3 steps to nurture the self-belief needed to fulfil your dreams

“The only courage you ever need is the courage to fulfil the dreams of your own life” - Oprah

When we are self-confident, we trust in our own abilities and strengths, and we have belief in ourselves about what we are capable of achieving.

To build our self-confidence we need two things: 

• The courage to give something a go, get started, or go out of our comfort zone.
• The resilience to bounce back when things don’t work, so that we can go again and give it another try. 

When we lack self-confidence, it can be difficult for us to see our worth and challenging for us to believe we have something valuable to give. We look around and feel that everyone else is better, more experienced, or more knowledgeable than us. 

A lack of self-belief becomes a barrier to us going after what we want in our lives; it prevents us from taking the opportunities that would enable us to fulfil our dreams.

The truth is, our worth does not just come from our experience or knowledge. We all have a unique set of skills and strengths, and we all have something different to offer.

This is our value!

We all have what it takes to be, do, and have what we want in our life. It starts with believing in yourself, believing the strengths you have, and believing that you have something unique to offer.

Believing that you are awesome, believing that you can achieve anything you decide you want to, and believing that you are just as worthy as the next person.

When you believe in yourself, it’s easier to be fearless and go after your dreams.

When you go after your dreams, you are more likely to enjoy life.

When you enjoy life, you are more likely to feel happy.

When you are happy, you feel good about yourself

When you feel good about yourself, you believe in yourself even more…

It becomes a virtuous cycle.

How we can begin to believe in ourselves

1. Be clear about what you want 

Decide what you really want to be, do, and have in your life. Identify what it looks like, how it feels, and who you have in your life.

Write your outcomes in the present tense, as if you have already achieved them; I am, I have, I can… this helps you to bring them to life. It also enables you to clarify why you want it and what it will do for you when you have achieved it.

2. Identify who you need to commit to being to be able to achieve your dreams

To turn our dreams into reality, we need to take action. Deciding what you need to commit to doing is one of the actions needed.

The other, which can sometimes be trickier to achieve, is deciding who you need to commit to being to achieve it.

What type of person does it take to fearlessly go after the dreams you have? Write it all down in the present tense, noticing what thoughts and feelings surface as you do so.

It’s very powerful to use these statements as affirmations, saying them aloud every day to help you feel good about yourself and create the self-belief that you can achieve your dreams.

3. Identify what’s stopping you from having it now 

Return to the thoughts and feelings that surfaced when you were writing down the type of person you need to commit to being; what limiting beliefs do you have about your ability to be that person? What worries do you have?

Once you have identified the beliefs and worries that are between you and your outcomes, you can take action to begin addressing them.

What will you do this week to take you one step closer to believing in yourself and going after your dreams?