The first thing you need to do is to identify where you need more confidence, and where you don’t. Let’s say, for example, that you are afraid of public speaking, and you need to get over that to succeed. In this case, you need to gain confidence in speaking in front of people. If you lack confidence in cooking a good meal, that certainly won’t matter to your speaking ability. You need to identify where you need to gain confidence, and where lack of confidence doesn’t matter. This doesn’t mean that you can’t gain confidence in other areas, though.
One of the dangers of a lack of confidence is that it can fuel failure. Failure then leads to decreased confidence, which leads to failure, which leads to… well you can see it’s a vicious circle. Lack of confidence and failure feed on each other, and they will drag you down. So, the first key to gaining confidence is to succeed rather than fail.
Your first successes do not need to be major successes. You just need to succeed at something to start lifting yourself up, and break out of the failure->lack of confidence cycle. Choose a small goal to achieve. This needs to be a goal that you cannot achieve at this time, but it also needs to be achievable with a little bit of work. Set your mind on achieving this goal. Set yourself a realistic time frame, and then determine what you need to in order to succeed.
Once you achieve this goal, you will start to see that you can succeed. Keep setting yourself goals, and work towards achieving them. Success will lead to confidence, which will lead to more success, and so on. Before long, you will be able to attack the critical areas where you lack confidence. If you fear public speaking, you can now start working on that lack of confidence. Find mentors to help you along. Find groups and organizations that will help you to build confidence.
Do not confuse confidence with arrogance. Being confident is a good thing, being arrogant is a bad thing. Confidence is the idea that you can achieve something that you can succeed. Arrogance is the idea that you are better than others.
Confidence is the key to succeeding in any aspect of life. Whether you want to succeed in business, creative endeavors, fitness, weight loss, or family, you need to have confidence. Start by setting yourself small goals, and find small successes. Build on those successes and you will find yourself gaining confidence in all areas of your life. Once you have confidence and success, then you can start helping those who lack confidence themselves.