If you can think it and feel it – you can have it. The truth is, confidence begins inside, with thinking about and feeling your confidence. The more you radiate confidence from within, the more you’ll demonstrate it on the outside in your interactions with your employees, co-workers, and supervisors. And the more confident you are – the more influential, successful, and fulfilled you’ll be. With that said, here are three simple but powerful ways to build your confidence from within:

1. Understand that confidence is a mindset.

Confidence is a mindset and a choice. You get to decide if you’re confident or not. Choose to be confident by picturing what confidence looks and feels like, and building those qualities into your daily actions and behaviors.

2. Realize that disapproval is perfectly fine.

There will always be someone who disapproves of or judges you in some way. And guess what? That’s okay! If you value the approval of others too much, you’ll end up sacrificing your own goals and not playing to your strengths. Your confidence will suffer, and you’ll reject yourself. So give up thinking you need approval from others, and instead focus on how you can prove to yourself that you’re confident and competent. Because once you believe it, you’ll feel it. And once you feel it, you’ll project it. And once you project it – everyone else will see it, too.

3. Accept that you will never be perfect.

Perfection is not the goal – ever! Trying to be perfect is hugely detrimental to your confidence, because you’ll always fail. Instead of striving for an impossible goal (perfection), instead focus on doing the best you can by leveraging all of your knowledge and strengths to the best of your ability. And when you inevitably make mistakes, use them to your advantage by reflecting on what you’ve learned and applying it to your actions moving forward.