This article was first published in May 2025.
You may know her as Fury from Gladiators, but as a deaf athlete, Jodie Ounsley has had to overcome many barriers to get to where she is today.
We caught up with Jodie, who shared her top three tips for how you can build up your confidence to help you do anything you put your mind to.
Hiya its Jodie Ounsley, also known as Fury from Gladiators. Here are my three top tips on how to build your confidence from the book Keep Smashing It. The first one is saying yes to the things that scare you can lead to amazing things. If you scare yourself a little bit every day by trying something new, eventually you will feel comfortable doing that thing. Nerves are a good thing because they show that you care about what you're doing, someone who's always struggled with confidence and nerves growing up, that always just helps me have confidence in what I'm doing and everyone gets nervous, don't they? So it just reminds me that it's a good thing. This is the one that I have done for years now, and I do it all the time in my career today, so, my motto when it comes to confidence is fake it till you make it. It's kind of like magic. It's almost pretending that you're confident and before you know it, you actually feel more confident the more you practice it. And that can be how you present yourself, your body language… I do it all the time when I'm nervous, If I'm on stage speaking to people and I'm very nervous inside, I think, no, I'm going to have, you know, good body language, I'm going to smile, I'm going to be friendly, and somehow it makes me feel more confident. So yeah, those are my three top tips on how to become more confident.
How to be confident
Here are Jodie's top three tips for how to be more confident and smash your goals.
Say yes to the things that scare you
Fury does plenty of scary things in the Gladiators arena, now we don't recommend trying Duel, Hang Tough or anything else dangerous, but Jodie says you should do something every day that scares you a little bit, and then eventually you will become comfortable doing that thing!
Confidence expert Tiwalola Ogunlesi has some more amazing tips on how to overcome fear in this guide.
Embrace your nerves
Jodie struggled with her confidence and nerves growing up, but she's learned to embrace her nervousness. She says that nerves show that you care about what you're doing. Everybody gets nervous from time to time and learning to embrace those nerves will help you overcome them.
If you want to get some more tips from Dr Radha on how to be more confident, including using affirmations and building self-esteem then check out our World of Wellbeing podcast.
Fake it till you make it
Jodie uses this tip all the time! By acting like you are confident, Jodie says you will actually feel more confident. When she's feeling nervous, or on stage doing a speech, Jodie will smile, be friendly and use more positive body language to help her feel more confident – she says it's like magic!
In her new book, Keep Smashing It, Jodie recalls some inspirational stories from her life and provides plenty of tips and pieces of advice to help you believe in yourself.
If you need support
You should always tell someone about the things you’re worried about. You can tell a friend, parent, guardian, teacher, or another trusted adult. If you're struggling with your mental health, going to your GP can be a good place to start to find help. Your GP can let you know what support is available to you, suggest different types of treatment and offer regular check-ups to see how you’re doing.
If you’re in need of in-the-moment support you can contact Childline, where you can speak to a counsellor. Their lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are more links to helpful organisations on the BBC Bitesize Action Line page for young people.
Tips for how to boost your confidence
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