Today’s Question: “What are some tips to grow my self-confidence?”
Self-confidence by definition is “a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgment.”
When you are young, you automatically have this trust in yourself. You don’t even question what you can do, you just do it. If you try to do something that you shouldn’t, your parents will step in to prevent you from being hurt. This is where you begin to listen to others about what you should do.
Over time, you may begin to let other people’s opinions influence how you think about yourself. Do your parent’s approve of you? Do your teachers, friends and families approve of what you are doing? How they perceive you may impact how you feel about yourself and your capabilities. They may make comments or suggestions that you should try other approaches which causes you to have doubts. This affects your self-confidence, causes you to question your decisions, and what you want to do. So how do you proceed when this happens?
This is a difficult place to be, but you can completely turn this around for yourself. Here are some tips to get you started:
- Understand your strengths and values.
- These are the foundations that you leverage every day and the guideposts that help you make decisions. Once you are more comfortable with who you are, then other people’s opinions won’t matter.
- What are your accomplishments?
- Think back on all the things that you have done in your life. Go back as far as you can remember and write them all down. This will remind you (and most likely surprise you) that you have done some pretty great things and show you what you have accomplished.
- Reflect on your own self-beliefs.
- Are they keeping you small and holding you back? Ask yourself if your beliefs are really true? You have the power to change how you think and what you believe. Changing how you think has a direct impact to your actions and behavior. Start to focus on what you want to be, not where you are currently. Imagine all the details of how you want to be and act as if you are already that person right now.
- Identify a mentor or a coach to support you.
- They can help provide objective, non-judgmental input into how you are doing and highlight the ways that you are moving towards increasing your self-confidence.
- Ensure that you are reaching out to others that you trust for support.
- Ask them for honest feedback and seek out their help when you need it. Having these trusted advisors available to you will keep your confidence up, even if you have a situation that doesn’t go well.
- Have patience with yourself.
- Once your confidence has been impacted, it takes time to re-build it and begin to see progress in your transformation. Continue to keep the goal in mind and focus on that no matter what happens to get in your way.
Are you ready to focus on increasing your self-confidence? Coaching can accelerate your learning to help you reach your goals faster. Set up time and let’s get started today! http://susanmbarber.com/schedule-an-appointment/