10 signs you’re a highly confident woman

You may wonder if you are a highly confident woman or how to build confidence as a woman.

Many things can happen that can shape your sense of self-worth and success. Life can be hard at times. However, you can still be a highly confident woman when facing challenges.

There is a difference between arrogance and confidence, and confidence is a good thing. Confidence means knowing and believing in yourself, and it shines through to others with how you live your life.

While there are many different ways a woman can show confidence, there are some common signs of a highly confident woman.

As a woman who has run a successful business and overcome many challenges, I will explain the signs of a highly confident woman.

Here we go!

1) You take care of yourself

Confident women know how to take care of themselves.

This means taking care of yourself as a whole person, including your mind, body, and spirit, and finding a healthy work-life balance.

Whether you lift weights or do other exercises, staying active for physical health is key to taking care of yourself. Part of physical health includes sleep and nutrition too.

There is no one way to take care of oneself, so it may take some trial and error. Like anything, it takes work on an ongoing basis to do it well!

Taking care of mental health is also very important. Therapy, co-counseling, journaling, and coaching are some ways to support your mental health in addition to exercise.

Whether you suffer from low self-esteem or the opposite, arrogance, it can take some personal self-work to find that balance of a positive and realistic mentality.

There is also the spiritual part of life, which may need tending to in different ways at different times. Fortunately, many texts, practices, and communities are available to help with this part of yourself.

It can take some time to develop and rock these healthy habits. They shape up over time, not overnight. But it will be worth it to have the stamina to respond to whatever life brings.

2) You accept that you are not perfect

Another sign of a highly confident woman is that you know you are not perfect. No one is perfect. While highly confident women do not dwell on failures or weaknesses, they have no problem admitting them.

This does not mean apologizing unnecessarily. What it means is that you have to know your limits, flaws, and weaknesses. Knowing your limits allows you to also ask for help. When we ask for help, we can face life with strength and success.

It is not a sign of failure to ask for help. It requires humility.

A highly confident person can even laugh at herself.

The same goes for saying, I don’t know. This conveys to others that you know you are not perfect and do not know everything. It can inspire confidence to be vulnerable and honest when you don’t know something. We all have our areas of expertise and talent. And it takes all kinds of talents and skills to make things happen.

The media sends messages that successful people are perfect. If you know the truth, you are well on your way to being a genuine and highly confident woman.

3) Develop a growth mindset

A growth mindset involves embracing challenges as opportunities for growth instead of thinking of challenges as failures or win-lose situations. The Harvard researcher Carol Dweck talks about a growth mindset or the belief that one can improve over time.

Adopting a growth mindset helps tremendously in becoming a highly confident woman. It reframes challenges, problems, and even failures. You are less limited if you have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset, where you do not improve over time and are stuck with what you have now.

Failures, challenges, and setbacks are not a negative with a growth mindset. They are opportunities for learning and growth. This attitude helps develop self-compassion and support for others, as we are all trying to adapt and grow into what is possible.

A fixed mindset means you believe your qualities, like intelligence, knowledge, and skills, are unchangeable. Imagine how much harder it must be to try new things and take risks with a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset.

A highly confident woman takes risks, so a growth mindset is necessary.

If you embrace challenges and believe you can grow, this is a sure sign you are a highly confident woman!

4) You set achievable goals

For a highly confident woman, achievable goals connect everything.

While it can be helpful to have a purpose (or reason why), a vision, and values, achievable goals are much more… well, achievable!

To be achievable, goals need to connect to a purpose, and they also need to be specific.

To know if our goals are achievable, we need to work toward a clear outcome and have concrete, specific next steps. This takes work, week after week.

Rather than say that you are working to be happier or successful, you do the hard work of reflection.

Ask yourself:

  • What does success look like?
  • What is the next step to achieve this result?

If you constantly ask what success looks like and how to get there, you set achievable goals. This is a sign of a highly confident woman.

Some examples:

  • If I am to publish a book, I need to make an outline. My next step is to draft an introduction.
  • If I am getting a new house, I need an updated budget. As a next step, I will review and update my expenses.

According to author and Stanford researcher BJ Fogg, we need motivation, ability, and a prompt to make changes, which could also apply to working toward goals.

There is no one way to set and achieve goals. As long as what you are doing works for you, keep doing it!

