Think About Something You’re Good At

Everyone is good at something. There’s probably something that you’re really good at. No matter how trivial it is, whenever you’re feeling less than confident, think about the thing you’re good at. You could be good at shooting pool, doing crossword puzzles, ice skating, managing a business – it doesn’t matter how important or unimportant it is in the grand scheme of things. Focus on that, and the confident feelings that you have while you’re doing it.

Treat Negative Comments as Jokes

If you approach every negative comment that someone says about you as a joke, it will take the power and sting out of the comment. Jokes are just that – jokes. They aren’t the truth. Let the negative comment roll off of you by dismissing it as a silly joke. Learn to laugh and shrug it off.

But Don’t Let People Put You Down

Of course, there’s a limit to how much you can dismiss and shrug off. If someone is really being rude or disrespectful, don’t stand for it. Be firm. Tell them to stop and that you do not appreciate their negative comments. If they continue to mistreat you, walk away from that person or drop them completely from your life.

Learn to Relax

Sometimes, anxiety and nervousness can spiral out of control, and contribute to your lack of confidence and self-esteem. By learning to relax and calm yourself, you can keep those anxious feelings in check and not let them throw you off. Meditation can help you with this.

Remember Your Accomplishments

You’ve accomplished many positive things in your life. Rather than dwell on failures, why not dwell on your successes? Graduating from college, getting a job you wanted, finishing a marathon, completing a difficult project – think about the things that were tough but you got through and accomplished.

Enjoy The Compliments That People Give You

You may find that it’s hard to accept compliments from people. You may think they’re undeserved, or that they’re insincere – that the person is just saying the compliment for the sake of saying it. But don’t judge or analyze it, just accept the compliment and enjoy it.

Be Irrationally Positive

It’s been said that being irrationally confident is better than being rationally defeatist. Many times, we are negative and worry about things for no reason at all – why not turn that around, and be positive and confident about things for no reason at all? It may seem silly, but isn’t it also silly to beat ourselves down for no reason? Sometimes it pays just to be over the top in your confidence.

Get into a comfortable position. The position doesn’t matter – you can be seated in a chair, laying down, or even in a traditional meditation pose as pictured, if it feels good to you. Whichever position you choose, remember that comfort is the key.

While in this position, just sit quietly for a few moments and let your body relax. Let any thoughts that enter your mind slip away. Don’t try to fight these thoughts. Acknowledge them, but do not dwell on them. Let them drift out of your mind.

Once you’re comfortable and relaxed, close your eyes and breathe in and out deeply. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Focus on and your breathing and controlling your breath as it goes in and out. Continue breathing this way for a few moments.

Now imagine your body being completely relaxed. Picture all of the tension in your body coming out as if it were steam rising off of a hot towel.

This steam is rising off of each part of your body: your legs, your arms, your torso, your face.

As the steam rises out of you, each part of your body becomes more and more relaxed.

While you are visualizing this, continue to breath in and out deeply.

With each breath that you exhale, the tension and stress in your body, in the form of this steam, continues to flow out of you and vaporize into the atmosphere.

Continue like this for a few moments, until you feel completely relaxed, and all the tension has disappeared from your body. Enjoy this feeling for as long as you’d like.

When you are ready, open your eyes to end this meditation sequence. You should have a feeling of calmness, peace, and total relaxation.

When it comes to working out, you might start skipping a workout here and there, and before you know it, you haven’t worked out in a week. And one week turns into two weeks, then three weeks. We’ve all been there.

If you aren’t motivated in your dieting, you might start cheating by adding a snack here and there, or eating unhealthy foods, or telling yourself “hey, this bacon cheeseburger won’t hurt me, I’ll make up for it later,” until suddenly you are completely off your diet.

So how do you stay motivated? Ultimately, it’s up to you to stick with your diet or exercise program. But here are some tips that may help.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Doing This in the First Place

Re-focusing on your initial reason for starting to exercise or diet can be a powerful motivator. Remembering what originally gave you the motivation to make changes in your life can get you fired up all over again. Try to conjure up the thoughts and feelings you had before you started, and use that to carry you through on your way to success.

Use Another Person as Your Role Model

Maybe there’s a celebrity that has the type of body that you’d like to have. Perhaps you know someone personally who either lost a lot of weight, got in great shape, or completed their first marathon. Use them as your inspiration to keep yourself motivated. Remember, if one person can achieve something, so can you.

Use an Upcoming Event For Positive Pressure

You might have your 20th high school re-union coming up. Maybe you want to look good poolside or on the beach during next summer. Perhaps you’ve got a strip poker tournament in a few months. Whatever it is, keep in mind that you want to look as fit and sexy as possible for this particular event. Having this in mind every day can keep you on track.

Use Negative Comments From Others

Let’s face it, for some people, being told they can’t do something is reason enough to do it. You may have people in your life saying you can’t get stronger, you can’t get faster, you can’t achieve the body you want, you can’t compete in that triathlon. Turn their negative energy into a positive for yourself by using their comments to make you work even harder and achieve your goals.

However you do it, and whatever keeps you going, always stay motivated and always remember that with time, dedication, and effort, you can achieve your fitness goals.