Promote your Work With Confidence

These days it’s no longer a matter of whether an author should promote their work, but how strategically they should go about it. The unfortunate truth is that writers often fail to promote their works heavily enough. However is clearly evident that the author’s extra efforts make all the difference between a piece becoming a long-lived seller or being an out right proverbial flop.

So, what should one do to make sure this doesn’t occur? Consider your target audience!

Presumably, your work is aimed at a particular market or markets. Perhaps it is nutrition, parenting, health, travel, mystery fans, or nature. The first thing you should do is to track down the magazines that are read by the people who will be reading your book.

But before sending a press release to the publication, take time out to find the editor who reviews books or who covers the subject that you’ve written about.

Here are some ways to self-promote your book:

• Create Your Website/Publish a snippet on an Article Directory
• Arranging for an Author Interview
• Trade Shows
• Email Newsletters
• Magazine Articles

A large part of promoting your book is promoting yourself and making sure your name is recognizable to your target audience. While you may not reach cult status, you can go a long way to establish yourself as an expert on your subject matter by becoming heavily involved in the community for which you write. To Brand yourself and your work do the following:

Create Your Website/Publish a snippet on an Article Directory

Websites have become crucial marketing tools for authors and are a great calling card. Create a website that provides value to your audience and lets them get to know you and your work. Give people extra tips and tricks they won’t find in the book, update any outdated information and provide news and reviews of your books and news that you know of in the community. If you are really ambitious you can create your own community around your website.

Put the word out there – make sure you create plenty of awareness in the places that matter. One sure fire effective way of doing this is to submit/publish a snippet of your work to an online article directory, much like this one. Not only will a site like PushWord.com allow you to get your work out there for free, but it will also provide you with massive audience exposure, which is just what you will need to make your work a success.

Arranging for an Author Interview

Many publishers have done marketing studies showing that authors who provide comments on their books or participates in author interviews on the online bookstores sell more books online. This is a no-brainer as it doesn’t take much of your time and is perceived as an added value for your reader. Large websites, such as Borders.com, make a practice of interviewing authors.

Trade Shows are a fantastic place to promote your book. Every attendee and speaker is a possible book-buyer. Try to arrange with your publisher to do a book signing either at their booth or at the trade show bookstore. Many authors sell thousands of their books at a single trade show. If you can find a chance to speak at a trade show or are invited to speak on one of the panels, the best bet to opt for. Asid Trade Shows e from being great book publicity, it’s another way to get your name out there in the community.

Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are a great direct marketing tool. Though a lot of work, if done right they can lead to huge name recognition and royalty checks from book sales. Several authors have had tremendous success with their email newsletters to the tune of thousands of subscribers. A good example is the Kabalarian Philosophy Electronic Newsletter.

Magazine Articles

Article bylines have long been good book promoters. Research the major trade journals on your subject matter both in print and online and pitch article ideas tangential to your book topic. Also, you should consider writing for some major websites that serve your topic area. You can often attach excerpts from your books (ask your publisher for permission) to contribute to popular sites, which promotes your book at the same time. www.Pushword.com is a fantastic example of this.

Last but not the least, become a bit philanthropic and with a large heart give away your books for free among critics, friends and family. Also add your website URL in all your outgoing e-mails and correspondence. More mails obviously mean more views for your book!

Three Proven Strategies to Develop Public Presentation Confidence

The first of my three strategies is this: if you don’t feel calm, fake it. That’s right. If you cannot be genuinely cool, calm and confident pretend you are. I’m going to show you how to fake it, to act as if you’re calm and confident.

To see how a change in your thinking will affect your bodily reactions and symptoms of fear, think about your impending public presentation. Do you immediately feel that all-too-familiar stab of fear? We sometimes call them butterflies in the tummy. Tuning in to those feelings lets you experience with me how those feelings are only that: feelings. And you can also see clearly that it’s YOUR THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES which have produced the feelings – the butterflies, the dry mouth, the racing pulse, the quivery voice. Your memories of previous fear-filled events, have triggered symptoms of fear.

