- Geekmaster
- 2020-03-28 10:16:31
- 9 minute(s)
Self-confidence is defined as a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgment. Having a healthy level of self-confidence can help you become successful in your personal and professional life.
When our self-esteem is higher, we not only feel better about ourselves, we are more resilient as well.
To succeed in business today, whether as a leader, manager or business owner, knowing how to boost your self-confidence is paramount. A lack of confidence may prevent you from pursuing opportunities or taking risks to help you grow.
“Believe you can and you are halfway there.” ― Theodore Roosevelt Click To Tweet
Confidence is a strong sense of self. When you have self-confidence, you signal to others that you believe in yourself and your ability to deliver results. As a leader, confidence enables you to lead powerfully. When you approach others with confidence, you increase your chances to engender trust and respect.
warningSome mistakenly think that confidence is something you either have or don’t have. That is not true. Every one of us can build and grow confidence. Even if you feel insecure and lack self-confidence, it is possible to work on yourself to acquire it.
If you’re looking to improve your self-confidence, it’s important to note that this is not something you can achieve overnight. However, there are some actionable steps that you can take.
Here are five powerful ways to improve your self-confidence quickly and to nourish your self-esteem when it is low.
Strengthen Your Skills
When you become skilled in something that corresponds with your talents and interests, you increase your sense of competency.
Strengthening your skills helps you feel more confident, since it begins to break down feelings of insecurity and ineptitude.
You can boost your self-confidence by focusing on increasing your competence in the central areas of your work. Become good at what you do. It’s one of the most direct ways to boost your self-confidence.
The famous entrepreneur and mentor Dan Lok has published an excellent article on the 10 Skills That Are Hard To Learn But Will Pay Off Forever.
Be honest with yourself about what you don't know. Click To Tweet
ImportantMoreover, once you reach a certain level of competence, consider raising the bar on yourself. Raising the bar leads to continuous improvement over time.
Self-confidence is built by demonstrating real ability and achievement in areas of our lives that matter to us. In short, figure out your core competencies and find opportunities and careers that accentuate them.
Think of yourself as a lifelong learner. Approach everything that you do with a student’s mentality, what Zen Buddhists call Shoshin or “beginner’s mind”. Read as much as you can—not only in your area of expertise, but for general business knowledge as well.
Read Like a CEOThe famous marketer and serial entrepreneur Tai Lopez provide unlimited resources on his website Mentorbox.com. He engineered a new, fun and engaging way to learn directly from the highest level authors and thinkers!
Fake It ‘Til You Make It.
Psychological research shows that the self-fulfilling prophecy works for both negative and positive predictions – the beliefs you hold have an impact on what happens to you. In order for you to succeed at whatever you put your mind to you need a belief so strong in yourself that you can overcome any setbacks. You’re not being a liar; you are transcending how you feel and transcending your limiting beliefs, which in turn free up your inner strengths.
Practice Self Compassion
Self-compassion involves treating yourself with kindness when you make a mistake, fail, or experience a setback. Speaking to yourself harshly, won’t motivate you to do better.
When our self-confidence is low, we are likely to damage it even further by being self-critical. Since our goal is to enhance our self-confidence, we need to substitute self-criticism (which is almost always entirely useless, even if it feels compelling) with self-compassion.
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm S. Forbes Click To Tweet
Rather than beat yourself up or call yourself names, try speaking to yourself like you’d talk to a trusted friend. Cut yourself some slack, laugh at yourself, and remind yourself that no one is perfect.
ImportantBecome aware of your self talk: when we make a mistake we beat ourselves up. This self criticism never actually does anything to help us, does it? In fact, it’s actually very harmful and damaging behaviour.
Ironically, positive affirmations do work for one subset of people — those whose self-confidence is already high! For them to work when your self-confidence is lagging, tweak them to make them more believable. For example, change “I’m going to be successful!” to “I’m going to persevere until I succeed!”
Feed Your Self CompassionAshley Elizabeth wrote a deep and well informed article about how to cultivate your self compassion. Once you’ve learned how to fully embrace self compassion, you begin to see yourself and the world differently.
Affirm your real worth.
The following exercise has been demonstrated to help revive your self-esteem after it sustained a blow: Make a list of qualities you have that are meaningful in the specific context. If you failed to get a work promotion, list qualities that make you a valuable employee (you have a strong work ethic or are responsible). Then choose one of the items on your list and write a brief essay about why the quality is valuable and likely to be appreciated by other people in the future.
