Little actions are more important than we think

During the last few weeks I have been felling ups and downs about my confidence. My symptoms: procrastination at its best, avoiding important tasks, changing mood and prioritizing others before than me.

During those moments of procrastination I stumbled upon a weekly newsletter from Nidhi Khush Sha. I’ve been subscribed for a few months already, but it wasn’t until last month I started reading them.

On her newsletters she writes about personal branding, confidence, leadership and performance:

Everything about how to become the boldest, bravest, and most brilliant version of ourselves.

This one was recommending 3 useful tips to boost our confidence and energy in order to achieve our goals. I felt I was already applying some of her recommendations that I would like to share with you:

#1. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge your current situation

Accepting we’re running out of confidence is a big step towards being on track soon again. We always want to feel full of energy and active, but that’s not how our body works.

How can you do this? You can ask yourself the following questions:

How are you feeling today?

What are you in the mood for?

If you were to describe your feelings, what kind of weather would you be?

For me the toughest thing is to accept that it’s good not to be OK. I am a very active person with thousands of thoughts every day and I don’t feel well when I haven’t been productive. That’s why, in my case, I write every month the achievement I’m more proud of.

When I feel my confidence is falling down I check my list of last accomplishments and I immediately feel better. There’s no month were I haven’t achieved something special. I ask myself to be patient and wait until I have more energy to continue pursuing my goals. Checking my list makes me think of how difficult those goals were and how hard I worked to carry them out.

#2. Write an encouragement letter to yourself as you were writing it to a friend

I haven’t tried this method yet, but it seems an excellent way to be kind and give advice to yourself. Support is what we need when we’re feeling down.

Since last year, I write a letter to my future me for my birthday. I read the letter the next year and it’s exciting to see how things change, how I see myself and the advice I give to myself. I really suggest to write to yourself from time to time. It’s a funny activity that will surprise you for sure.

#3. Help someone

We feel happier when we make someone’s life easier. It doesn’t have to be a big action, small ones will often pay off in the future. When I was reading the newsletter I was helping several people at the same time.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. Albert Einstein

I referred a friend for an open position at the academy I studied and helped a little bit an organisation I volunteer for to tidy up their list of members. I was feeling more comfortable doing these kind of activities that attending my duties.

At that moment I was feeling bad because I was not focusing on myself enough and avoiding the hard work, but after reading the newsletter I felt much better. It seems my gut knew what she was doing and I even felt more proud of myself.

Sometimes our body does things we don’t understand. I’m still learning how to live with the flow, but the more I know the more results I’m getting from it. I’ll be happy to know what other things make you recognize you’re back on track and see if they can work for me too.

How do you feel when you’re not feeling confident? What do you do in order to recharge yourself? What brings back your motivation?