Even the most gorgeous, highly successful woman cannot escape the reality of having a bad day or not quite feeling her best. A healthy amount of self-confidence can make us more attractive and a lot of fun to be around. While it certainly takes more than five simple steps to sustain a high reading on the self esteem meter, in a pinch these may offer you a quick fix. 1. Stay Prepared Growing up in a Christian household, I often heard “you know Jesus is coming back soon…be prepared.” I just remember thinking, well shouldn’t we go put on our patent leather shoes and fix up our hair or something, so He’ll know we are ready? I mean really, shouldn’t we be fabulous for His return? I’m just saying. It was a simple notion then, and still is. No matter how you feel, get up, get dressed and act like you know it’s going to be a good day. Why is this one of the best confidence boosters? Because you can be sure that when you are prepared for success, it will find you. 2. Order Dessert First okay, you might not want to make a regular habit of this but the next time you go to a restaurant, immediately ask for the dessert menu and order your chocolate cake first. This one here is not so much a question of putting your complex carbohydrates before your protein, it’s more about doing something that goes against the “norm”. Besides the quick boost you’ll get from the sugars, breaking some of life’s little rules can be quite liberating and can nurture your fearless inner diva. Now don’t go out and get arrested or provoke your boss to present you with a pink slip. Although most rules are made to be broken, every successful diva knows when and how to break them. 3. Check Yourself Before you wreck yourself. Right? Well. Checking in with your thoughts and feelings about yourself may be one of the single most important things you can do throughout the day. Most of us tend to be our own worst critics. Left unchecked, that persistently annoying voice that tells us we aren’t doing enough or we aren’t good enough, will only grow louder and eventually dominate our thoughts. If your inner critic is judging you a bit too harshly, tell her “not today sweetie”, and gently lead her in another direction. 4. Listen to Jill Scott’s “Golden” Check the lyrics – this one needs no explanation. 5. Value Yourself Why is that unconventional you ask? Because from one fabulous lady to another, paying a deserving compliment goes a long way toward making us feel better about ourselves and unfortunately, we don’t do it enough. Contrary to popular belief, criticizing others actually does not make us feel better. Don’t believe me? Try negatively criticizing three people today and see if it doesn’t bring you down. Conversely, try complimenting at least three people today and see if it doesn’t have the opposite effect. Showing that you genuinely appreciate the excellence in another, not only demonstrates the value of your own self worth, but it can be motivation to look around for things that are positive. Click here for more Fast Forward to Fabulous with Malinda Williams.