Your journey would be swift depending on your willingness to drive yourself to the end phase and to discard all that you have been acquainted to do (comfort zones). But you see, in the end it would not really matter how long it took you to improve your self confidence. What matters more is that you have atleast removed yourself from the old ways that you have learned to embrace. Nevertheless, it is no big deal if you would hide your activity of growth or not. Unless you live in a solitary cave somewhere, people would realize that you are up with something. A good way to gain self confidence also lies in your goal setting. People tend to set higher goals than what they can truly achieve. Outside stimulation may help but it would all still boil down to knowing yourself and using that knowledge to gain confidence. To get self confidence, you must realize that your limitations must not limit you and your attributes must not destroy you. Instead, use all these factors to develop a personality that would be productive for you and all those that surround you. Central to boosting self confidence and positive thinking is the setting of realistic goals that you can reach for while not delimiting your capacities. Normally when we set out to do something we tend to over calculate things and plan to achieve things beyond our present reach. This, we say, would encourage us to work double time. It will always pull us down into the realms of mediocre life and dullness. It will make ways so that we would fit in the gaps of the non-achievers, the humiliated and the lowly people. There is no such world but because men tend not to listen to the voices that encourage them to believe in themselves, this world came forth to life. Many of us think that the man we are looking up to shared much of life's blessings because he can bear himself better, he can face the public better and he is much eloquent and more confident than most of us. Remember that before he even got there, he ahs to face challenges that contributed to his self-esteem and self confidence.