try this for a month and see what changes! 

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