Have you ever pondered the mystery of self confidence? Why does it seem so easy for some people to project confidence, while others struggle with insecurity? You might even catch yourself thinking “Oh, she’s so lucky—she’s confident. If I was that self-confident, I could succeed in business, too.” The truth is, self confidence can be learned and cultivated. Check out these five secrets to build your self confidence for business success and quickly change the confidence level you project.
Five Secrets to Build Your Self Confidence for Business Success
1) Focus on learning and improving.
Set your sights on improving your skills and knowledge. Possessing skills and being an expert in something creates confidence. Rather than bemoan your lack of talent or sigh over what you weren’t born with, get to work. Repetition, stretching yourself mentally to learn and even memorization create new connections in your brain—and make you smarter. Knowing that you know is a confidence booster. Hard work and persistence pay off, with new skills, useful knowledge and a quiet confidence that you know your stuff.
2) Don’t try to create a perfect world.
Having the expectation that you’ll never make mistakes is unrealistic. Yet how often do we make mistakes and then feel surprised and disappointed in ourselves? Rather than dwelling on mistakes, ask yourself “What can I learn?” When you know in advance that mistakes are inevitable, and you have the attitude of learning from them, you can move forward with confidence.
3) Learn a new language.
And I don’t mean Spanish. Pay attention to the words you are speaking to yourself and about yourself. If you’re constantly saying that you don’t have confidence, can you guess what happens? Make a commitment to learn a new language of self-talk, and that will spill over into what you say about yourself out loud. Your language matters—both in your head and out of your mouth!
4) Notice what you do right—and celebrate!
It’s easy to focus on what you want to improve and how you want to do better, then completely bypass what you’re doing right. Spend more time encouraging yourself and noticing your accomplishments. You get more of what you focus on and you want more accomplishments, right? Make an effort to acknowledge and celebrate the huge amount of things you DO get done!
5) Get over yourself.
It has been said that to be insecure is to be selfish. Let’s face it, when we’re feeling insecure it’s because we’re focusing on how “I” feel and what others will think of “me.” Allowing a shortage of confidence to prevent you from sharing yourself with the world is sad. Think about all of the people who could be helped by what you have to offer! Sometimes you just have to get over yourself and do it anyway.
Practical Action Steps to Build Your Self Confidence
Ideas are great, but unless you take practical action nothing changes. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started on building your self confidence:
- Choose a skill that you want to improve and make a plan to do so. Meet the challenge and learn! For instance, if you want to learn photography for your blog, do a bit of research and buy a beginner camera, but don’t obsess so much on the details that you never get around to getting started. The learning is in the DOING, not in the researching. The development of your skill gives you confidence.
- Make a list of five put-down thoughts that you frequently have about yourself. Go through the list and write an opposite thought that supports you and who you want to be. Cross out the put-downs—and vow to replace them each time they come up. Coach yourself like a winning team!
When it comes down to it, much of self confidence is a choice. We’re making choices about how we speak to ourselves and what we allow ourselves to think about our abilities, appearance and business. Use these five secrets to make a change and build your self confidence for success!
About Author
Thank you for sharing beautiful thoughts. We have seen secrets of a winning team totally dedicated to the purpose and work fits into the organization’s objectives, and they agree that their team’s goals are achievable and aligned with company mission and values. This commitment provides them with the foundation for synergy.