12 Things Truly Confident People Do Differently Confidence takes many forms, from the arrogance of Floyd Mayweather to the quiet self-assurance of Jane Goodall. True confidence—as oosed to the false confidence eole ro!ect to mask their insecurities—has a look all its own. "hen it comes to confidence, one thing is certain# truly confident eole always ha$e the uer hand o$er the dou%tful and the skittish, %ecause they insire others and they make things haen. & think 'enry Ford said it %est# "hether you think you can, or you think you can(t—you(re right. Ford(s notion that your mentality has a owerful effect uon your a%ility to succeed is manifest in the results of a recent study at the )ni$ersity of Mel%ourne where confident eole went on to earn higher wages and get romoted more quickly than anyone else. *earning to %e confident is clearly imortant, %ut what is it that truly confident eole do that sets them aart from e$eryone else+ & did some digging to unco$er the cardinal ha%its of truly confident eole, so that you can incororate these %eha$iors into your reertoire. reertoire. 1. They Get Their Happiness From Within 'ainess is a critical element of confidence, %ecause in order to % e confident in what you do, do , you ha$e to %e hay with who you are. are . eole who %rim with confidence deri$e their sense of leasure and satisfaction from their own accomlishments, as oosed to what other people think of their accomlishments. They know that no matter what anyone says, you(re ne$er as good or %ad as eole say you are. 2. They Don’t Pass Judgment Confident eole don(t ass !udgment on others %ecause they know that e$eryone has something to offer, and they don(t need to take other eole down a notch in order to feel good a%out themsel$es. Comaring yourself to other eole is limiting. Confident eole don(t waste time si/ing eole u and worrying a%out whether or not they measure u to e$eryone they meet. 3. They Don’t Say Yes n!ess They "ea!!y Want To 0esearch conducted at the )ni$ersity of California in 1an Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you ha$e saying no, the more likely you are to e2erience stress, %urnout, and e$en deression. Confident eole know that saying no is healthy and they ha$e the self-esteem to make their no(s clear. "hen it(s time to say no, confident
eole a$oid hrases like 3& don(t think & can4 or 3&(m not certain.4 They say no with confidence %ecause they know that saying no to a new commitment honors their e2isting commitments and gi$es them the oortunity to successfully fulfill them. #. They $isten %ore Than They Spea& eole with confidence listen more than they seak %ecause they don(t feel like they ha$e anything to ro$e. Confident eole know that %y acti$ely listening and aying attention to others, they are much more likely to learn and grow. &nstead of seeing interactions as oortunities to ro$e themsel$es to others, they focus on the interaction itself, %ecause they know this is a far more en!oya%le and roducti$e aroach to eole. '. They Spea& With (ertainty &t(s rare to hear the truly confident utter hrases like, 3)m,4 3&(m not sure,4 and 3& think.4 Confident eole seak asserti$ely %ecause they know that it(s difficult to get eole to listen to you if you can(t deli$er your ideas with con$iction. ). They See& *ut Sma!! +i,tories Confident eole like to challenge themsel$es and comete, e$en when their efforts yield small $ictories. 1mall $ictories %uild new androgen recetors in the areas of the %rain resonsi%le for reward and moti$ation. The increase in androgen recetors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases their confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges. "hen you ha$e a series of small $ictories, the %oost in your confidence can last for months. -. They /er,ise 5 study conducted at 6astern 7ntario 0esearch &nstitute found that eole who e2ercised twice a week for 8 weeks felt more cometent socially, academically, and athletically. They also rated their %ody image and self-esteem as %eing higher. 9est of all, hysical changes in their %odies were not resonsi%le for the utick in confidence. &t was the immediate, endorhin-fueled ositi$ity from e2ercise that made all the difference. 0. They Don’t See& ttention eole are turned off %y those who are deserate for attention. Confident eole know that %eing yourself is much more effecti$e than trying to ro$e that you(re imortant. eole catch on to your attitude quickly and are more attracted to the right attitude than what—or how many eole—you know. 5nd confident eole always seem to %ring the right attitude.
Confident eole are masters of attention diffusion. "hen they(re %eing gi$en attention for an accomlishment, they quickly shift the focus to all the eole who worked hard to hel get them there. They don(t cra$e the aro$al or raise %ecause they draw their self-worth from within. . They ren’t raid to 4e 5rong Confident eole aren(t afraid to %e ro$en wrong. They like utting their oinion out there to see if it holds u, %ecause they learn a lot from the times they are wrong and other eole learn from them when they(re right. 1elfassured eole know what they are caa%le of and don(t treat %eing wrong as a ersonal slight. 16. They Sti,& Their 7e,& *ut "hen confident eole see an oortunity they take it. &nstead of worrying a%out what could go wrong they ask themsel$es, 3"hat(s stoing me+ "hy can(t & do that+4 5nd they go for it. Fear doesn(t hold them %ack %ecause they know that if they ne$er try they will ne$er succeed and failure is !ust a great way to learn. 11. They (e!e4rate *ther Peop!e &nsecure eole constantly dou%t their rele$ance and %ecause of this they try to steal the sotlight and critici/e others in order to ro$e their worth. Confident eole, on the other hand, aren(t worried a%out their rele$ance %ecause they draw their self-worth from within. &nstead of insecurely focusing inward, confident eole focus outward, which allows them to see all of the wonderful things that other eole %ring to the ta%le. raising eole for their contri%utions is a natural result of this. 12. They ren’t raid To s& For He!p Confident eole know that asking other eole for hel won(t make them seem weak or unintelligent. They know their strengths and weaknesses and they look to others to fill the gas. They also know that learning from someone with more e2ertise is a great way to imro$e.
