Some days I just sit and stare at the wall. My morning coffee gets cold, and the thoughts swirl – who am I kidding with these big dreams? Last week, I caught myself saying out loud: “I’ve lost faith in myself.” Just hearing those words in my own voice was a wake-up call.
Losing faith in yourself doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow erosion – a rejection letter here, a failed attempt there, a friend’s success that makes your efforts seem tiny. Before you know it, that inner voice of confidence becomes a whisper you can barely hear.
The power of faith in yourself isn’t just some feel-good concept. Napoleon Hill devoted an entire chapter to faith in “Think and Grow Rich” because he recognized it as the starting point of all achievement. When we lose that faith, everything else crumbles.
But here’s what matters: self-belief can be rebuilt. Faith in yourself isn’t something you either have or don’t – it’s a muscle that responds to specific exercises. And we’ve got seven practical ways to strengthen yours, starting today.
When You’ve Hit Rock Bottom Faith
First, let’s be real. Sometimes losing faith in yourself feels like a physical weight. Your chest gets heavy. Making decisions becomes impossible because you no longer trust your judgment. Simple tasks feel overwhelming.
This isn’t weakness. It’s not a character flaw. It’s simply what happens when your belief system has taken too many hits without proper maintenance.
Remember: every successful person you admire has gone through periods of collapsed self-belief. The difference isn’t that they never lost faith – it’s that they developed systems to rebuild it.
And that’s exactly what these seven approaches will help you do.
Start With Evidence (Not Motivation)
Motivation is overrated when you’ve lost faith in yourself. When self-doubt has set in deep, those inspirational quotes just bounce off.
Instead, we need cold, hard evidence.
Grab a notebook. Write down three things you’ve accomplished in your life that required persistence. They don’t need to be massive achievements – maybe you learned to play a song on guitar, completed a tough project, or stuck with something when everyone else quit.
The key is to find concrete proof that you have persistence within you. This isn’t about feeling better – it’s about proving to your doubtful mind that you’ve done difficult things before.
I keep an “evidence folder” on my phone with screenshots of small wins, thank you messages, and problems I’ve solved. On days when my faith wavers, I don’t need motivation – I need reminders of my capability.
The Five-Minute Faith Rebuilding Exercise
What if rebuilding faith took less time than brewing coffee?
Try this: set a timer for five minutes. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply and visualize a specific time when you felt completely confident. Maybe it was nailing a presentation, solving a problem everyone else struggled with, or handling a crisis with calm.
Don’t just remember it – relive it. Feel the sensations in your body. Notice your posture, your breathing, the expression on your face.
This isn’t just visualization – it’s actually retraining your nervous system. When we’ve lost faith in ourselves, our bodies literally adopt different postures and breathing patterns. This exercise interrupts that cycle.
I do this before any challenging situation. The first time feels awkward (visualization usually does). By the third time, you’ll notice your physiology actually changing.
Find Your Belief Borrowers
Sometimes we need to borrow faith until we rebuild our own.
Identify two people in your life who believe in you even when you don’t. These aren’t just cheerleaders – they’re people who have seen your capabilities and potential up close.
Reach out to them with a specific question: “What strengths do you see in me that I might not recognize in myself?”
Their answers often reveal blind spots in our self-perception. The qualities they identify can become building blocks for your renewed self-belief.
My friend Marco once told me, “You solve problems faster than anyone I know, but you never seem to notice that about yourself.” That observation became a cornerstone of rebuilding my faith when I doubted my abilities.
Borrowed belief isn’t a permanent solution, but it’s excellent scaffolding while you rebuild your own.
Shrink the Faith Gap
Most people who’ve lost faith in themselves are trying to leap across Grand Canyon-sized gaps. They’re comparing where they are to where they want to be, and the distance feels impossible.
The solution? Shrink the gap.
Instead of setting goals that require massive faith, create tiny challenges you know you can win. Each small victory rebuilds your belief system bit by bit.
Can’t imagine writing a book? Start with one paragraph a day.
Overwhelmed by fitness goals? Commit to a 5-minute walk.
This isn’t about lowering standards – it’s about creating a series of winnable games that gradually restore your faith in yourself.
When I struggled with public speaking, I didn’t immediately book a TED talk. I started by speaking up once during team meetings, then volunteering for small presentations. Each success added a brick to my foundation of self-belief.
Clear the Faith Toxins
Sometimes, losing faith in yourself has more to do with what you’re consuming than what you’re lacking.
For one week, try this experiment:
– Delete social media apps from your phone (you can reinstall them later) – Stop watching or reading news – Avoid people who drain your energy or amplify your doubts – Take a break from any groups where comparison is unavoidable
Think of this as a faith detox. Many of us don’t realize how much our self-belief is influenced by the constant comparison trap of modern life.
I noticed something strange during my last digital detox – by day three, my inner voice sounded more like me and less like an unhelpful critic. The constant bombardment of “not enough” messages had been drowning out my natural self-belief.
The Lost Faith Journal Technique
When you’ve lost faith in yourself, your brain becomes selective – remembering failures while filtering out successes. This journal technique interrupts that pattern.
Each night, write down:
1. One thing you did well today (no matter how small) 2. One challenge you faced and how you responded (even if imperfectly) 3. One quality you demonstrated (patience, creativity, perseverance, etc.)
The magic happens around day 10 when you review your entries. You’ll see patterns of strength and capability that your faith-depleted mind was filtering out.
Sharon tried this after a career setback that crushed her confidence. After two weeks, she told me, “I realized I wasn’t tracking evidence of my incompetence – I was documenting proof of my resilience.”
Let Small Actions Override Big Doubts
When faith in yourself has hit rock bottom, thinking bigger isn’t the answer. Acting small is.
Don’t try to convince yourself of your worth through elaborate self-talk. Instead, take one tiny action that the person you want to become would take.
Send one email. Write one paragraph. Make one healthy choice. Take one step forward on that project.
Action doesn’t require belief first. Often, it works in reverse – small actions build evidence that gradually restores faith.
The key is consistency. One small action daily creates momentum that doubt can’t easily stop.
After my biggest career failure, I couldn’t imagine rebuilding. So I stopped imagining altogether and just wrote 300 words every morning. I didn’t feel confident, but I acted anyway. Six months later, those daily actions had rebuilt both my career and my self-belief.
Don’t Wait for Perfect Faith
So what now?
Pick just one of these approaches and try it today. Not tomorrow. Not when you feel better. Today.
Rebuild your faith in the same way it was lost – one moment, one thought, one action at a time.
Remember that faith isn’t an emotion – it’s a practice. Even on days when you don’t feel worthy of your dreams, you can take actions aligned with them.
Like a muscle responding to consistent training, your self-belief will strengthen with deliberate practice. The voice that once said “I’ve lost faith in myself” will gradually be replaced by evidence of your capability.
Strengthen your faith muscle daily – even when it feels weak. Especially when it feels weak. That’s when it matters most.
Which approach will you start with today?