Trusting yourself is the vital first step in being able to trust other people, and for them to trust you. If you radiate self-doubt and negativity, people will take you at your valuation.

But if you have been hurt or betrayed in the past, it’s hard to trust others, and perhaps even harder to trust yourself. It may not feel safe to trust yourself; you might still feel that somehow it was your fault that you were let down.

Often self-doubt is firmly rooted in your childhood experiences – the messages you were given about your worth, your capabilities and your judgment. Were your choices and perceptions overridden because someone else, an authority figure, knew better?

So many of us are trained from early childhood to give our power away and doubt ourselves. It’s time to reclaim your power, by starting to trust yourself and growing into your best you. You must work on trusting yourself before you can trust others. It’s impossible to trust others when you don’t trust yourself!

There are some straightforward things you can do to start trusting yourself immediately.

1. Build your self-knowledge

Knowing yourself is key to building a sense of self-worth and self-trust. When we are safe and secure in our self-knowledge, we can trust our intuition, our internal voice, and inspire others to trust us.

2. Change your negative mindset

Take some time and write down all the messages in your head about your capabilities, skills, and judgments. Look at them. See where they’re from and challenge them. Reset your mental programming by replacing false, negative beliefs with positive things about yourself that you know to be true. Ask people who love you, people you trust, what are your skills? What do they love about you? Make a positive list and look at it every day. Upgrade your self-image!

3. Forgive yourself

Every human being makes mistakes throughout their life. It’s the only way to learn and grow to become a better person. Forgive yourself for your past mistakes and move on. Let go of any attachment to being ‘perfect,’ and accept and love yourself for who you are – a fallible, curious, wonderful human being. Not a victim, but someone in charge of their destiny.

4. Take some risks

Now is the best time to start taking some risks. Start small and safe to build your confidence in your intuition and your judgment. The more wins you get, the more your confidence grows and the more you will trust yourself. Then you’ll find that trust is contagious. You will trust other people without fear, but with clear-eyed judgment.