For our first way to greater confidence, please take these steps:

Deliberately open your mouth just a little bit, and consciously let your tongue go very limp.

Look at yourself in the mirror. It’s physically impossible for you to be tense and anxious while you’re opening your mouth just a little bit, and while you’re keeping your tongue limp and relaxed.

Now that I’ve got you relaxed, a little…talk to yourself in the mirror. It’s alright. There’s only you and me here and I won’t tell anyone. Keeping your tongue very limp and your mouth, chin and jaw areas very loose, say a few words. For instance, try saying “I’m feeling really terrified about that talk next Tuesday.”

Now, please go and get your speaking notes, the ones you’ve prepared for the talk. If you haven’t finished your preparation, postpone this exercise until you have an outline of your talk distilled to speaking notes which will be your special prompts or cues on the big day.

With those brief notes, stand in front of the mirror again. Keep your mouth nice and relaxed. Let’s forget about keeping your tongue too limp, just concentrate on looking at yourself in the mirror knowing that your face from the nose down, is relaxed.

With that very relaxed mouth, start giving your talk. Smile at the little joke you’ll tell your audience next week. Look suitably worried when you give that statistic about the spread of illiteracy or poverty. That’s the first strategy.

Maybe you want to say to me: “But Jeannette, I’ve only been pretending that I was feeling calm and confident about that next presentation. I’ve only been acting as if I was truly calm and confident for the sake of this exercise”. My response?

“Think about this, my sweetness. During the five minutes or so that you were doing that exercise, you WERE calm and relaxed. And you can feel that very same way in front of an audience”.

In my counselling and coaching, and in my e-kit Calming Words, I constantly remind people to be kind to themselves. To take little steps toward your confident self. Next step is to do that calm relaxed rehearsal again with an audience of a few family and friends. Tell them you’re doing an experiment.

If you don’t have time to get a little friendly audience together, remember I’m up there with you at your next presentation. Feel my calming presence next to you.

Just before you start your presentation, do this: open your mouth a little and remember that image of you standing relaxed in front of the mirrror. The mind is a marvellous thing. Just by triggering that memory of that relaxed state, will re-produce that feeling. Finish this sentence: if my memories of fear can produce feelings of fear, my memories of speaking in a confident and relaxed way can produce feelings of being _________and _______.

SECOND STRATEGY: LET’S GET PHYSICAL AND REALLY TENSE Some people respond better to physical ways to feel more relaxed. This is a tactic used by actors before going onstage. Stand at arm’s length away from a wall. Place both your palms flat on the wall at about shoulder height in front of you. Push against the wall with your palms – as if you were trying to push the wall down.

Notice that your abdominal area is totally engaged in that effort. It is those muscles in your solar plexus that are vital to keeping you centred and calm. While engaged in that physical effort your body cannot also produce the noradrenaline which is the precursor to those panicky feelings of fear.

Even in this short article, I do need you to understand that there is a physical relationship between:

The way you breathe,

How you stand and hold your abdominal muscles and

How you speak.

Doing exercises to strengthen your abdominal muscles and to become more aware of them, will be of great assistance to you in controlling nervousness.

Contracting those muscles reduces or stops the production of norepinephrine or noradrenaline – the panic hormone. In fact, one of your body’s major nerve-control centres lies behind what’s called The Vital Triangle, so controlling that area is good also for control of anger and pain.

THIRD STRATEGY – VISUALISE SUCCESS Another strategy to assuage your own nervousness is to make sure that you’re totally familiar with the venue at which you’ll speak. When you’re practising or rehearsing your presentation in front of the mirror, when you’re smiling and basking in the positive feelings from the audience, imagine that you’re there in that auditorium or theatre and on that stage. See the colour of the curtains. Or even their color! Visualise the placement of the chairs for your audience. Put as much detail as you can into your visualisation. Feel it.

That marvellous feeling of actually being there and feeling calm and confident.

My three strategies or public speaking tips were… just the tip of the iceberg. To your continued happiness and success.

Making Sure You Order Customized Silicone Bracelets With Confidence

So, your school has this event wherein you will be needing rubber silicone bracelets for tickets. And you need them ASAP. Who do you call?

There are a lot of manufacturers of rubber silicone bracelets out there but how will you know if these companies are 100% legitimate. Of course you contact them and let them know what you need but in the end you find out that the company who says that they will produce the rubber silicone wristbands is fraudulent.

First thing you should look for in a rubber silicone bracelet manufacturer is the way they talk to you. Most of the time, fake rubber silicone bracelet manufacturers use wrong grammar. They also forget to capitalize the letters of the first word after the end of the previous sentence.

Second thing that you should realize is if they are always forcing you to pay for the rubber silicone wristbands even if you haven’t confirmed the design yet. Just an advise, don’t pay for anything that you haven’t confirmed yet. There are a lot of cases like this.

Lastly, you would know whether a company is legitimate or not when it comes to the way they talk to you. A legitimate rubber silicone bracelet company will give you a great service. They will also produce the bracelets according to your specifications. If you encounter a company that deals with you professionally, rest- assured that the rubber silicone bracelet company you are talking to is 100% legitimate.

So don’t be fooled by fraudulent rubber silicone bracelet companies. Be sure that they use the correct grammar, and they don’t force you to pay for the rubber silicone bracelets. Lastly, the company should be professional when it comes to communicating with you, the customer who wants the rubber silicone bracelets.

Build The Confidence To Approach Other People, Through The Power

Do you often feel uncomfortable in a social situation? Perhaps
you’re overly shy? Or your stomach ties up in knots at the
thought of approaching someone even just to say “Hi!”

Well the good news is that there are many techniques which you
can use to help you overcome this problem of social shyness or
anxiety. I’m going to share one of my favourites below. But
first, three important points that need to be highlighted (so
imagine them covered by ink from a bright yellow fluoro
highlighter pen)

1. Don’t expect to get the confidence of Tony Robbins in one
day. All changes happen in small steps. Make an effort to
stretch yourself just a little bit further every day. And
celebrate your victories, no matter how small they are. Those
small victories will over time grow into a massive change in
your confidence.

2. The best way to overcome a fear is to face it and succeed.
What I’m presenting today is one way to build the courage to
face your fear. What you need to do though is not only use it,
but also search out a whole host of other techniques as well.
And use them! Different techniques may be more appropriate for
different situations. We’ll of course be talking about many of
the other techniques in future articles.

3. As always, if your social shyness or anxiety is causing
difficulties in your life, please consider talking to a doctor
or a counsellor. They will be able to expand on this strategy,
and provide you with many more. They really can help.

So, as promised, here’s one of my favourite techniques for
helping you feel more confident as you approach other people in
a social situation.

You will be tapping into one of the greatest powers you have
within you. More powerful than all the fear you may currently
feel.

That power is compassion.

In many of us though it lies asleep, a luxury we feel we can’t
afford just yet. Maybe something we’ll get around to exploring
when we get over our problems and start feeling happy about
ourselves. After all, how can we be compassionate towards others
when we don’t even feel good about ourselves?

Is that what you think?

Well, I think we’re better served by looking at things from a
different perspective. One that sees compassion not only as a
tool for helping others, but also for helping ourselves.

So, how do we use compassion in this situation?

SEE THE OTHER PEOPLE AS BEING JUST LIKE YOU!

They are human. Somewhere within them they have fears too. Their
fears may not be visible to you on the surface, but they’re
there. We are all human.

We all desire human contact!

We all desire friendship!

We all desire to be loved!

So before approaching someone, remind yourself that they too may
have difficulties making the first move. They may be waiting for
someone to talk to about their problems and their issues. They
may be waiting for someone just like you, who can understand
them and their own fears. Someone just like you, with a heart
filled with compassion and love. And perhaps in time, if a
friendship develops, you can help them with their own fears.

