15 Confidence Building Exercises That Successful Women Recommend

Confidence is a skill; like any skill, it needs to be practiced, revised and improved. Confidence building exercises can help women develop confidence to overcome challenges, take risks, and reach their unique goals.

By using pragmatic and easy-to-implement confidence-building exercises, ranging from proven techniques to former US presidents’ tactics and famous female leaders’ techniques, we can pave the way for a successful journey and more confident women.   

Why We Need More Confident Women?

Confidence can be defined as having a strong belief in oneself and one’s abilities. 

Confidence is important for several reasons. It can help us be audacious, think big, and chase our biggest dreams, essential characteristics for female entrepreneurs who want to succeed.

Confidence can also help businesswomen communicate and be acknowledged in the workplace. Beyond that, confidence can help us be exceptional leaders who are authentic, brave, and vulnerable.

Want to be a great leader? Here are 15 Dare to Lead Quotes That Will Change How You Lead

A lack of confidence is a top challenge for many female entrepreneurs. When we aren’t confident, the effects are fatal. A lack of confidence can make us procrastinate, revert to fear, and, most worryingly, fail to take action. 

Ultimately, confidence is the cornerstone of success.

If you have ever wondered how to be a confident woman, these exercises can help you.

Recommended Reading: Confidence and Competence: Which is More Important for Women? 

Try These 15 Confidence Building Exercises

1. Set Goals

You can never feel successful if you don’t know your goal or what you are striving for. Reaching goals can also make us feel competent and dramatically improve our confidence and morale. So setting a goal is crucial for your work, business, and confidence. 

How to set motivating goals: Make them realistic and root them in your broader mission or vision. Many great goal-setting frameworks exist, like OKRs and SMART goals.

Recommended Reading: Goal Setting for 2024/2025 (How to Actually Achieve Your Goals)

2. Try Power Poses for Women

Body-language expert Amy Cuddy popularized power poses. Unsurprisingly, they can make you feel more powerful. A slight switch in your posture can be one of the easiest building self-confidence activities to implement and trick you into feeling and acting confident. 

The body language of a confident woman is usually open as these women want to embrace feedback and opportunities, and their body language reflects their mental state. Confident women make eye contact, keep their chin up, and lean forward to engage in conversations. They also speak slowly and clearly and slow down their movements to show confidence and ease.

Recommended Reading: The Top Female Motivational Speakers in 2024

Here are a few different power poses that you can try

Power Poses to Try: President Lyndon B. Johnson inspired the Loomer, a powerful pose he used regularly. You stand near a desk or table and touch this item while leaning slightly forward.

Another underrated pose is to smile. This simple movement can elevate your mood and foster positivity while encouraging others. Plus, it can be used in remote and hybrid environments.

3. Prepare to Feel More Confident

When in doubt, prepare. In high-pressure situations, like an interview or presenting to a boss, we can feel anxious and helpless – the antithesis of confidence. Preparation is one of the simplest and most effective ways to feel at ease, overcome doubt, and confidently navigate defining moments in your career.  

How to effectively prepare: Consider the language you want to use, cover potential questions, consider worst-case scenarios, and find resources or statistics to support your claims and arguments.

4. Use Powerful Affirmations

Affirmations are simply positive statements that boost self-esteem and help us overcome obstacles. They are one of the best self esteem building exercises as they can instill a greater belief in ourselves – they can rewire our brains and influence our behaviors.

Add this confidence building exercise to your toolkit, and remember to repeat them consistently.

How to use positive affirmations: Make sure they are realistic and connected to your goals and that you practice them regularly. 

Here are a few that you could try:

I am prepared to fail if it leads to growth because that is the ultimate goal

I am a creative person who is always open to new ideas

Sometimes, I need to accept that my work is good enough and put it out into the world

Here are 20 Powerful Affirmations for Female Entrepreneurs.

5. Practice Communicating and Rehearse Business Scenarios

Communication is the foundation of business. You must communicate clearly and confidently to close a deal, work better with people, and develop ideas. If you lack confidence, communicating with clarity can be an ongoing challenge, so you should practice it and refine your points for real-life events, presentations, or scenarios.

How to practice communicating: Try a role-playing exercise with a friend or trusted colleague to improve your communication skills. Map out what message you want to communicate, and after presenting it, ask them about their key takeaways and compare them to what you originally mapped out. 

6. Create a Career Vision Board

A 2019 study suggests that vision boards encourage can help us identify meaningful future goals, interests, and core values.

Making a career vision board can help you to identify your biggest goals and achieve them (which will build confidence). A great career vision board can remind you of your goals, and empower you to act accordingly daily and monthly. It can be a confidence building tool that can guide you on your journey.

What Should I Put on my Career Vision Board?

1. Craft a personal mission statement
2. Showcase Your SMART Goals
3. Communicate Your HARD Goals 
4. Use Affirmations 

Recommended Reading: How to Make a Career Vision Board That Will Motivate You Daily

7. Dress for Success

One of the most underrated and building self-confidence activities is to dress for success. It seems outdated, but dressing well can actually make you more successful. Dressing well can affect how others perceive you and, more importantly, how you feel about yourself. Plus, people who dress well are more likely to engage in abstract and big-picture thinking. 

