3 Tips to Build Your Confidence

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it." - J.M. Barrie

J.M. Barrie's quote is a perfect look at the power of confidence.

There are some major benefits to having confidence, and there are proven methods to boost it.  There's a saying that 'confidence breeds success.'  But does it?  

Science actually backs this up to a reasonable extent.  Confidence can play a big role in how much success you experience in the workplace, in relationships, and even in your health.  Here are 3 things you can do in your spare time to boost your confidence.

1. Give yourself a quick confidence boost by striking a "power pose."

Did you know you that something as simple as striking a powerful pose can trick your brain into actually feeling more confident? Well, it can. Really.

Try this: Next time you're feeling tense or nervous about something — whether its a test or job interview, for example — try taking a couple minutes right before and adopting this pose: Stand straight up, push your shoulders back and chest out, and place your hands on your hips.

2. Convince yourself you have the ability to improve.

This may sound like one of those "easier said than done" suggestions, but it's really not. Think about the things in your life that you can and can't control. For example, you can't change your height or your eye color.  However, you can change and take control of your physical strength through training.

Ask yourself if your goal is something you have the power to improve upon (even if improving might be really difficult). Is your goal to become a better employee? That's something you can improve upon. A better interviewer? That's a skill that can be honed. Have more upper body strength? With training, that's possible, too.

3. Fail. Get up. Try again. Repeat.

You're going to fail, and that's a given. What matters much more than failure is how you react to that setback. Do you get up? Do you regroup, come up with a new strategy, and try again? Or do you just stop trying?

Take a look at Michael Jordan, for example. He's a six-time NBA Finals champion, five-time Most Valuable Player (MVP), two-time Olympic gold medalist, and 2009 inductee into the basketball hall of fame. To many, he's considered the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball.

By the time Jordan's career finally came to an end in 2003, his missed shots totaled more than 12,000.  Few of us will ever be as good at anything as Michael Jordan was at basketball.  We will all fail.  But do we get up? Do we try again? That's up to us.

 If we can learn to fail, we can learn to succeed.

Article adapted from upworthy.com.