Low self confidence can be a big problem in your life. It can hold you back in so many areas so that you never reach your full potential and so the low self confidence becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Do you find yourself getting overly upset when someone criticizes you?
Do you avoid trying out new things?
Do you keep your opinions and views to yourself, especially to avoid confrontation?
Do you often think that you lack the ability to do something?

If you have answered yes' to any of these questions, it is likely you are suffering from low self confidence. Low self confidence can cause depression, poor relationships and the inability to change.

Low self confidence is often blamed on early childhood events. Lack of parental support or encouragement and constant criticism are often cited as key causes of low self confidence.

However, your low self confidence cannot be blamed solely on your parents. You must take responsibility for your part and take steps to overcome your low self confidence. Act confident.

Often the fastest way to improve your confidence level is by simply acting confident. Groom yourself carefully, dress appropriately and carry yourself with excellent posture. These simple things will actually make you feel more confident over time.

1. Pat yourself on the back - If you achieve a success, don't let it go on noticed. Celebrate your success, no matter how small they seem. Give yourself a pat on the back and reward your success.

2. Surround yourself with positive people - One of the worse things a person with low confidence can do is surround themselves with negative people. Negative people typically have low confidence themselves, and even if they don't, listening to negative comments will do nothing but bring you down. Find positive people to put your life in perspective.

3. Realize you are the best friend you will every have - Don't treat yourself harshly or poorly by constantly critiquing yourself. Learn to treat yourself with the respect you deserve. You are person of worth and value, a person that is deserving of love. Compliment yourself often. It will change the way you look at yourself and improve your self confidence.

4. Think positively - Positive thinking doesn't come naturally to everyone, so you may have to practice this one a little bit. A great way to do this is by thinking of three positive things about your day each night before you go to bed. Before long, you will have silenced that nagging negative inner voice and feel much more confident.

5. Be prepared - Any time you are required to do something that you are not confident about, make sure you do your homework. Get yourself ready, equipped with the knowledge you will need in order to complete the task well. Make sure you have all the needed tools at your disposal and you should feel much more confident about tackling the task.

6. Get into the right mindset - Sometimes, in fact, often you can worry yourself into thinking things are worse than they are and that you are at far more risk than you really are. This can be especially true when you anticipate embarrassment. Most of us fear embarrassment and making a fool of ourselves far more than we fear anything else. That fear can make you lack confidence even more.

So, to overcome this fear of embarrassment and failure, ask yourself what really is the worse thing that can happen to you if you fail in your task. Rarely will it be something from which you can recover. Once you can see that failing at a task is not going to cause you serious problems, you should be able to tackle the task more confidently.

Low self confidence is a problem that many people have to deal with. It is also a problem that can be overcome. Learning to treat yourself with respect and to love who you are, faults and all, is the first step in improving your low self confidence level.

Surround yourself with positive people and thoughts and celebrate success. Becoming a person with high self confidence is not an easy thing, but it is possible. It will take some time and all lot of effort on your part, but it will be time well spent as you become a confident person who is ready to face the challenges of life head on and succeed.

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