Confidence isn’t just for the lucky few; it’s a skill you can train! In this episode, Klaudia Mitura guides you through a 7-day challenge to rewire your brain for self-trust.
Each day, you’ll try a quick, science-backed exercise that strengthens your confidence from the inside out.
From celebrating your wins to mastering body language and calming nerves, you’ll build real confidence, one small action at a time.
Hello, happiness seekers. Welcome back to the Happiness Challenge. My name is Claudia and I test drive the best happiness hacks that science has on offer.
If you listened to My last episode, 204 with Carolyn Bruin, a brilliant author and the mind behind the new book Confident, we dove deep into the neuroscience of confidence. How it is not just a feeling, but something that our brain creates and strengthens through small, consistent actions.
And as we move into the holiday season, with the year wrapping up parties, family and reflection, I think it's the perfect time to put that science into practice. I personally find the holiday season both festive, but also quite hectic and stressful.
Being confident at this time of the year when we need to negotiate, negotiate multiple arrangements, set boundaries with loved ones and find the space for our own reflections, it's perfect time for us to get a boost of confidence.
And I often think during the festive season that, oh, I wish I have a bit of boost of confidence to manage all of these expectations that I'm experiencing.
And additionally, I think that even though we tend to think of the new year like a fresh start moment, new year, new me situation, I personally really believe that any day or a month or a week can be a fresh start moment. So today I'm really inviting you to join me on the confidence quest seven days to rewire your inner voice. Let's dive in.
So I think it's really powerful to think about the confidence. Not, not like a gift that some people just have or a talent, but more like a pattern, one that your brain can absolutely learn.
When we repeat certain thoughts, postures and actions, the brain literally strengthens new pathways that tell us, I can handle this. I belong here. I trust myself. And that's what this quest is all about.
It's about giving you a range of exercises so that you can train your brain to choose self trust over self doubt one small action at a time. Now, I want to point out a couple of things here.
Of course, we will need more than seven days to train the brain to truly and sustainably think differently.
Research shows that depending on complexity of different habits we try to develop, it may take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a habit to become automatic and part of our lifestyle. But across the seven days, I'm going to give you a range of exercises to try out.
And I hope that after the quest, you will choose your favorite one and stick to it and make it a daily habit.
And the second point I want to stress is that our brain does not learn if we are in a Stress mode because when we are stressed, our brain will always choose an autopilot automatic response because it doesn't have the capacity for learning.
So in order to maximize the benefits of this exercise, I'm really proposing and I'm really encouraging you to give yourself a bit of briefer before completing them so that you can really see the full impact of their benefits. Okay, so let's dive in. So this is how this is going to work.
Starting today, for the next seven days, you'll do one small confidence exercise each day. So they are quick, science backed and designed to activate your brain reward and reflection system to wire for more confidence.
I'm going to walk you through them on this podcast episode, but if you would like to get a nudge every day. Absolutely.
Follow me on my social media claudiamitura on LinkedIn and at the Happiness Challenge, Claudia on Instagram because I'll be posting something every day in next seven days which you can treat as a reminder to oh yes, this is what we're practicing and this is what I could do. So day one, I encourage you to write down one moment this year when you surprised yourself. That is when you handled something better than expected.
And this helps your brain remember evidence of your capability and your confidence. Day two, I encourage you to stand tall, shoulders back, chin level, take three deep breaths and hold that posture for one minute.
In this exercise, you are signaling to your body and brain that you are safe and confident in your posture. Day three, do one small thing you've been avoiding. Send that email, make that call, tidy that draw, whatever you choose.
But each time you act, you teach your brain, I move forward even when something gets uncomfortable. Day four, Practice physiological sigh. So before a stressful task, do the physiological sigh.
Two quick breaths in through the nose, then a long exhale out of your mouth and repeat that two to three times to calm your nerves. This specific technique influences your nervous system so that you can come back to your confidence baseline.
Again, I mentioned when we are stressed, we operate on autopilot. So if we give a chance to our nervous system to go back to resting point, we are able to come back and tap into our confidence.
Day five, Choose a positive affirmation that makes you feel more confident, such as I'm learning and growing every day or I trust myself. When we use positive affirmation, we are consolidating a confident identity through memory and meaning.
Day six, Visualize how you want to feel next year, not just what you want to do. Feelings drive motivation much more powerfully than logic.
And Day seven, Write a note to your future self that begins with this year I showed confidence by finish that sentence and again that anchors everything. You'll be practicing into your self concept and self image that I am confident person and I'm able to show confidence.
So I really encourage you to join the quest. If you want to make it more fun, share your reflections with me and our community using LinkedIn and Instagram.
You can also subscribe to my Substack newsletter. Just look for the Happiness Challenge to receive summary of these exercises. You can also journal privately about your experiences.
What matters is that you notice how each exercise makes you feel and how you'll be feeling by the end of the week. After seven days, you might find that your posture changes. Maybe your tone of voice is a little bit steadier.
Maybe you even start taking some small risks you wouldn't have before. And all of those are very small but very important signs that the brain is rewiring confidence in real time.
So thank you again so much for listening and I do hope you join me on this confidence quest. I will see you at the end of the month when I will unpack why these exercises work. Again.
We'll dive even deeper into the neuroscience of self belief and how you can keep this new confidence alive as we move into the new year. And finally, a big thank you to all of you lovely people and who have reviewed my new book, the Alphabet of Happiness.
It's just wonderful to see what resonates with people.
I'm on the mission to have hundreds reviews on Amazon by January so that the book can be featured on various lists and therefore other people can tap into the Science of Happiness for happier life. So if you've got the book, please review it. And if you haven't got the book yet, please do check it out. Okay, I see you at the next episode.
Stay kind to yourself, Stand tall and remember, confidence isn't about being fearless, it's about training your brain to move forward even with fear. Bye.