Why does this work? Simply because it takes the focus off you,
and places it onto the other person. How can you help them? How
can you be their friend in a time of need?

Of course, don’t approach them with these questions directly. It
would not be appropriate in most social situations, especially
if you don’t know the person yet. Just approach them with this
understanding, that they’re just like you. They too are human.
Make conversation. Talk about them, and their interests. Many
times this may lead nowhere. Sometimes though, it could develop
into one of the best friendships of your life.

They’re just like you. So there’s no need to be afraid. They
also want someone to talk to. Help them!

You can let your shyness or anxiety be a source of fear within
yourself, or you can let it build your compassion towards others
who are also facing their own demons. Choose compassion! In
return, you will also be helping yourself overcome your own
fears, one conversation at a time.

Lance Begg

How To Build Investor Confidence Through Good Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance, once relegated as a nice-to-have, has never been higher on the agenda of companies than it is now. Tough new regulations have been drafted, originating in the US, to try and restore investor confidence that has been eroded not only by the volatility of the stock market but by a string of public governance failures such as those at Enron, WorldCom, Martha Stewart etc

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the Act), named after the two US senators who proposed the bill, is designed to restore investor confidence through the implementation of strong prescriptive measures centered around Corporate Governance.

The most important outcome of the Act is to make Directors personally and criminally liable for infringements of the Act, notably the misstatement of information within financial statements (referred to as Section 404), and roles and responsibilities of a firms Board of Directors.

Evidence of the enforcement of this Act is best illustrated by a number of high profile cases, brought to court prior to the Act’s enactment, such as the ex-CFO of Enron, Andy Fastow, who has had his assets frozen and has been indicted him on 78 federal charges of money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

The Act affects all companies listed on any U.S. Exchange, including non-US companies, but is being adopted throughout the world by countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Canada and to a certain extent almost every other country in the world. Companies hoping to list or be acquired would also do well to adopt many of the tenets within the Act if they wish such a move to be fruitful.

Though the Act is seen by many as a knee-jerk reaction to the scandals that have plagued the markets in recent years, much of what is being recommended is just good business practice with the oversight role of a companys board and its audit committee in achieving an effective control environment being promulgated by the COSO (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission) internal control framework. COSO details that the control environment is influenced significantly by a firms board of directors and audit committee.

Boards should, and must, be held accountable for their actions and the influence they have on the ethical behaviour of Company employees.

The Cost of Compliance

The cost of the Act to all businesses has been high. Many firms have had to increase the size of their internal audit departments to cope with the provisions of Section 404 or recruit more members to the Board to comply with the governance requirements. Key-man or Directors & Officers (or Professional Indemnity) premiums have risen between 200 and 400% to guard insurance companies and underwriters against the increased likelihood that lawsuits may be brought against Directors.

Audit fees have jumped between 15 and 30% to cover auditors costs of increasing the size of audit teams needed to perform audits with extra assurance and to guard themselves about making incorrect judgments regarding the accuracy of financial statements.

For a start up business why is this important?

Traditionally in a start up phase the direction of a company is guided by its founding fathers. In the case of BioTech companies these are usually scientists with a basic understanding of finance. In order to gain the trust of either the market or Venture Capital firms an experienced financial practitioner, such as an ACA or CPA should be sought to add credibility and to enact control over the organization. The Act stipulates the need to have an expert on the Audit Committee with an expert being defined as someone who has the knowledge and experience to give assurance over both the internal controls and financial reporting environment.

It is never too early to start enforcing controls in spending at an organization. The inability to control costs or to come up with a sound business plan has caused the downfall of many firms. Most notably this has been seen in the dot-bomb bubble where billions of dollars of Venture Capital was spent on companies who had no experience in drawing up business plans that would ever generate a profit or had no controls over how the capital raised was to be spent.

Building a Board of Directors who have industry expertise and business acumen is just good practice. Diversification of these risks will only enhance a firms ability to navigate its way to success and avoid the pitfalls that plague start up firms.

