Self-Trust is the First Secret to Success
Building self-trust is the key to creating our own hero’s journey. Each day we have the opportunity to start anew in building it. When you trust yourself, you listen to your inner wisdom and this empowers you to take on new challenges and embrace opportunities with confidence.
In business and in life, communication becomes more honest and transparent when trust is present. Trust can bring us closer to other people, and if you want other people to trust you, it begins with establishing self-trust. Building trust in yourself helps boost your decision-making skills and self-confidence. As a bonus, self-trust can make life feel a little easier and much more enjoyable.
Trusting Yourself Before Trusting Others
The ability to trust others starts with building a firm trust in oneself, judgment, and intuition. This foundational trust begins with focused self-awareness. To build self-trust, concentrate on cultivating a positive mindset and emphasizing your strengths. Take a moment to think of all the areas where you excel. Starting simple is a great approach:
· Do you make a good omelet or cup of coffee?
· Are you great at choosing just the right present for someone special?
· Do you take excellent notes that help you remember important details?
· Are you kind, thoughtful, or generous?
· Do people often come to you for advice because they value your opinion?
· What do others admire in you?
It is important to honor all the good things about yourself and take pride in who you are. Self-awareness is an important step in building self-trust.
Trust is a Daily Habit
Now that you’ve put together a list of strengths, it’s time to make positive self-regard, mindset and trust a daily habit. Everyone is their own best champion and advocate – no one knows you as well as you do. You are unique, and there has never been anyone else on this planet exactly like you. Embracing this uniqueness is key to building self-trust.
Make your positive mindset unconditional. Focus on being and presenting your best self on a daily basis. This approach will naturally lead to more energy and enthusiasm. By fostering a positive environment, you’ll not only feel happier and more productive, but those around you will benefit as well. Positivity is contagious!
Dealing With Your Inner Critic
Everyone has an inner critic. When the negative voice in your head tries to undermine your efforts to build positivity and trust, it’s your inner critic talking. This voice can often question your abilities and intentions. Whenever a negative thought pops into your head (like a voice that says, “What makes you think you can do it?”), challenge it head-on with affirmations of your strengths and accomplishments.
Recognize that your inner critic voice represents an old negative thought pattern that does not serve your best interests. It creates self-doubt, and self-doubt is the enemy of positive thinking. Make it a reflex response to challenge every negative thought that arises. By doing so, you can change your mindset and create new, positive thought patterns that reinforce your positive self-regard. We can dissolve self-doubt by proving it wrong.
Consider keeping a physical or digital journal where you can write down your thoughts and feelings to help provide a way to track your progress in building self-trust. Over time, you’ll notice patterns in your thinking that actively work to shift negative inner critic thoughts into positive mindset thoughts.
Surround yourself with supportive people who uplift and encourage you. Their positive energy can inspire and motivate you to seek out environments that foster growth and positivity.
Rewire Your Brain for Positivity
Often, the middle of the night is when people find themselves most vulnerable to their inner critic. Instead of sinking back into negativity, it’s better to interrupt the negativity and challenge them. Sometimes, just writing down your negative thoughts reveals how irrational they may be. Create a routine to interrupt a negative pattern and create a positivity pattern to rewire the brain.
Human brains are primed to learn and adapt in response to stimuli from the outside world and how people have reacted in the past. Studies show that changing your expectations, limiting beliefs, and messages to more positive ones can alter how the brain reacts to stimuli.
Over time, we can rewire our brains from a negative mindset filled with self-doubt and a lack of trust, to a positive self-awareness that embraces our intuition, judgment, and capability.
Feeding Your Subconscious
The subconscious mind is influenced by thoughts, images, words, emotions, actions and repetition. While we are not in control of what our subconscious does, we can be in control of what we feed it. Feeding our mind in healthy ways is as important as feeding our body. Think of it as a “mental diet” to nourish and challenge our thinking. The best time to feed your subconscious mind is when it’s not as active – meaning not while multitasking on too many things. Ways to rewire and feed positivity to your subconscious include:
Journaling and reflection – tried and true. If you are not a paper journal type, try a digital journal, digital voice recorder or a notes app.
Art therapy – painting, drawing, sculpting, photography are all powerful ways of physical and mental connections to express yourself and positively reinforce your subconscious.
Hypnotherapy – a warm bath, spa, or gentle pool experience all reinforce your subconscious positivity. It also provides mental clarity time to recite affirmations.
Meditation – even two minutes of meditation is productive to calm your mind and listen to your positive thoughts.
Mantras and affirmations – repeat one affirmation in the morning after you wake up. A few ideas include: “I am capable of great things”, “My mind is positive and strong”, and “Today, I will trust myself and my decisions.”
Sticky notes with affirmations – put them anywhere such as a wall, mirror, desk, back of your phone, etc.
Self-talk – out loud. Hearing your own voice makes it more real for your mind.
Visualize emotions – while you are reciting an affirmation or mantra, visualize a positive feeling or emotion that you experience associated with that affirmation.
Nature – being outside in nature and observing the world’s wonder fosters positivity, creativity and uplifting feelings aligned with you.
Program a message or affirmation into a phone so it pops up as a reminder several times a day. It can be as simple as 'you can do it' or a more complex message that fits personal circumstances and goals.
Building self-trust is a process that begins with recognizing and celebrating one’s strengths and making trust a daily habit. Practice honoring your talents, challenging your inner critic, take actions of positivity and feeding your subconscious. The practice of self-trust builds positivity in our relationships, our work and purpose, and overall life satisfaction.
You are capable of great things!