do confidence building exercises help you?

I recently subscribed to a free online program "21 step confidence building guide" by Farnoosh Brock. I saw an article she wrote called 100 positive affirmations and reading all the positive, encouraging things she had to say actually really made me feel better! I realized that I suffer from negative self talk as well as negative expectations about most things. I came to realize its been feeding my anxiety for a long time. But I was Able to calm myself down lately by thinking some positive things about the situation. And that really gave me hope that I could get ahold of all this anxiety. Finally, I seem to have made a step in the right direction! Its harder for me to do some things she recommends, like saying outloud "I am more than enough". But, it is all a process. Has anyone else found this program or a similar one that helps? Would love to hear about it. Sorry for the super long post.

Hello summerblueskies, welcome to Psych Central.

I think these things definitely help, positive self talk helps and helps you to gain a compassionate mind rather than beating yourself up. A lot of CBT is based on positive self-talk also and when you are in the middle of depression or anxiety it is useful to put up sticky notes to remind you of the good points. So yes, I'm all for it!

I don't find it very helpful, feels phony/fake to me I guess...when I'm not feeling it.

I have no confidence in them ;-)

I've known several people, mostly professional sales people, who always had to get "pumped up" or motivated simply to face their day. IMHO anybody who needs constant motivation and encouragement would be better served by making some changes.

In my experience I have felt similar to you when I try various self-help techniques, I get excited and I generally feel a lot better in the moment. However I find it rarely sticks around for very long. I want to believe it is possible to change a person's negative perspectives into positive ones but I certainly have a hard time with it in the long run. I'm glad you are experiencing some relief though and I encourage you to stick with it.