The importance of good governance

1. Reputational impact mitigants - Reputational risks in terms of ethical behavior, restatement of financial statements (and any failures caught by Venture Capital firms in their due diligence work) can adversely affect a companies valuation

2. It will easier to attract good non-executive directors if they perceive that the likelihood of loss arising from taking a position is small (as they can be legally liable for non-ethical behavior of a firm). In fact there is a severe shortage of good non executive director candidates because the potential cost to them in case of legal actions outweighs the benefits associated with the position (i.e. the salary)

3. Good governance and a disciplined approach to financial controls can save you money (especially in control of expenditure)

4. Leads to potential reduction in both audit fees and insurance premiums through changing the control mindset of an organization

5. By implementing a more formal methodology for evaluating business risks and controls will enable CEOs to run their business more efficiently and effectively whilst reducing the likelihood of operational breakdown, litigation and fraud

Tips To Improve Confidence By Improving Self Esteem

Not many people take the time to actually think about the real meaning of self esteem even though they may think they know about it. It relates to specific parts of your personality and the way you project those parts creating your identity. It isn’t a alternative phrase for confidence despite what many people think. Attitudes make up the social context of your personality and to leave your mark on the world around you and be yourself require it.

The success of an individual often depends greatly on how they and others see them – their public persona. Those with high self esteem are often more motivated to achieve their goals and often go about it with a strong will. Often other individuals will be envious because it results in increased confidence.

If you find you are lacking contentment, satisfaction or energy in your life then this often means you are suffering from a low level of self esteem. Individuals often feel that they can’t succeed in life and have difficulty functioning as an independent individual. As a result of this mindset it can sometimes lead to depression and anxiety.

Many people in today’s world view mistakes as a shameful event rather than as a learning experience. You can build up your confidence if you regard your mistakes as a learning experience resulting in you becoming a more mature individual. To decide if your life is on the right path, or if you need to change course, is a consequence of analysing your mistakes. Consider your mistakes as a lesson that can teach you more about yourself rather than as an error.

To increase your levels you need to give yourself a purpose and to do this you should set goals to reach. Each goal should be something that motivates you and be something you have long wanted to accomplish. Once you reach your goals you will have a sense of accomplishment and this will help increase your self esteem.

In line with setting goals you should give yourself rewards when you achieve your goals. This way you can not only have personal satisfaction of achieving a goal, but you will also have something you can enjoy.

The fastest way to destroy your self esteem is through negative behavior or language. Always try to speak in positive language and use positive behavior. Show this positive attitude to the World even if you don’t feel it on the inside. In a real sense we are defined by our behaiour not our fears. If you act as though you believe in yourself your it will increase as a consequence.

Impress Your Date With Your Self Confidence

Dating can be stressful and nerve wracking. You might feel like you are under a microscope and all your failures and faults are exposed in the open. But you can make things easier on yourself by boosting your confidence. You’ll be much more attractive to any date when you exude self confidence plus you’ll be able to enjoy yourself more and get much more out of the dating experience.

Since the whole point of dating is getting to know someone better, most people are nervous about making a good impression. Self doubts can creep in - are you smart enough? Attractive enough? Successful enough? That coupled with the threat of rejection is enough to make anyone’s confidence go south.

So how can you increase your confidence for your next date?

First off, don’t blow the date all out of proportion. It is just a date - one afternoon or evening. The rest of your life does not depend on it, although of course, you could be meeting your future spouse! Whether you are just looking for a fun night out or desperately trying to find Mr or Mrs right, it is best to just focus on the date itself. Take it for what it is and don’t put a lot of pressure on the event. Enjoy the person you are on the date with and the meal, movie or whatever - don’t have any great expectations other than a fun date.

Go into the date thinking of yourself as a person that has a lot of confidence. We’ve all seen them, the person that sweeps into the room and turns heads even when they might not be the most attractive or best dressed. If you picture yourself as confident then you will act this way - even when you don’t really feel it.