Get Things Done
Confidence is built on accomplishment. If you achieve small and big goals, you’re going to feel much better about yourself.
Think about all the things you’ve accomplished, then write them down. Make a list of everything you’ve done that you feel proud of, everything you’ve done well. Review your list when you need a reminder of your ability to get things done and to do them well.
“If you don’t confront the tough stuff it will always have control over you.” – Grant Cardone Click To Tweet
If you accomplish the goals you set for every day, chances are you will begin meeting weekly and monthly goals, which brings you in range of your bi-annual and annual goals.
ImportantKeep in mind that progress is incremental, and big changes do not happen overnight.
You’re going to feel like you can take a big project, and set an ambitious goal because you believe you can meet it. Set a goal for yourself, and go for it.
Do something creative. Creative tasks are a great way to put the flow back into your life. Creativity stimulates the brain, so the more you use it, the greater the benefits. When you add the challenge of trying something new, it helps you even more.
10x Your ActionsThe famous entrepreneur and public speaker Grant Cardone has theorized four levels of actions, which lead to an unbelievable success.
Track Your Progress.
The best way to reach your goals, big or small, is break them into smaller goals and to monitor your progress. Try to quantify your accomplishments: the number of applications you’re submitting to jobs, how much you’re exercising, write down whatever your goal may be. It will help you stay on track, and you will build confidence as you see the progress you’re making in real time.
Leave Your Comfort Zone
Confidence begins at the edge of your comfort zone. Stretch yourself and move to the edge of your comfort zone. Get uncomfortable; try something new, meet different people or approach a situation in an unconventional way.
ImportantShift breeds shift. Change your habits. Psychologically this is called behavioral change: external change brings internal change. Shift your routines and this will in turn shift your inner moorings.
“Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.” ― Shannon L. Alder Click To Tweet
Change the things you can, and accept the things you can’t. Instead of wishing you could change things about you that are not possible to change, think about how you can alter the way you see those things. Can you think of any role models who may have similar attributes?
Challenge your limiting beliefs. When you catch yourself thinking negatively about yourself, stop and challenge yourself. Don’t let yourself be limited by erroneous beliefs.
Embrace DiscomfortMichael Hyatt wrote an excellent article about why and how to leave your comfort zone after having attended the famous event Life & Wealth Mastery.
Learn From The Best
Learn from the best to help boost your self-confidence. Find out who are the best people in your line of business and study what they do.
What can you learn from these people that can help you reach the same level of success in your field? Once you’ve determined what they do, consider how you can even surpass them.
Be Inspired. Bring to mind someone who has been a positive influence on you . Reflect on what qualities they have that you admire, and what you could learn from them.
Find supportive friends and mentors who can support you in making your unique contribution to the world. Click To Tweet
Surround yourself with positive people. There are positive people everywhere you go but have you stopped surrounding yourself with them? Hang out with people who have similar goals, ideas and desires to you and watch your self belief and confidence soar.
ImportantBe around confident people. Confidence is contagious. Spending time with secure people will always nurture your soul’s inner confidence, just as hanging around insecure people will always feed your insecurities.
Become a mentor.
Be there for someone who needs your guidance, your leadership and your support. Their respect and gratitude–and watching them progress with your help–will add to your self-esteem and self-respect. It’s a mirror image: Confidence breeds confidence; security feeds security. Help others feel confident, and it will come back and bring you confidence in return.
Final Thoughts
Everyone struggles with confidence issues at one time or another. And it is possible to have too much confidence. It’s so important work on your confidence and this, in turn, will help you break bad habits such as over analysing, comparing can cause anxiety, guilt and shame.
ImportantIf you’re overly confident in your abilities, you might not take action. So it’s important to have a healthy dose of self-confidence that helps you perform at your peak.
Even the most confident people can sometimes find themselves in situations where they doubt themselves.
Everyone needs some tools in their toolkit to boost their self-confidence. Self-confidence is key to having the mental edge that helps you succeed.
Clarify what success means to you and what it means in terms of your confidence. If you really want to do something you will have to find the self-confidence within yourself to just do it.
The bottom line is improving self-confidence requires a bit of work, as it involves developing and maintaining emotional habits but doing so correctly, will provide a great return on your investment.
Don’t let negative or unhelpful thoughts rule your life!
If you enjoyed the article or have any comments, recommendations, or tips for improvement please do comment below.
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Dear geeknack,
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“Thank you so much for listening to me.”
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