Having to handle a myriad of responsibilities as a graduate student is daunting, but approaching them with a confident mindset is vital to your academic and career success.

What do Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Angelina Jolie, and Jeff Bezos have in common?

They are all thought leaders who stood for their cause, whether in politics, entertainment, or e-commerce. They achieved these accomplishments with strategy, charisma, authority, and most importantly: self-confidence.

While you may not be the President or a movie star just yet, your life is a concoction of commitments including classes, extracurriculars, work, and social gatherings. Tackling these endeavors with confidence is key to ensuring you find lifelong success.

What You Need to Know About Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is a sought-after personality trait because of its tangible impact on others. A poised speaker emanating assurance and transparency displays credibility, whereas a nervous speaker comes off as uncertain! If you are a leader who is perceived to be confident and trustworthy, you will inspire others to reflect the same resiliency and optimism in their work.

It’s not all for show, either. Confident leaders are proven to have decreased fear and anxiety, increased motivation and resilience, improved relationships with others, and a stronger awareness of authentic selves. Not only is this valuable for your mental, emotional, and physical wellness, it also increases your productivity. Feeling confident instills a strong belief in self and desire for success. It becomes easier to delve into tasks, even challenging ones, without hesitation.

However, true self-confidence is not a switch that can be turned on as soon as you want. Like patience, kindness, and empathy, it needs to be developed and practiced and is essential to ensuring a positive and well-balanced life. The journey to achieving self-confidence will be arduous and lengthy, but it will pay off if you put effort into it.

Read on for some realistic and manageable ways you can spark your confidence in all aspects of life.

How to Achieve Self-Confidence

A. Hone your self-awareness, self-trust, and self-expression.

To gain clarity on where you are right now in your journey and where you want to be, focus on these three key components of authentic self-confidence:

1. Self-awareness: Ask yourself what you are responding to, chasing, or avoiding. If you assess your current behaviors, habits, and goals, you can determine what is affecting you positively or negatively as well as whether there are changes that need to be made. 

In the words of Brian Tracy, “Your ability to identify your limiting step is one of the best demonstrations of your intelligence and a set towards building self-confidence. Your capacity to eliminate this limiting step is one of the best demonstrations of your overall competence in achieving anything you want.”

2. Self-trust: Without self-trust, you may seek acceptance and criticism from others and use those as measures of success. When making decisions, it’s helpful to turn to external sources for feedback and advice in moderation. However, don’t base your goals solely on what others think. Don’t give away the power you have to make your own choices and feel good about them!

One way to increase your self-trust is by making a conscious effort to set “small, incremental micro-commitments to yourself” and ensure that you honor them. This allows you to actively decide what you are going to do and then see it through.

3. Self-expression: If you are constantly dealing with conflicts or being misunderstood by your peers, your self-confidence may drop. Developing both your communication and listening skills will enable you to express your thoughts, feelings, and intentions with accuracy. This way, you can prevent miscommunication and misperceptions and in turn, improve your relationships.

Note: Up to 80% of everyday communication is non-verbal. You may be employing facial expressions, gestures, body language, and tone of voice to say something you don’t mean, so be aware of this!

B. Take small action steps to motivate yourself

Keep yourself accountable in your quest to increase your self-confidence with these tips:

• When setting goals, use the SMART goal methodology to make them clear and achievable.
• Write down quotes that inspire you. Robert Half has compiled 12 quotes that will inspire your confidence at work, and as a bonus, they aren’t cheesy!
• Display a photograph of a time you felt confident and successful in your workspace to remind yourself of your potential
• Give yourself easy access to brain food that will give you relevant insights, whether they are TED Talks, news sources, or books. Bookmark them on your browser, keep them on your table, whatever makes them accessible to you.
• For a long-term development process, check out MindTools’ three-step guide to building your self-confidence.

C. Keep a realistic outlook.

Realize that true self-confidence is not standing out or being the loudest person in the room. When you are confident, you aren’t the one who shows off or says the most – you are someone who has learned and improved the most from your individual journey. The key to self-confidence is that it can’t be bought, but has to be earned.

In order to achieve this, you must be willing to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Sometimes, this means addressing your own fears, insecurities, and mistakes. If these affect your confidence, that’s okay! Understand that these are opportunities you can utilize for learning and self-growth. It’s important to invest in developing self-efficacy and self-esteem to achieve confidence that is genuine, not forced, as this is what truly beneficial.

Establishing authentic self-confidence is a long process, but it is readily achievable if you approach it with focus and determination. Commit to your goals and do everything in your power to achieve them, and you will be able to develop the perfect amount of confidence to take risks, push yourself, and succeed in your tasks!