You’ve heard it before but the best way to have confidence on a date is to be yourself. Don’t try to impress your date by acting like someone you are not because you will not have the confidence to pull it off. If you hit it off with your date, you’ll be glad you weren’t pretending to be someone else as it will only be exposed later and could really much things up for you. Plus it just takes too much effort to pretend to be someone else and you won’t be able to enjoy yourself as much. And anyway, why wouldn’t your date like you for who you are?

If you feel insecure about yourself, focus on the other person. Become interested in their hobbies, likes dislikes and really think about what they have to say. When you put them in the spotlight it takes the spotlight off of you, plus you get to learn a lot about them. Ask questions and really hear the answers then ask more questions about the answers. Of course, you want to do this in a conversational way and not make your date feel like you are grilling them! While you don’t want to talk just about yourself the whole time you also don’t want to make it seem like you are avoiding answering their questions. When you do talk about yourself highlight your positive points.

Another way to take some of the pressure out of a date is to do something different instead of sitting at dinner and feeling insecure about coming up with 3 hours of conversation with someone you don’t know. Find a common interest, perhaps hiking or bird watching and make that date to do that. This way you can talk about your experiences related to t his interest and it will take a lot of the pressure off as well as boost your self confidence as you will be talking about something you know a lot about!

The main thing when dating is to remember that you are a valuable and special person. Don’t feel inferior to anyone and be confident - this will help win you many friends and, maybe even that special someone!

Improving Your Self Confidence

When you project self confidence you get further ahead. You feel better about yourself and people like to be around you. More opportunities open up for you naturally. Not everyone is “born” with self confidence but even if your confidence is low, there are some things you can do to improve on it.

The first thing you must do to gain self confidence is to accept and love yourself. Remember that no one is perfect so don’t beat yourself up over a few flaws. You must accept them and think about all your great qualities. Doing so will free your mind of a heavy baggage of unnecessary worries and you will instantly feel light and cheerful.

Another thing you must do is to participate in activities that you enjoy. When is that last time you enjoyed a walk outdoors or some activity you loved to do when you were young? This might seem like a little thing but these simple things have the power to add on to build great confidence and fulfillment. Take some time each day to do something you enjoy and reflect on your special abilities. Since you enjoy doing that activity, it means that you have all the aptitude and intelligence necessary to do the job effortlessly even though you may not realize it.

Setting and achieving your goals is another step in gaining self confidence but many people set unrealistic goals and when they fail to achieve them it undermines their self confidence. Even if you have a lofty goal, break it down into smaller steps. Then you can check off each completed step as a goal successfully reached and be that much closer to your ultimate “big” goal.

The people you associate with play an important role in your self confidence. If your loved ones are always criticizing you then this will do nothing for your self confidence. You need to stay away from people like this and gravitate towards those with a positive outlook that will support you. This will do wonders for your self confidence!

In addition to listening to what others have to say about you, you need to be aware of your own self talk. Do you think “I could never do that?” or “I didn’t do a good job” a lot? You must change this type of self talk to be more positive. How about â??I did my best and it came out pretty good” instead? You need to realize that you are a unique individual with your own special place in the world and realize you can succeed at any reasonable task and can handle lifes daily tests. The key is to not become so over confident that you stop listening to others and think that you know everything. Taking in others perceptions, criticisms and praise and filtering it so that you only take in what will help make you better will help in your self confidence in the long run.

Your self picture is what feeds your self confidence and this needs constant monitoring and care. Don’t underestimate yourself and guard against letting feelings of inferiority in. Always shoot for your best and most reasonable goals and keep your strong points in mind.

A good practice is to write down some short term and long term plans. Where would you like to be 5 years from now? Break that down into smaller steps and go about executing your plan. Also write down all your strong points - what you do well and the things you usually receive compliments on. At the same time, write down a few things you would like to work on improving. Have a self image of yourself as confident and proceed to act this way even when you are not feeling confident, this will go a long way in adjusting your attitude. When negative feelings or feelings of inferiority creep in, simply push them away. If they insist on coming back, set them aside to think about at the end of the day and go on with your business using your confident attitude.

