Tag: self belief

By Adam Smith

A Discussion About Self-Belief

Today’s article Easy ways to improve your self-belief over time. Will discuss and understand what self-belief is and how to implement it within our lives today.

Many people, myself included would love to have endless amounts of self-belief. Even when at times I can be the most confident person in the room. Other times my confidence can go hiding in a far forgotten place. From every success story, you have heard there is some sort of self-belief that has helped someone push through challenges. For them to come out the other side victorious.

It’s all great and wonderful hearing about these people but the question is. How can we acquire self-belief to a level where we can achieve our own success in life?

By uncovering this we can all overcome the obstacles in our own way. For all the talent that all of us have at something. The limitation of our own mind can hold us back from our greatest self. So I am here to discuss more why self-belief is an important part of what we achieve in life and why it’s important to practice developing it every single day.

Why Is Self-Belief Important?

The importance of self-belief can not be underestimated as the importance of it determines our success. A great way to learn and find out how much you believe in yourself can come from sports especially individual sports like MMA or Tennis where it’s you vs your opponent. Here you will find someone may be similar in age and ability but what can really set yourself apart is your mental strength to beat your opponent.

There’s a reason why some people are in the top 10 of their chosen sports and that is down to mental strength or what I like to call self-belief in ones own ability and destiny. When a mindset at this level is achieved it’s so easy to take this into your marriage, business, or passing it on to your children. Success breeds success and when you believe in yourself anything can seem possible and because you believe it. It will become possible over time.

This can be true for people who have become amputees. What a change to your life to go from able-bodied to then being unable to do the same things you took for granted your whole life. With amazing physiotherapy sessions and new technology, people can get back to being fully functional in amazing ways now. But the real struggle is not the technology its overcoming the mental barriers. When they start to believe in themselves and how their life can go forward rather than be a burden. This is when change happens and this can be the biggest hurdle. But self-belief can play a big part in overcoming this setback.

What We All Know About Self-Belief

I think we all know deep down from our own personal experiences of the major impact self-belief can have on our outcomes. For me, one of the best memories I have of my own experience is when I was pursuing a goal of reaching management level within a company when I was in my early 20s. I was at a sticking point where I was progressing at the rate they expected me too and I was told I should probably go look for something else to do. But deep down I believed I was good enough for the role and wanted it more than anything at the time.

Then fast forward 8 months and I finally achieved the goal of achieving management status. We should look back at these experiences we have where self-belief helped us overcome a challenge. This should give us great confidence when achieving any of our goals. Knowing that with the right mindset you can achieve the goals you have.

The Science Behind Self-Belief

The best thing is that if anyone is dealing with low self-belief. Don’t worry this does not have to be a forever thing. With amazing research within neuropsychology, they uncovered neuroplasticity where neural networks in the brain change through growth and reorganization. These changes range from individual neurons making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping. In lamen terms when you decide to change your brain will change. This is why how you think about yourself and who you hang around with is super important.

A study by the University College London had 40 healthy participants who did a social evaluation task while in an MRI scanner. After uploading a profile to an online database. They received feedback, ostensibly given by 184 strangers (actually an algorithm), in the form of a thumbs-up (like) or thumbs-down (dislike). The ‘strangers’ were in different groups so that participants learned to expect positive feedback from some groups of raters, and negative feedback from other groups. After every 2-3 trials, participants reported on their self-esteem at that moment.

Participants expected to be liked by ‘strangers’ in the groups that mostly gave positive feedback, so when they received a thumbs-down from a person in that group, their self-esteem took a hit. These social prediction errors – the difference between expected and received feedback – were key to determining self-esteem.

The Round-Up

This study shows the effect our self-belief can be affected by others if we let it. It’s true when someone says discouraging words or treats you differently. It can have an effect on all of us.

That’s why for example sports stars like Anthony Joshua has a team around him that he trusts, offers him confidence and produces great mental preparation for his training and fights.

Imagine if it was the opposite and no one in his camp liked him or believed in him. With such small margins in boxing, this could have a major impact on the performance of the outcome.

Practical Steps To Practice

• Seek people and activities that boost self-belief
• No matter how low you feel you can change through neuroplasticity
• Look back on your past experiences where you have shown great self-belief to help you in the present
• It’s an ever-changing process so it has to be worked on every day to see its full benefits

Final Thoughts From The Future Mindset

From my own experience and scientific research, it has shown the power self-belief can have on our life’s. Its the reason why many people succeed in their chose fields of expertise and why another fall short. How you view yourself is so important for the future you want and who you spend time with can reflect where you end up in life.

I hope this helps you to understand that you are in control of how you feel and don’t worry if you are not always at your best. Just remember there’s always a new day where you can change the outcome.

I would love any feedback on this post Easy ways to improve your self-belief over time. I really hope it helps. See you on the next post!