Trust is vital for any relationship to work, whether it’s personal or professional. However, these relationships will fail or be one-sided unless you trust yourself. How do you increase self-belief and give yourself the trust you deserve?
Twelve Ways to Build Trust in Yourself
Practicing self-trust and a healthy love for yourself is not selfish or narcissistic. You can’t love or trust anyone else until you offer the same justice to yourself.
Self-belief can be the fuel that drives your internal flame. Here are some ways that you can learn to enhance your trust within yourself.
1. Don’t Be Caught Up in Perfectionism (It Harms Your Self-Belief)
There’s a common misconception that you must be perfect to trust yourself. Nobody is perfect, and trying to attain such a status is useless. Sadly, perfectionism may stand in your way of achieving your goals because you can’t accept mistakes.
So, because you’re afraid you can’t do something flawlessly, you do nothing. Perfectionism makes you feel like a complete failure, and your self-esteem plummets. Once you’ve embraced self-belief, you see mistakes as learning tools and reject the illusion of being perfect.
2. Give Yourself Some Slack As You Learn to Trust Yourself
Perhaps you value being tough on yourself as a virtue. Although self-reliance, courage, and perseverance are admirable, constantly berating yourself is toxic behavior. Would you have many friends if you treated them the way you treat yourself?
You needn’t lower your standards to develop self-belief and go forward with your dreams. When you’re self-compassionate, you extend the same grace to yourself as you would anybody else. Trust that you can try again even when you fall short or make a mess of things.
3. Accept Your Vulnerability
An article published by UCLA-Berkeley explores the contrast of showing vulnerability. You view the same vulnerability as a strength of character in others but as a weakness in yourself. However, says the article, embracing your vulnerability may allow you to see the beauty in a mess.
If you can trust yourself to lower your guard, other people can see your genuineness. They may be inspired to do the same, which helps in building mutual trust. It may take some time, but allowing yourself to be vulnerable will be a significant strength for you.
4. Start with Baby Steps
Is it possible that you don’t trust yourself enough to make a life-altering decision? Self-belief often starts with small risks, celebrating those victories, and moving on to larger goals.
For example, maybe you’ve wanted to lose a few pounds, but the process feels overwhelming. Instead of a significant goal of losing twenty pounds, try losing five pounds. You can also gradually modify your lifestyle and eating habits to make them healthier.
After the initial five pounds, you gain enough self-confidence to lose another five. Soon, you’ve gradually lost 20 pounds, and you trust that you can do more. You realize that you can apply this principle to other areas of your life you want to address.
5. Trust Yourself By Listening to Your Inner Voice
Perhaps this generation, more than any in the past, understands the meaning of the phrase that silence is golden. Traffic, road equipment, blaring sirens, and shouting people create a noise that overwhelms you. Your thoughts can be drowned out at home by blaring televisions, ringing phones, and noisy family members.
How can you trust yourself if you can’t hear yourself think? Listening to your inner voice is a crucial part of self-belief. You can change negative thought patterns into positive ones and attract more positive results. It’s that soft internal voice that reminds you that you have the power to achieve your goals.
Give your ears a rest and enjoy the silence as often as possible. Take a break from technology and spend some time in quiet meditation. Take a walk in the woods and let your thoughts harmonize with the songs of the birds.
6. Visualize Your Affirmations
The law of attraction works in tandem with self-belief, as you will attract whatever vibes you send into the Universe. If you send negative affirmations, the Universe will agree and get negative results. Consequently, if your affirmations are positive, you’ll attract more positive things in your life.
You make your declarations stronger with visualization. It puts action to your declarations by living as though they’ve already happened. For example, you want to be a successful entrepreneur, so you start having the confidence of one.
7. Communicate with Honesty
Many people grow up without their voice being heard, or they’re made to think that their opinions don’t matter. As you learn to trust in your abilities more, you regain your voice and are more honest with yourself about your feelings.
You don’t have to camouflage your emotions, and you can communicate with others honestly. Your self-belief will help you acknowledge your right to let them know what you’re thinking and how you feel. Not only will they respect you more, but you’ll have more respect for yourself.
8. Know What Matters Most to You
According to a study published by the Journal of Happiness Studies, defining life priorities is linked with well-being. You decide the essential things in your life and strive for them daily. As you learn to trust yourself more, you have the confidence to stand up for your priorities.
One of the best ways to help accomplish this is to make a list. It can be on a separate piece of paper or as part of your journal. Place your list where you can read it every day.
Most people list the tangible things: family, home, job, provisions, friends, etc. You’ll probably have subcategories for each of these priorities. These priorities don’t take much thought to list.
You’ll see how much you trust yourself when considering the intangible ones. How important are your spiritual walk and your relationship to the divine? What defines love and security to you or what makes you successful?
9. Turn Away from Toxic People
Everyone’s had someone in their lives who was bad news, as they were a toxic influence. These people might be a lover, family members, friends, or coworkers. These negative personalities drain your energy and frustrate you. Some may also keep you in a horrible cycle of abuse, which does nothing for your confidence or self-worth.
Toxic people are bullies and manipulators who want to control what you do and how you think. They can often beat you down so much that you don’t trust yourself to make any decisions. These are people who don’t deserve a place in your circle.
Your self-trust gives you the strength to stand up and tell them enough is enough. You deserve love, respect, and dignity, and those who can’t give it can walk away. Surround yourself with positive folks who love and support you as they should.
10. Trust Yourself With Some Self-Love
Unfortunately, many people compare themselves to the false illusions created by Hollywood. They use lights, camera tricks, computer enhancement, and makeup to represent the ideal person. These underhanded tricks are primarily aimed at women and teens.
These images rattle your self-esteem in their efforts to make you feel “less than.” Unless you have these designer clothes, drive this sports car, live in this mansion, or have this body, you’re nothing. So, this media deception has created generations of undernourished, self-absorbed people chasing empty dreams.
The good news is that you can love and trust yourself just as you are. You don’t need a specific body shape or other material goods to be considered worthy. Self-trust lets you acknowledge that you’re more than enough, and that’s all you need.
11. Build On Your Strengths
Here is a little experiment that can go a long way in trusting yourself. Step outside of yourself for a while and be an observer. Write a list of your strengths as if you were writing about someone you know.
Of course, it’s challenging to be objective when writing about yourself, even in this experiment. Just be non-judgmental and list your admirable strengths, talents, and skills. Look at this list and see how you might not have given yourself enough credit.
Are you a proficient organizer, excellent communicator, and skilled active listener? What skills have you learned that have brought you success? Are you a loyal and loving mate, family member, and friend?
12. Learn to Say No
Why do so many people feel obligated to agree to every odd request? Whether volunteering for the P.T.A. bake sale or babysitting your neighbor’s hyperactive child, you can’t say no. Somewhere in your life, people-pleasing has become a pattern for you to gain acceptance.
Give yourself permission to say no and do it often. You needn’t be rude. Just say you’re sorry, but you can’t do it. Then, you’ll have more time to do the things you want.
Final Thoughts on Learning to Trust Yourself
Today, decide that you are going to have more trust in yourself. You have the strength, intelligence, and spirit to make a beautiful life. It’s yours to have and share with those who mean the most to you.
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