Low confidence can affect almost every aspect of your life. It can sap you of energy, make you depressed and make school or work difficult. There are many strategies for dealing with low confidence.

These tips all work if you put the effort into them. There are many simple things you can do to improve your confidence level. Often these are ideas you have probably never considered.

There are five simple ways to beat low confidence:

1. Hold your chin up high

That's right. Simply changing your posture will improve your low confidence level. The act of consciously standing tall and holding your head high has two main benefits.

Confident people have good posture. They stand up tall and walk with purpose. When you see someone who holds their head up, no matter what the situation, what do you think about them? You most likely have an immediate reaction of respect for them.

Being someone who can face adversity in the eye shows the world they have the strength and confidence in themselves to do so. When you do the same, stand tall, hold your head high and walk with purpose, you are broadcasting to the world around you that you are a confident person.

So, make a conscious effort to do so. No matter what you feel like inside, constantly remind yourself to stand straight. If you find yourself in a difficult situation and find your shoulders slumping downward, straighten up. It will broadcast a feeling of confidence to the world around you.

2. Put your shoulders back and take a few good deep breaths

That will help to calm your nerves and clear your head, helping you think clearly and feel calm. The pause it gives you will also give you time to collect your thoughts and think what you want to do or say.

3. Act out confident behaviors

It is a simple fact of psychology that performing a behavior will often make it true. This means that acting confident will lead to feeling confident. It sounds odd that something as simple as standing tall can change the way you view yourself, but science actually proves it can.

Think of the studies on smiles. It has been proven that people who smile more often are happier, even people who smile when they do not feel like it are happier. So, act confident by standing tall and you will soon find that you do not have to act confident at all, you will simply be confident.

4. Look people in the eye

Don't stare, of course, but don't be afraid to make comfortable eye contact, either. This will make you appear more confident and people will respond to this respectfully. If they respect you, you will feel better and your confidence will increase.

5. Use hand gestures intelligently

Appropriate use of hand gestures can highlight your words and make people more likely to listen to you. That should really boost your confidence. However, be careful not to overdo your hand gestures as that can make you look a little desperate and increase your nerves. Careful, pertinent hand gestures will make you look and feel authoritative.

There are many other techniques that you can use to improve your self-confidence. None of them are as easy as standing tall. The old phrase 'keep your chin up, kid' actually has a lot of merit to it. Holding your chin up will make the people around you believe that you have a lot of confidence in yourself.

More importantly, over time, holding up your chin will make you believe you have confidence. In fact, you will have confidence. Learn to hold your head up high, no matter what situation you are faced with. It will improve your confidence level in no time at all.

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