Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. - E.E. Cummings
一旦我们相信自己,我们产生好奇、惊讶、由衷的快乐或者其它一些能够显现出人类精神的状态。——爱德华·埃斯特林·卡明斯

One of the things that held me back from pursuing my dreams for many years was fear of failure … and the lack of self-confidence that I needed to overcome that fear.
许多年来,让我不敢去追求梦想的是害怕失败……和没有克服那种恐惧的自信。

It's something we all face, to some degree, I think. The key question: how do you overcome that fear?
某种程度上讲,我想这是很多人都面临的问题。关键问题是:如何去克服那种恐惧呢?

By working on your self-confidence and self-esteem. Without really thinking of it in those terms, that's what I've been doing over the years, and that's what helped me finally overcome my fears, and finally pursue my dreams.
那就不断增强你的自信和自尊吧。虽然没有真正是从这个层面去考虑,这却是我一直努力去实现的,也正是这些让我最终能够克服恐惧去追逐梦想。

I still have those fears, undoubtedly. But now I know that I can beat them, that I can break through that wall of fear and come out on the other side. I've done it many times now, and that success will fuel further success.
毫无疑问,我还有这些恐惧,只是现在我知道我能够战胜它们,知道我可能打破恐惧这堵墙,并超越它。我已经战胜恐惧很多次了,那种胜利感可以为进一步的胜利提供能量。

This post was inspired by reader Nick from Finland, who asked for an article about self-worth and self-confidence:
我写这篇文章的原因是芬兰的一位读者Nick向我要一篇关于自尊和自信的文章。

Many of the things you propose make people feel better about themselves and actually help building self-confidence. However, I would be interested on reading your input in general on this topic. Taking time out for your own plans and dreams, doing things another way than most other people and generally not necessarily “fitting in” can be quite hard with a low self-confidence.
人们所提倡许多事情可能让他们自我感觉良好,事实上也可能帮助建立自信。然而,我感兴趣的是你们关于这个话题的一般想法。对于缺乏自信的人来说,放弃工作去实现自己的计划和梦想,或者会采用异于常人的方法来完成一件事情,都是很困难的。

Truer words have never been spoken. It's near impossible to make time for your dreams, to break free from the traditional mold, and to truly be yourself, if you have low self-esteem and self-confidence.
真相从来都不会被说出来的。如果没有什么自尊和自信的话,你几乎不可能会有时间去追求自己的梦想,不可能去打破常规,也不可能做真正的自己。

As an aside, I know that some people make a strong distinction between self-esteem and self-confidence. In this article, I use them interchangeably, even if there is a subtle but perhaps important difference … the difference being whether you believe you're worthy of respect from others (self-esteem) and whether you believe in yourself (self-confidence). In the end, both amount to the same thing, and in the end, the actions I mention below give a boost to both self-esteem and self-confidence.
另外,我知道有些人会把自尊和自信很清楚的分开来,但是在这篇文章里它们是相通的,虽然我知道它们有细微但重要的区别…区别在于你是否相信自己值得别人尊重(自尊)和是否相信你自己(自信)。自尊和自信都将最终等同于同一样事物。最后,我所介绍的以下方法都能使你增加自尊和自信。

Taking control of your self-confidence
掌控你的自信

If you are low in self-confidence, is it possible to do things that will change that? Is your self-confidence in your control?
如果你缺乏自信,是否有可能做些事情改变这种情况呢?你能掌控你的自信吗?

While it may not seem so, if you are low in self-confidence, I strongly believe that you can do things to increase your self-confidence. It is not genetic, and you do not have to be reliant on others to increase your self-confidence. And if you believe that you are not very competent, not very smart, not very attractive, etc. … that can be changed.
如果你缺乏自信,我非常相信你能够做一些事情来增加你的自信,虽然表面看上去可能不是这样的。自信不是遗传的,你不必依赖别来增加你的自信。如果你觉得自己不够能干,不够聪明,不够有魅力……这些都是可能改变的。

You can become someone worthy of respect, and someone who can pursue what he wants despite the naysaying of others.
你可以成为一个值得尊敬的人,一个能追求自己梦想的人,即便有别人否定你。

You can do this by taking control of your life, and taking control of your self-confidence. By taking concrete actions that improve your competence, your self-image, you can increase that self-confidence, without the help of anyone else.
你能够通过掌控自己的生活,掌控自信来做来这一点。通过采取具体的行动来增强你的能力,改善你的自我形象,你自己能够增加你的自信,而不需要别人的帮助。

Below, I outline 25 things that will help you do that. None of them is revolutionary, none of them will do it all by themselves. The list certainly isn't comprehensive. These are just some of my favorite things, stuff that's worked for me.
以下,我列举了25条方法来帮助你增加自信。它们中没有一条是全新的,也没有一条会自己自动完全。这条清单当然也不是很全面的,仅仅是我最喜欢的、对我有用的一些方法。

And you don't need to do all of them, as if this were a recipe … pick and choose those that appeal to you, maybe just a couple at first, and give them a try. If they work, try others. If they don't, try others.
你也不用做到所有的条款,你将它作为一个配方…挑选那些吸引你的,或许只有几条,然后试一试。如果它们对你有效,就再试试其它的。如果那几条对你没有用,也再试试其它的方法。

Here they are, in no particular order:
以下这些就是,它们并没有进行特别的排列: