5 Steps to Build Your Self-Confidence

“Talk to yourself once a day, otherwise you may miss meeting an excellent person in this world.”
 Swami Vivekananda

I think most of us can agree that confidence is a good thing, it boosts self-esteem, life and work becomes more fun, you overcome fear; and in leadership, people more willingly follow you. No wonder people feel a strong need to nail that enigmatic skill of confidence.

Discover how confidence is less an innate skill and more a result that anyone can have.

What if there was a different way to look at confidence and building it? After all, we’re all unique, we learn and adapt in different ways according to our unique experiences and talents. Have you ever looked at someone who’s super-successful and thought;

'What is it they’ve got that I haven’t?'

'Oh, I can’t/couldn’t possibly do that’

Or  ‘Who am I to do that?’

But we ask you:

who are you not to?

If not you, then who?

Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of believing that 'I lack confidence'.  It can easily become label denoting your identity; and a story that runs on repeat until the presumed myth becomes decided as a fact or belief.  It's then that it really starts to limit your personal growth and gets in the way of the changes you want in life and the challenges you could otherwise easily overcome. 

“You are the only person who can use your ability.”

Zig Ziglar

You have a track record of confidence

What if you are more confident than you think, and in a way that’s your own special recipe for success rather than modelled on someone else's life?

We all have our own cocktail of experiences, learning and gifts.  All of them influence our decisions and actions and how we see ourselves and this unique cocktail recipe gives you the experience and methods to consistently build confidence in the areas of your life where you have less confidence, just as you naturally have it in others.

What does confidence mean to you in your life?

DEFINITION - Confidence: certainty, a sure feeling, little doubt

• The quality of being certain in your abilities or having trust in people, plans or the future.

• The expectation that something will work out as you expect.
  
  

1. What is confidence to you?
2. What will more confidence bring you in your life, that you are not already experiencing?
3. In which areas of your life do you want more confidence?

5 Simple Steps for Building Your Confidence

1. Choose an area of your life, e.g. sport
2. List all the examples of where you are confident or have succeeded at something.
3. List the factors that helped you become confident in that area.
4. Which of those factors, or ways of learning can apply to the areas of your life where you want to build more confidence?
5. What actions will you take now?

And finally, remember these truths about confidence

Confidence is not a gift given at birth by a fairy godmother; we all fell over a 100+ times when we were learning to walk, yet we kept going until we could ‘confidently’ put one foot in front of the other. The same applies to all aspects of our lives.

People prefer to be led by or managed by someone who shows self-confidence in their abilities making leadership more effective.

What you focus on appreciates, so focus on your proven behaviours that have led to feeling confident in other areas of your life.

To gain even more confidence, make use of Life Ladder's Personal Development Membership of confidence tools, techniques and personal growth articles for your career and your life.  Find out more about Life Ladder membership here.