Taking responsibility for your thoughts and actions and practicing self confidence will go a long way toward improving your self confidence helping you reach your goals and enriching your life!

Greater Confidence: a Critical Factor of Success in Important Interviews

Job interviews can be quite nerve racking at times but to be successful you must face your interviewer with confidence. Your demeanor will determine how your interviewer views you. A confident person is always an asset to the company, as they will project a strong image of the business to prospective customers and clients. You can build up confidence in several ways.

Be knowledgeable about the field you are trying to get a job for. When you know your subject you do not need to worry about what the interviewer may ask because you will be ready to answer any question. This is how you are meant to come across to the interviewer. Be prepared for standard questions and maybe some tough ones. Think carefully before answering.

Know what to expect. Talk to others who have had similar interviews. Interviewers have a standard pattern for taking interviews because they do so many. Therefore if you know anybody who has applied for this type of job before you can get an idea of what questions they may be asking.

Remember not to be intimidated by the interviewer. They are just another person and should be treated as such. If you think of them in this way you will be able to be more comfortable when talking to them and show more confidence.

A handshake tells a lot about a person and can show the person you are shaking hands with a good deal about your character. Give your interviewer a strong firm handshake. This will impress them with the fact that you have a strong confident personality.

Another very important thing to do is to look your interviewer straight in the eyes and make eye contact. This shows them that you are not intimidated by anyone and have the confidence to perform the duties required for the job. It will demonstrate to them that you are ready and able to take on any challenge the job may pose.

Even if you are feeling nervous try not to show it. Confidence is largely an act and is part of your attitude. If you feel good about yourself you will project an appearance of confidence even if you are really feeling nervous inside.

Seven Easy Ways to Build Unshakeable Confidence

Just about everybody will suffer from a lack of confidence at some time. Having a set of simple exercises you can practice during these times is an invaluable aid to getting your confidence level back on track as quickly as possible.

Here are seven things you can do to boost or maintain your confidence.

1. Practice correct posture. This might not sound like it’s obviously related to confidence, but how you sit and how you stand sends a message out to those around you. If that message radiates confidence out from you, you will get positive vibes back which will bolster your confidence. So, learn to stand like you have confidence and sit like you have confidence.

2. Surround yourself with confident and positive people. It may seem self-evident, but if you are consistently mixing with people of low self-esteem, this is going to rub off on you. Conversely, if the people around you are upbeat and assured, this will tend to create a positive atmosphere that you will benefit from.

3. Remember a time when you felt confident. Confidence is a feeling, and if you’ve felt it once, you can feel it again. Remembering back to a time when you felt confident and in control will enable you to re-experience that feeling and help to put you in a confident frame of mind.

4. Practice. Whatever it is you want to feel confident about, practice it as often as you can. When you work on something until you could do it in your sleep, you can’t fail to be confident in your ability to perform when it matters.

5. Think about all of the things you like about yourself and all of the things you know you do well. If you have any trouble doing this, think about the compliments you get from people - what are they telling you - you do well? It’s a good idea to write these things down so you’ll have them to refer to when your confidence is flagging and you need some inspiration.

6. Don’t give yourself a hard time. Don’t be your own worst critic, be your own best friend. After all, if a friend of yours was going through a tough time, you wouldn’t get on their case, would you? No, of course you wouldn’t. Positive self-talk can be one of your best weapons for confidence-boosting, so make sure you cultivate the habit.

7. Don’t be afraid to take risks. If you become a regular risk-taker you’ll find that it’s inevitable that you’ll grow in confidence as a result. There really is nothing like forcing yourself out of your comfort zone to increase your confidence. It will also serve to reduce your fear of the unknown, which can be a great confidence-sapper.

Remember, you do have talents and abilities. Make sure you give yourself due credit for these on a regular basis and this will prove to be the very best springboard for building unstoppable confidence.