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Confidence

Self-confidence is a skill that can be mastered through learning and practice.
Creating confidence can have a profound impact on your success.

People are drawn to those that are self-assured. You wouldn’t want your doctor to be indecisive, nor would you hire a financial advisor that lacked conviction in your retirement strategy. Confidence is a trait that people seek out in others. If you are lacking it, there are some things you can do to build it.

1. Prepare in advance–Assume you need to speak in front of a large group. If you rehearse what you plan to say 20 times in the mirror before you do it live, you will be far more confident when you get there. This same strategy applies to one-on-one conversations or anything important in life that you know about in advance.
2. Become a student of any area where you lack confidence. For example, assume you will be with a group of people that always discuss politics. Everyone in the group is far more informed than you are in this area. In the past, this has made you feel inferior as you were not comfortable participating in the conversation. Before you see them, do some homework online to inform yourself and craft an opinion. As you participate in the conversation, your confidence will build.
3. Accept the fact that you can’t please everyone. There will always be people that don’t agree with you and some that won’t like you. Accept it. It’s important to develop thick skin. Those that make an impact or achieve success usually ruffle a few feathers along the way. Pick your spots. Bottom line: You can’t please everyone all the time.
4. If you’re facing a situation that’s creating a lack of confidence for you, identify a similar situation in life where things worked out well for you. Adopt that mindset, act as if you were in the same situation and stay focused on the positive outcome.

Confidence is a key ingredient to success. If you are lacking confidence in any area of your life, let this be your wake up call to do something about it. Do your homework, work to develop a skill, and take on the feeling of a similar past accomplishment.

Posted by Joel Brookman in Confidence, Self improvement and tagged Confidence.

 

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