Feeling proud of our achievement is my (not so) secret to self confidence. And while this statement is obvious in its simplicity, putting the “feeling proud” to work day after day is the challenge many fails.
Feeling proud of what we do is one of the big milestones to feeling satisfied, but in today’s fast paced life we give more importance to what’s yet to come than to what we achieved so far. In my personal growth I have discovered that having a simple routine of self appreciation, of feeling proud and grateful is the real simple secret to self confidence.
Do you want to know why I “dance as nobody was watching“?

The meaning of feeling proud

If I go back with my memory to my school days, I can still pinpoint exactly the feeling when I was handing over my homework; the guilty feeling, the knowledge that “if only” I had done a bit more…
Back to today, I listen to what I feel when I show our clients their photographs for the first time. I know they are beautiful photographs and that they speak to their hearts.
In the first I felt like my shoulders were arched forward, making me feel small. Feeling proud, on the contrary, is like being few inches taller, open to the world and to the good things that may come.
You see, to me feeling proud is about being able to walk with your head high, facing the world with that incredible sensation that all you do is going to succeed. No wonder then that feeling proud is so deeply linked to self confidence.

The evening routine of feeling proud

I mentioned before that feeling proud is a positive attitude, and it has to be done daily. I believe in routines, things you do day by day, every day, so that they become part of your life. Feeling proud should be one of them. You should pick a specific time every day, and practice every single day.
To me, feeling proud, that sense of achievement has its place in my evening. In the shower, or just before falling asleep I usually like to briefly look at my day so far and focus on my achievements. I want to see what I did right, what I can say “I did this” with my head high. The achievements we should cherish don’t need to be huge, they need to be steps forward.
The key element in achieving the “feeling proud” sensation is to make sure you don’t miss your daily routine. Put a reminder on your phone, a sticker on your cushion, a knot in your bedsheets or whatever will make you remember to do your exercise. Like meditating, you will find resistance in doing it; there will be dozens of reasons why you should skip your daily routine “just this once“… the reality is that as every routine, it takes time to become second nature, and the sooner you start, the less you cheat, the sooner it will become the positive routine you need.

Being grateful and the road of feeling proud

Meditating may take away some of your time, but the “feeling proud” routine only takes few seconds.
One question: what am I proud for today? One answer: look back and just enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.
Now, if you want to add one more question to your newly established routine, you can simply spend few more seconds in positive-land: what am I grateful for today?
List three things you are grateful for in your day. Write them down if possible. This is another step in enhancing your confidence and your positive approach.

The pursue of positiveness

If you think that focussing only on the things you can be proud of is vain, let me send you a message of warning; we are too often lingering over negative thoughts. I am not implying that you should avoid analysing what you did wrong in your life; I am just saying that we are usually doing that automatically, but we don’t spend enough time in praising ourselves. Positiveness is a virtue we don’t pursue enough.

Today I am proud of having completed some tasks without letting my need of perfection distract me from the real goal.
Today I am grateful for all the amazing opportunities I have been given; I am grateful for the amazing life I am living; I am grateful for the amazing woman I have at my side.