When we talk about self-confidence or self-esteem, we generally talk about the outer world, how we carry ourselves and how we interact with others. But that is not enough. We have to work on our inner world as well.
In the 1950s there was a plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz. He discovered that two types of people came to him. The first category of people had a strong inner world and after the surgery, their life changed radically. The second category of people had a weak inner world and even after the plastic surgery, they felt ugly though they were objectively beautiful.
It happened because our inner world, determines our outer world. Our outer world in 25% of who we are and our inner world is 75% of who we are. Inner world consists of Emotional Dimension, Spiritual Dimension and Mental Dimension. In this blog we will explore all these three dimensions along with the physical dimension(outer world) and how to increase self-confidence and self-esteem in all the four dimensions.
1. Mental Dimension
This dimension determines what we think about ourselves and about others.
To develop confidence in this dimension we have to develop a habit of thinking positively. To do that:
· We have to work on our strengths:
If we look at the people around us who are successful, they have 2 to 3 strengths and they work really hard to polish those strengths. They are not worried about their weaknesses. So instead of working on our weaknesses we have to start working on our strengths.
· We have to have a well-defined goal:
Once we know our strengths, we have to develop goals around those strengths to achieve the most out of it.
2. Emotional Dimension
This dimension is about the relationship we have with ourselves and with others.
To develop confidence in this dimension we have to:
· Spend time doing things that we love to do.
· Surround ourselves with people who support us and have similar goals as ours.
3. Spiritual Dimension
This dimension is about the single reason behind every reason.
To develop confidence in this dimension we have to:
· Find our ‘Why?’:
It is the single biggest reason why we are doing every other thing that we do. What is your calling in life?
· Stop Comparing:
You can’t compare your chapter one with someone else’s chapter seven. You are unique.
4. Physical Dimension
This dimension is about how we interact with others.
To develop confidence in this dimension we have to:
· Maintain proper eye contact while talking to others. As a thumb rule, we should maintain eye contact 80% of the time we talk to someone.
· Be mindful of our voice. Generally, when we have low confidence, the volume of our voice goes down.
· Adjust our posture to a power posture like sitting upright.
You need to have a consistent growth in all the said 4 dimensions to have a holistic development.
When you start taking care of yourself, you start feeling better, you start looking better and you start attracting better people and circumstances into your life. It always starts with you so take good care of yourself.