5) You don’t take things personally

Highly confident women work hard to not take things personally. Maybe it comes easily, or like me, you have had to work at it.

In a world of so much negativity, criticism, and judgment, how do we not take things personally? Criticism may be feedback, or it may be something you ignore.

This goes hand in hand with the growth mindset. For those with a growth mindset, failure is only the beginning — of learning and adapting.

There are many ways to develop more resilience to allow things to happen without reacting, or at least without reacting so much.

Martha Hamilton talks about reactivity and how to start re-training our brains to do something different.

If you don’t take things personally and take criticism in stride, that is a sure sign that you are a highly confident woman!

6) You think positive

Staying positive can be difficult when things are not going well. However, thinking positively with a can-do mindset is one clear sign of a highly confident woman.

Setbacks are challenging. Problems happen. Things do not always go our way.

A highly confident woman stays positive and finds what is possible to work towards, no matter the conditions. They don’t waste time worrying.

This is closely linked to self-care and a strong sense of self. The more inner and outer resources at your disposal, the easier it is to fall back on a positive mindset instead of dwelling on failures or giving up.

It is possible to develop a positive mindset, even if you are not naturally inclined toward positivity.

Rick Hanson, the author of Hardwiring Happiness, talks about using ordinary daily experiences to build contentment and joy, which rewire our brain using neural plasticity.

A highly confident woman has no need to tear others down or engage in gossip. They are too busy being positive, taking care, and focusing on goals!

7) You help others

A highly confident woman knows that to succeed, we need other people. I also find that the more I am around other confident women, the better I can be the confident, helpful person I want to be.

It makes sense to improve the world and help those around us whenever possible.

This does not mean running yourself ragged by helping anyone and everyone who needs it. While we have limits, we also have so much to offer.

As a highly confident woman, generally you help people, lift others up, and share positivity. This extends to people, animals, and the earth.

People inclined to help others know that they have something to offer and are willing to share it. Supporting others demonstrates confidence and creates positive momentum for you.

If you are helpful, that is a sign of a highly confident woman.

8) You communicate well

As a highly confident woman, you communicate well. You listen well and use your voice.

As a highly confident woman, you can:

  • Ask for what you want.
  • Express your needs.
  • Say no when appropriate.
  • Set boundaries.

Confident women know how to be assertive. Assertiveness can be anything from getting an update on when the plumber arrives to convincing someone to partner with you in business. You can assert yourself and still be kind.

We can even be assertive toward ourselves. When you feel fatigued or a little negative, find an affirmation, set a boundary, and do something to get yourself back on the path to realizing your goal.

9) You don’t compare

As a highly confident woman, you forge your own path instead of comparing yourself to others. Comparing yourself to others can lead to anxiety, self-esteem issues, and questioning your own success.

Rather than deal with these energy wasters, you embrace your authenticity, only comparing yourself with … yourself.

There are fewer reasons to be insecure with less comparison. So, not comparing creates even more confidence.

Highly confident women don’t compare themselves with what the media say they should do or even what other people think.

With such a unique path, no comparison matters!

10) You look put together

A highly confident woman is well-organized. She looks the part and does not get easily flustered.

If you walk, talk, and dress with grace and order, this is a sign that you are a highly confident woman. This doesn’t mean you have everything figured out, have to wear makeup every day, or know the latest fashion trends. Again, no one is perfect.

It just means that as a highly confident woman, there is an order about you.

You stand tall and walk with poise and grace.

You know how to get things done and manage your time and priorities.

And you are comfortable in your own skin, no matter what you wear.

If you know how to look well put together and organized, this is a sign you are a highly confident woman!

In closing

If you are working on some of these things, that is a sure sign that you are a highly confident woman.

What matters is that you are secure and at peace with yourself and your path.

This may take work to get there.

But if you work at it, it will happen.

So if you see some of these signs of a highly confident woman, then stand tall. Success brings more success.

Karilen Mays

I am Karilen Mays, a facilitator, advisor, and writer. I organize my life around a yellow Labrador Retriever, Liv, and manage her Instagram (@livithelab). I write and ghostwrite many kinds of business communications and career documents for individuals. I like to share what I know and write about personal development, new ways of working, and anything else I am learning.

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