Write an article based on this "Look and feel your best. Appreciate yourself for who you are. Learn to manage your fear. Create a confident mentality. Start journaling. Ask yourself confidence-building questions."
Taking good care of yourself is important to your well-being. Your hygiene, attire, and health are all worth the effort, especially if you are trying to impress at a job interview or date. Appearance and first impression are very powerful. Looking sharp puts you at an advantage and makes others more receptive to you. You'll look good and confident at a glance. Spend time each day on your hygiene. Shower, brush your teeth, and apply deodorant as often as necessary. Wear clothes that you think make you look and feel good. Your self-confidence will get a boost if you wear clothes that put you at ease and make you feel comfortable. Acting in a confident manner will make you appear to be more confident, but it's also important to find value in yourself as an individual. This will give you real confidence. You are a special, talented person, and there are plenty of people who want to see you happy. If you're struggling to do this, make a list of your accomplishments. Don't be afraid to congratulate yourself. Be honest with yourself and others. When people see that you are able to trust yourself and own up to your actions, they'll like you more. They'll also be more likely to trust and believe in you. People who lack confidence are often afraid of making a mistake, or coming across as the wrong sort of person. When anxiety rises in your mind, take a deep breath and tell yourself "I can do this. My fear isn't rational." Acknowledge the mistake or setback, but don't dwell on it. Once you've built up some confidence, try something you feel extra-anxious about. For many people, this may be asking a question in a large group, or admitting that you don't know something. If you lack confidence, you may be focusing on negative events that have shaped your life. Don't look at a mistake and see it as a failure. Instead, see it as something to learn from that can develop your character and confidence. Remember that every mistake is an opportunity to learn how to improve next time. Remind yourself of all the other times you succeeded. Everyone, no matter how confident or presentable they may be, makes mistakes. It is how you deal with them that really matters in the long run. This can reduce stress by letting you put stressful thoughts on paper (as opposed to just floating your mind), and the act of writing allows you to think about things in a different way. To start journaling, try writing a list like, "Things I Feel Proud of That I Need to Remember When I Am Upset." (This is most easily written when you are in a good mood.) These sorts of things are always true, but when we are in a bad, anxious, or less than confident mood we tend to overlook them. Keeping this kind of list handy can help remind you you have things to feel confident about. For example, you can include things like, "Proud I can play guitar," "Proud that I am a rock climber," "Proud that I can make my friends laugh when they are sad." The greatest source of feeling of confident has to come from you. When you feeling less than confident, ask yourself: What do I have that others don't? What makes me a contributing member of society? What are my challenges and how can I improve? What will give me a feeling of self-worth? Remind yourself that it's unrealistic to think you should be perfect all of the time. If you find yourself becoming anxious before an interview, for example, take five minutes before you go into the interview to try some of these stress management and confidence building techniques. Remind yourself you're prepared and are being interviewed for a reason. Stretch your arms up high and wide, then hold them on your hips. Shake out your body a bit to loosen up and take a deep breath. Strongly exhale and remind yourself that you can do this.