“Make up your mind to believe in yourself. Let your whole manner denote action; confidence and courage and the ability to do things.” -Theron Q. Dumont , Advanced Course in Personal Magnetism, The Secrets of Mental Fascination

Rule #2 is an extension of the first rule, to believe in yourself. You must make a firm decision and resolve to believe in yourself, and then most importantly, act upon it. If you are unsure as to what acting like you believe in yourself means, then watch the actions and mannerisms of someone who you admire for their confidence and then mimic until it becomes second nature to you, and you will find that in time your own confidence and self-belief will grow.

Acting like you believe in yourself is a good way to develop self-confidence, but most of the time its not enough. You need to be doing things that develop your self-confidence regularly to back-up your thoughts and manner.

I’ve found through personal experience that handling my responsibilities is one of the sure-fire ways to boost my self-confidence and belief in myself. The reason why so many people avoid their responsibilities is because their are afraid of what comes with it and think, ‘I can’t do it’. Avoiding your responsibilities only promotes a lack of self-confidence and steals from your personal magnetism. I know that every time I handle my responsibilities and do what I need to do that I feel immensely better about myself and reinforce the ‘I can do this’ belief in my subconscious.

Have you ever met someone who chronically avoids responsibility? They’re consumed by doubt, anxiety and often make poor decisions and engage in bad habits. That kind of person is not magnetic. How can you enjoy life while living in the shadows of your responsibilities?

Those people who don’t hide from responsibility and those who you know you can rely on to get the job done are incredibly magnetic. Everyone believes in that kind of person because they believe in themselves and thus power is added to their magnetism. They act like they believe in themselves and they do things that reinforce that idea and strengthen their personal magnetism.

Another way I know to enhance self-confidence and self-belief is to exercise. Whenever I’m feeling down in the dumps or I feel like I can’t handle something, I get myself to the gym. I get out of my mind and into my body. I lift heavy things and put them down and get my blood pumping. Being able to perform in the gym snaps me out of that negative way of thinking and by putting myself through a tough workout, I know that if I can handle a hard workout, then I can handle the other problems that I have. That workout proved to me that I can endure hardships, and I leave the gym ready to tackle life’s challenges.

I feel the same way after sparring or rolling at the MMA gym. Things don’t get much tougher than grappling and fighting with another human being and it can be so demanding and difficult that it left me feeling like the troubles I had coming into the gym weren’t as hard as I originally thought they were. Nothing could be tougher than this, so why am I afraid of my responsibilities?

Accomplishing anything in whatever discipline you choose can increase your self-belief. Every time that I finish an art piece or finish writing one of these posts, I feel better about myself and my confidence grows. Do things that make you feel accomplished. Succeed at the things that you do and then you won’t just be acting like you believe in yourself; you really will believe in yourself, and the strength of your personal magnetism will grow proportionally.

Here’s another mantra from the book you can use to suggest self-belief in times that you find yourself lacking or doubting:

“I am power. My manner and my personal atmosphere (a sphere of space around me) vigorously express activity and courage and confident personal power. It is my way. It is my attitude. I have enough to win confidence and respect.”