Confidence in yourself, your brand, or your idea doesn’t come automatically. It is a quality of character that comes from within. Psychologists tell us that the feeling of confidence tends to come from past experiences. It is not an innate characteristic, but it can be improved with positive experiences. The more you can succeed in a task (no matter how small), the more you can create a definite sense of self-worth, and thus improve your acquisition of confidence.
For the observer, confidence breeds confidence. In other words, when you greet people, interact with them, and do business with them, they can tell whether you believe in yourself and what you are doing. When you think about how important that is, it should motivate you to improve your self-confidence and to exude a sense of proficiency rather than defeat.
Why Do We Need Confidence?
Confidence is essential to success. People want to do business with people who exude a sense of trust with others in your industry, socially, and personally. You need confidence to feel good about your achievements and to create further successes in your life. Research shows that people with a strong sense of confidence in their abilities perform much higher on tests, produce much better work, and establish more fulfilling relationships that those who do not.
Why Does a Leader Need Confidence?
Leaders need confidence not only for themselves but because they are responsible for leading a group of people toward a common goal. Without self-confidence, even if you know where you want to go with your organization or team, your people will not believe you think you can get there! The truth is that you can have the most eloquent speech or presentation ready, but if you are not able to communicate faith in your message, your non-verbals will be lost to the crowd.
How to Build Self-Confidence
Building self-confidence doesn’t come easy, but it can be done. When it gets down to the essentials of what confidence is about, it has to do with a belief in yourself. This situation involves a complicated process of delving into your psyche (a term psychologists call “metacognition”) to evaluate your abilities and qualities. Once you have assessed your positive traits, you need to think about how these qualities can help you with your tasks or business. This application of talents on the job at hand is what you communicate to business clients that they see as exuding excellence in quality.
If you want to build confidence in yourself in your social life, this is where confidence coaching comes into play. Think about the positive qualities that others value and how your traits and qualities match up with this. For example, if you feel that friendliness and a sense of humor are appreciated by the social group that you want to join, pull from your unique personality to find your actual abilities. Don’t try to be something you are not. People can tell when you are acting. Instead, just be yourself and bring out your true friendly nature and people will be drawn to this quality naturally.
How to Gain Self-Confidence
Building self-confidence is not the same thing as gaining confidence. Gaining self-confidence is something you never entirely achieve, but always strive to acquire throughout life. But you can produce a strong sense of self-worth and improve your confidence level by working on your skills and having a multitude of successes, thereby increasing your sense of confidence over time.
We are All Learning
Remember as you go about your journey, that you are not the only one in need of boosting your level of confidence.
If you think successful public speakers, famous orators, and other accomplished professionals have it all down to an art, think again. These successful people are always experiencing temporary setbacks in their sense of self-confidence merely because they are in the public eye. When you do something great, you will still be open to public scrutiny and criticism.
Take a look at the attacks on people like Oprah, and Albert Einstein, and you’ll see what we mean. Don’t be afraid of the negatives, because this shows you have something to say that carries a lot of importance. Whether people agree with it or not, stand tall with your resolve to communicate your objectives to your audience, and you’ll find that the fiercest battles are what will help you gain self-confidence the most.
How to Boost Self-Confidence
If you want to know some ways to boost your self-confidence, take a look at the following tips to help promote your self-esteem in the future for a better version of “you.”
- Put a post-it note on your mirror every day that says, “I got this!”
- Listen to positive speakers who share your world vision.
- Associate with people who build you up not tear you down.
- Hire a life coach
- Exercise and take pride in yourself.
All of these tips have proven to be useful for some people. The ones that work for you will vary. So try all of them at first to see what helps you boost your confidence the most. Remember, your goal is to tap into the psychology of who you are (metacognition) and discover the best version of yourself through positive training and self-talk.
You can do much of this on your own. But sometimes it pays to have a skilled life coach like Lisa Jeffs to help you along the way. Lisa understands the importance of communicating confidence, not just for your gain but the good of your organization. If you are a leader, business owner, or just someone in need of a boost of confidence, Lisa Jeffs can teach you what you need to know to gain more self-confidence and embrace a better version of you.