How to dress for success: Tap into your personal tastes and amplify your style for success, even when working remotely. Make a list of outfits that make you feel powerful and wear them on repeat. 

Recommended Reading: Trendy Business Casual Shoes for Women in 2024

8. Celebrate your Wins

Celebrating your wins is not just about the moment; it is a powerful tool for morale and motivation and a great confidence building exercise, especially for women. 

How to celebrate your wins: Organize an event with people who have helped you, share a post on social media, or treat yourself to something on your wishlist. Create a culture of recognition that proves your competence and boosts your confidence.

9. Journalling

As confidence is a skill, we should constantly evaluate it. Journaling can be an excellent tool for reflection, amplifying learning, and expressing gratitude. Sometimes, just writing things down can ease anxiety and increase our confidence. 

How to journal for confidence: Use confidence-boosting prompts or track note-worthy compliments. It is important to set up a journaling routine for consistency. 

Here are some examples:

Write what confidence means to you in a business setting.

When did you exemplify confidence today? 

What big or small moment did you feel most proud of today?

What challenges did you face today, and how did you feel about them?

Sheryl Sandberg, one of the most inspiring women in business, recommends that you write down 3 things you do well every day.

Even if it’s small, record something positive every day.

10. Find Female Mentors

A support system can be pivotal for your success and your ultimate cheerleaders. Especially a group of determined, ambitious, and supportive women. 

How to find female mentors: Look in your inner circle, and if you still can’t find any, join a network for businesswomen or female entrepreneurs. 

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11. Let Go of Perfectionism And Develop a Growth Mindset

Perfectionism can kill confidence and can make us feel insecure as we constantly strive for an impossible standard.

We encourage women to rather adopt a growth mindset. With a growth mindset, you believe that you can grow and develop your skills through application and experience, and your potential is both unfixed and uncapped. You value the process over the results, and this way of learning encourages learning and growth.

Examples of a growth mindset:

• Fixed mindset: My colleague brushed off my idea, he obviously doesn’t like me. 
• Growth mindset: Okay, maybe I need to check in with my colleague and see what he didn’t like about my idea.

Recommended Reading: How Can You Develop a Growth Mindset as a Woman in Business? 

12. Listen to Music

Music can help you create good energy and eliminate negative energy. It can also be an effective confidence building exercise for women looking for a pick-me-up moment before a meeting or a presentation. 

How to use music to boost confidence and focus: Find or create multiple playlists, calming playlists that help you focus, and confidence-boosting ones. Do you need some inspiration? Here are 21 Confidence-Boosting Songs to Make You Feel Invincible. 

13. Learn a New Skill

Learn relevant skills aligned with your business, work, or goals. By developing a new skill, you can build your competence, and increase your confidence, making it one of the most effective confidence building exercises. 

How to successfully learn a new skill: Dig deep and think about what skill you want to master. Be brave enough to try, smart enough to know you might fail at first, and determined enough to be consistent. Consistency is at the heart of successfully learning new skills.

14. Share your Journey

Sharing your journey will force you to reflect on what you have learned and what you have achieved – these will act as motivators for you and others. 

How to share your journey: Talk about your journey with budding businesswomen, turn your journey into a tweet, or use a platform like BusinessWomen to inspire others. 

Share your story now and instill confidence in others. 

15. Move and Move Often

It is no secret that movement does wonders for our mood. It can be the ultimate confidence-building exercise when you feel low on confidence, motivation, or inspiration.

How to build confidence with movement: Some exercises, like yoga, have built-in power poses like the salutation. Move in a way that feels empowering to you.

Examples of Confident Women in Business?

There are a lot of inspiring women in business that we can learn from.

Here are some of today’s most famous female entrepreneurs, female leaders, and businesswomen.

• Sheryl Sandberg, female leader and former CEO of Facebook
• Whitney Wolfe Herd, female tech founder
• Sara Blakely, inspiring mompreneur and founder of Spanx
• Rihanna, a female musician and entrepreneur
• Oprah Winfrey, media mogul, and female motivational speaker

Uncover their impactful messages, and draw inspiration from their incredible stories.

What Are The Top Traits of a Confident Woman?

Ultimately. confidence is a belief and feeling that you carry around. Every woman shows her confidence, but here are some traits of confident women:

• They take risks
• They aren’t afraid to fail because they know they can bounce back
• They are resilient
• Confident women support other women
• Confident women can set boundaries and goals
• Confident women are empathetic and assertive

Recommended Reading: Bold BusinessWomen: Q&A With Female Entrepreneur, Loes Daniels

Building Confidence Takes Time and Effort

“Confidence and leadership are muscles,” says Sheryl Sandberg, “You learn to use them or you learn not to.”

These confidence-building exercises are simple yet effective. When venturing on your journey to building confidence, remember it takes time. Just as it takes time to develop any skill, it will take effort and persistence to develop confidence. But imagine what could happen if you stick to these confidence-building exercises.

The compounding effects of confidence are endless and can pave the way for a successful journey – one that is filled with growth, learning, and opportunity. Which one of these confidence-building exercises will you try today?

What to read next? The 17 Best Business Books For Women in 2024