To believe in ourselves is to understand that self-doubt is normal, and to find within ourselves the words we need to realize our value and worth. In fact, it’s about becoming your own best friend. That’s why, in this article, I’m sharing with you 6 tips for believing in yourself in all circumstances!

What is self-belief?

Believing in yourself is not a skill you acquire once and for all.

In fact, every day, we’re led to doubt, and that’s normal. Yes, it’s normal to doubt ourselves when we’re about to do something for the first time.

Yet many of us let our doubts stop us from doing what makes us tick.

In the end, believing in yourself means observing your doubts, listening to them and overcoming them one by one.

And the good news is that there’s a magic exercise to help us believe in ourselves in all circumstances.

That exercise is to talk to yourself as if you were a friend.

It’s about taking our situation and our doubts, and imagining that what we’re feeling right now is a friend of ours, whom we love and value with all our heart, going through it. What would we say?

No doubt we’d encourage and comfort him.

Indeed, it would never occur to us to say to someone we love: “You’re right to doubt yourself, you’re not worth much and you don’t deserve to do what’s important to you.”

1 – How to believe in yourself: identify your fears

Believing in yourself means being able to look your fears and doubts in the face. It means being totally honest with yourself and being able to say: “This is what I’m afraid of and why”.

Finally, it’s about shedding light on our fears and limiting beliefs. It’s about understanding what stops us from doing what makes us tick.

“Today, I don’t believe in myself to do this, because I’m afraid of how others will look at me.”

“I’m too afraid to do this, because I don’t believe I really deserve it.”

Only a best friend can hear our fears without mocking or judging us, because a best friend is caring and compassionate.

So give yourself this gift.

It’s okay to be afraid, what’s not okay is to let our fears stop us from doing what’s important to us.

2 – Visualize what we would do if we weren’t afraid

Next, a best friend will help us project ourselves: “Let’s imagine you weren’t afraid, what would you do?”

This question has the power to make us aware of what’s important to us.

Our heart starts beating faster, not with fear, but with joy! It vibrates, it sparkles: “That’s what I want to do!”

In fact, to believe in ourselves is to be able to see beyond our fear. It’s understanding that behind it lies us, our desires, our projects.

In the end, it’s about putting fear in its place – it’s just a step we have to take.

Believing in yourself means understanding that fear isn’t who you are, it doesn’t define you. It’s just something that comes along and can easily disappear, thanks to the benevolent presence of a friend.

3 – Believe in yourself: learn to reassure yourself

Let’s say your best friend tells you he’s got a meeting on Monday morning and he doesn’t believe in himself.

He tells you: “I feel terrible. I’m going to make a fool of myself. I’m going to pretend I’m sick.”

We’d probably say, “Wait, is this a meeting to talk about your great project? But you’ve been working on it for a while. Besides, you love what you do and you do it wonderfully. You’ll get there.”

And then we’d say, “It’s normal to be scared. It’s never easy to speak in front of everyone. It happens to all of us.”

Indeed, all too often, we believe that our doubts belong only to us, but that’s not the case.

We all doubt the same things. It’s normal, it’s human.

So, the next time you don’t believe in yourself: take a sheet of paper and write down your situation as if it were your best friend going through it. Write down your fears and doubts. Write down your criticisms.

Then imagine what you would say to your friend to reassure him.

Believing in yourself means being able to reassure yourself as if you were your own best friend.

4 – Learning to encourage yourself

Imagine your best friend has a dream, but doesn’t believe in it. He comes to you and says, “I dream of becoming a baker, but I don’t believe in myself.”

We’d say, “What? You want to be a baker and you’re going to give up because you don’t believe in yourself?”

We’ll probably continue: “I can’t let you say that. You’re super talented. I love what you do. You can do it. If this is what you want, go for it! You deserve to make your dream come true.”

That’s obvious. We’d never say, “You’d better give up. You don’t deserve anything.”

Yet that’s what we say to ourselves, very harsh, very categorical and above all, big lies!

After all, we deserve the best, we deserve to be happy and to do the things that are important to us.

Believing in yourself means being able to encourage yourself as hard as a best friend would.

5 – Allow yourself to do what’s important to you

Why are we here on Earth?

To do what we don’t like? To hide behind our fears and doubts? And to live a life in which we are not happy, vibrant with joy?

Or, are we here on Earth to do things we enjoy, to take our place and overcome our fears and beliefs to live a life we feel passionate about?

The choice is easy. And yet…

It’s not the choice we make every day.

Because it’s not that easy when you think about it. Indeed, living a life in which we do what makes us vibrate with joy requires us to look at our fears and beliefs and free ourselves from them. Naturally, it’s not comfortable.

But it can be done.

And that’s why we’re here. To grow, to evolve.

In other words, to learn to believe in ourselves and to act in spite of fear.

That’s what your best friend would say, isn’t it? So, it’s time for you to become your own best friend and give yourself this gift: to live by this new awareness.

Fear is just a signal that you’re learning and growing. How wonderful!

6 – Believing in yourself: refocusing

Believing in yourself is a process. When you do something for the first time, you’re afraid and doubtful. Then, when you do it a second time, it gets better and better, until you’ve acquired the skills and feel you believe in yourself.

But, as soon as we do something else for the first time, then we doubt ourselves again.

Believing in yourself is a journey. We’re always deepening and broadening our knowledge.

And fear, too, is part of the journey. Indeed, we can’t believe in ourselves if we haven’t first felt fear.

The two are linked.

So what do we do when fear becomes too strong?

It’s a matter of refocusing, of getting in touch with that space of peace, calm and benevolence within each of us.

To do this, I wholeheartedly invite you to sit down in a place you like, and take 5 deep breaths. Feel your heart beat, feel present to your body.

Then, gently, observe what’s going on inside you. Observe your fears. The fears of your mind. Hear your heart whisper its dreams.

Observe all this with kindness and curiosity.

Ask yourself: “What’s going on inside me? What are my desires and what’s stopping me from bringing them to life?”

Finally, let calm come over you. Be silent.

Then apply tips 3 and 4. Talk to yourself as if you were your own best friend.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to regain self-confidence? My 4 favourite exercises!
Discover Never give up on your dreams!: 12 tips for making them come true

I recommend this inspiring book:

Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Robbins takes us through strategies for taking control of our emotions, finances, relationships and lives, empowering readers to believe in their ability to change.
This book is excellent because it provides you with many tools to use. What’s more, Robbins’ knowledge and passion shine through on every page. Numerous anecdotes and stories make the book even more interesting and inspiring. Just reading it gives you confidence in your success, a passion for life and a desire to contribute to others.
The immense wisdom, experience and growth potential contained in this book make it a fantastic and informative read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in personal development.
I highly recommend it.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself