Rather than discuss “passive” confidence-building practices like power stances and affirmations, I want to give you “actionable” things you can do to start building your confidence right now. Passive practices are great tips which anyone can benefit from, however, the challenges in this article are more like a game that you can enjoy building upon.

I put together these 5 challenges to get you moving and interacting with the world around you. You may have heard of some, others may be completely foreign, but they all are good tools to use. These first 3 ideas come from Till H. Groß at TEDxDonauinsel who discusses “comfort zone challenges” as a way of building confidence.

1. The 10 Rejections Challenge

The idea behind this one is simple: go out with your friends to have a few drinks, and try to get rejected 10 times as fast as possible. The best part is that the loser has to buy everyone else a round.

This challenge is a lot of fun and it’s something you don’t have to do alone. It will get you moving around, keep your heart racing, and give you an adrenaline rush. Through the challenge, you may end up hitting it off with someone you really like. It’s a win-win situation.

2. Embarrass yourself

For example, go to a busy street, lift your arms above your head, and walk through the crowd. Embarrassing, right? The idea is that if you do something like this over and over, at one point, you will stop caring what other people might think.

This technique actually dates back to the 1950’s with what cognitive therapists coined as “exposure therapy.” As you might imagine, exposure therapy is when you go out and expose yourself to the thing that scares you. At one point in your life, your autonomic nervous system learned to respond to a certain situation with fear. With exposure therapy, your autonomic nervous system learns that the situation isn’t really scary. You can see how it works in this simple graphic representation to the left.

3. Lying down in the street

There is something quite vulnerable about lying down in the middle of a street. It’s a place you are not supposed to be, where you are fully on display, and there is a decent chance of being hit by a car. So why do it?

Along with all of those things, this seemingly ridiculous act can be quite liberating. The actual challenge is to lie down in the middle of a street for 30 seconds. Embrace the vulnerability and turn it into liberation.

4. Shameless workouts

Working out will do wonders for your confidence. It trains your focus, drive, and determination. From a scientific standpoint, when you workout, endorphins are released in the brain, which is why people most often leave the gym with a sense of euphoria that carries on throughout their day in varying degrees.

Unfortunately, some people avoid working out because they feel silly doing it, especially in a gym surrounded by perfectly sculpted beings. The point of a shameless workout is to let loose and enjoy yourself. Now, that doesn’t mean to hurl dumbbells across the gym; have fun, but, obviously, do it safely.

Even if it’s just you in your garage, open it and let anyone passing by see you having a blast with your workout. You will get used to being on display, benefit your body (which ultimately helps your confidence), and enjoy that euphoric response.

5. Talking to one new person a day

This is, admittedly, the simplest challenge in this article. If you’re not keen on trying out the 10 rejections challenge yet, then you can try this. Find at least one new person to talk to every day, it doesn’t matter who. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation, of course, the longer the better, but anything will do.

Doing this will get you used to conversing with strangers, regardless of gender. Perhaps your end goal is meeting a potential significant other, but even if it’s someone you’re not interested in, talking to that person will help to simply break you out of your shell.

You don’t have to do all of these challenges, just pick one and try it out to start. You’ll be the most confident person in the room in no time. If you have any other tips, tricks, challenges, or ideas that have helped you, share them below!