“You can do this; just be confident”
You may have heard this mantra during motivation exercises, but what does confidence mean?
Confidence is one’s belief in himself, the strong belief that one has the ability and self-assurance to meet the challenges in life and act on them accordingly.
Your level of self-confidence affects how well you project yourself to others. So, what are the factors that affect self-confidence?
Self-confidence depends on your environment, perception of yourself, circumstances, relationship with others, upbringing, and the people who influenced you.
7 Major Factors That Affect Self-Confidence
Life has many ups and downs, and you are no exception. Some instances can have a great impact on your self-esteem.
Whether these instances are real or make-believe, they can wreak havoc on your self-confidence.
Many factors affect one’s self-confidence, and these factors are dependent on your self-esteem. Self-esteem refers to your self-worth.
It refers to how much you like and appreciate yourself regardless of your circumstances. Lack of self-esteem can severely affect these factors, thus, undermining your self-confidence.
Here are the seven factors that can undermine your self-confidence. There are many, but these are the most important.
1. Self-Perception
Self-perception or self-image refers to how you view yourself. In short, this refers to your appearance. Sadly, physical appearance is the primary driving force in increasing self-esteem.
Society created its skewed definition of “beautiful,” and anything not within the norm is flawed, distorting one’s perception of self-image.
Every individual is unique. There is no right or wrong definition of what is beautiful.
People look at you the way you carry yourself. If you project yourself as beautiful, then people will look at you as beautiful.
Highlight your best features so people will focus on those, rather than your flaws.
It doesn’t matter what people think; what is important is what you think and what makes you feel good about yourself.
2. Relationship with Family and Friends
Your relationship with family and friends can affect your self-confidence. You cannot avoid conflict with family and friends. It can be in the form of sibling rivalry, jealousy between friends, and many others.
These conflicts could lead to the deterioration of good relationships and low self-esteem.
You lose your support system when you have bad relationships with family and friends. You have no one to turn to, making you feel alone.
When this feeling persists, you start to feel overwhelmed, derailing your self-esteem. You begin to doubt yourself and your decisions.
It is also true of your relationship with work colleagues. Appreciation and praise, whether negative or positive, can affect your self-confidence.
If you constantly receive rejection and reprimands, it undermines your ability to believe in yourself. Comparing yourself with your colleagues reduces your self-worth.
On the other hand, if your relationship with family and friends is good, you feel confident. You know that regardless of the challenges that come your way, they have your back.
You feel a sense of security in every decision you make. You have someone to motivate you when you are down.
3. Health Condition
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Your health condition also plays a vital role in your self-confidence. When you are healthy, you feel vibrant and look at life positively, but if your health condition is bad, it undermines your self-confidence and even self-worth.
Health conditions can also refer to the mental health condition. Sometimes, extreme circumstances like losing loved ones, vehicular accidents, or contracting incurable diseases can be detrimental to your self-confidence.
A man who lost his ability to walk may feel less confident than when he could. He might feel inadequate and incomplete. He may fail to notice that despite his disability, he is alive.
These circumstances can affect the way you think and view yourself. It can affect you physically, emotionally, and mentally. You lose your self-confidence, impairing your ability to make rational decisions.
4. Upbringing/Childhood
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You may be surprised to discover that your childhood can also adversely affect your self-confidence.
How?
Abuse and bullying are two of the most critical factors affecting your upbringing. A child who lives with abuse and bullying can become self-critical.
Once they start imbibing negativity, their self-worth decreases. Whether the abuse is verbal or physical, they begin to believe it.
A child taught by their father that “men don’t cry” can grow up without the confidence to express true emotions.
A child who grew up thinking that bullying would make him feel superior may grow up being arrogant and over-confident.
An abused child with a deformity may later believe he is not beautiful enough. His mind will retain the memory that his deformity is a flaw, undermining his self-esteem.
The beliefs inculcated in your mind growing up can later undermine your self-worth. A conservative upbringing can be restricting and may lower self-confidence.
A good example is a gender stereotype. A conservative family may raise their male children as superior to their female children. The men are the law, and the women can only follow.
These are just a few instances where abuse and bullying can affect one’s self-confidence when one becomes an adult.
Although many believe that their past defines their present, from a philosophical perspective, it does not. It may shape you, but it does not determine who you are.
5. Social Perception
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Society has a huge impact on one’s self-confidence. Children generally have high self-esteem, but this decrease as they turn older.
Society portrays the perfect image of what should be the norm. Many women believe that “sexy and beautiful” means looking like Barbie.
A man is a “hunk” if he is tall, has abs, and is not scrawny. Anything that deviates from the description is not desired.
What society deems as a role model is made worse by the “hype” created by the media, be it print, TV, or social media. Advertisements often feature beautiful models, leading to a negative assessment of one’s self.
It makes one question their characteristics and abilities and often feels they come short.
Society also dictates cultural norms. White-skinned people are still perceived more superior than any other color.
The picture society wants you to see what is right or wrong, can affect you in some way, form, or shape. It can either uplift you or bring you down.
If you use it to motivate you, then well and good, but letting it control your self-esteem is not.
6. Your Heroes
Your heroes are the people who left a strong impact on your life. They are one of the factors influencing self-confidence in one’s life.
They could be your parents, an older sibling, teachers, idols, and any other person you admire and wish to emulate.
Your parents are your primary hero. They give you praise and encouragement to reach your dreams. They are there when you need support without prejudice.
Your teacher is your second parent. They provide you with guidance and direction. They may scold, but they will only do so to lead you towards the correct path.
Your idol’s road to success inspires you never to give up your dreams. If they can do it, so can you.
You have high regard for these people because they are people of authority. They are more knowledgeable and experienced than you.
It makes them convincing and believable. Listening to them makes you feel good about yourself.
However, your heroes can become a double-edged sword. Suppose they belittle you and act negatively towards you.
In that case, their strong influence can undermine your self-esteem and confidence level.
7. Environment
Your environment can affect your self-confidence, depending on your surroundings, how you feel about it, and how it affects your emotional and mental health.
The different factors above are the very same factors that affect your environment.
- Your peer groups and friends
- The kind of media you watch
- Your family environment and relationship
- Your interaction with your teachers and mentors
- The type of literature you read
- Your relationship with your colleagues
- Cultural factors
These factors affect your daily surrounding. When you live in a negative environment, you also imbibe negativity.
However, you can turn a negative environment into a positive one. Taking the right step is up to you.
What Are the Factors That Affect Self-Confidence: Summary
Your self-confidence can help you feel good about yourself and your capabilities. In addition, it can strengthen your relationship and improve your resiliency against adversaries.
It is easy to list what are the factors that affect self-confidence. The hard part is how you deal with them.
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