This week is all about confidence
This week is all about learning how to develop confidence within yourself and your business so that you can create the life you dream of.
There is a misconception that confidence just appears overnight and that only specific people in life are confident. However, anyone has the power to become confident within themselves. Like anything else, confidence is a skill that you can develop and that needs to be practised on a daily basis.
We are going to look at different techniques on how you can develop confidence within your day to day life. Often we fall into negative thought patterns of limiting beliefs, and it’s important to recognise how you speak to yourself, assess what is holding you back and prioritise creating a plan to become confident in your life every day.
why is confidence important?
Being your best under stress. Athletes, musicians and actors will attest to the importance of a high level of confidence. When you’re confident, you perform up to your potential and you want to perform your best when it counts the most, when under pressure.
Influencing others. Self-confident people often influence others more readily. This helps when selling an idea or product or negotiating at work or home.
Having leadership and executive presence. Self-confidence plays a big part in leadership and executive presence. You create such presence by how you think, act (including how you carry your body) and use your voice.
Exuding a more positive attitude. When you feel confident about yourself, you believe you have an important and meaningful place in the world, giving you a positive attitude.
Feeling valued. When you’re confident, you know what you excel at and that you have value.
Rising to the top. Looking for a promotion? The more confidence you have, the more likely you are to be promoted.
Reducing negative thoughts. Greater self-confidence allows you to experience freedom from self-doubt and negative thoughts about yourself.
Experiencing more fearlessness and less anxiety. Greater confidence makes you more willing to take smart risks and more able to move outside your comfort zone.
Having greater freedom from social anxiety. Becoming more comfortable being yourself reduces concern about what others might think of you.
Gaining energy and motivation to take action. Confidence gives you positive energy to take action to achieve your personal and professional goals and dreams. The more highly motivated and energized you are, the more likely you are to take immediate action.
Being happier. Confident people tend to be happier and more satisfied with their lives than people who lack self-confidence.
Source: https://www.tcnorth.com/building-confidence/12-benefits-increasing-self-confidence/
why women struggle with confidence
An internal report at Hewlett Packard found that men apply for a job or promotion when they meet 60% of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100% of them. Women are far more prone to fall victim to perfectionist standards than men.
Women tend to be more cautious than men. While this means women are less likely to make rash or reckless decisions, it also means they are more likely to play it too safe.
The question women must, therefore, ask themselves is: at what cost? While you may not be comfortable with the potential downsides of putting yourself 'out there, that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Confidence begets confidence; courage begets courage. The more often you take psychological risks, the more comfortable you become with them.
Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/margiewarrell/2019/03/06/the-confidence-gap-six-ways-women-can-dismantle-the-hurdles-in-their-own-heads/?sh=6e5e1ed04219
tips on being confident in life
Control your self-talk. Your mind is always listening to your self-talk and programming itself like a computer from this inner talk. To be confident, make sure your inner self-talk creates more, not less, self-confidence.
Change one word. This can increase your confidence and probability of success when performing under pressure. It’s the difference between first and second-person self-talk. First-person self-talk begins with “I.”
Examples of first-person self-talk include “I’ve got this!” and “I can do this!” Second-person self-talk begins with “you,” or by stating your name. For example, “You’ve got this!”, “You can do this!”, “(your name) has got this!” and “(your name) can do this!”
Use imagery (visualization). It surprises most people to learn that they can consciously strengthen confidence much like strengthening a muscle. To strengthen a muscle, you engage it and fire the neurons to make it contract. Each time you do, the muscle fibres multiply and get larger — you get stronger.
Similarly, whenever you think of a time you were confident, you stimulate the neural network in your brain where your confident memory resides.
Give and receive compliments with an open heart. Learn how to gain confidence by learning how to deeply and fully receive a compliment. Hardly anyone in Western culture fully receives compliments. Deflecting compliments runs deep in our culture and starts at a young age.
Build your self-confidence with your body.
Be fit or improve your fitness. In addition to improved mood, happiness and self-esteem, one of the many benefits of exercise, backed by research, is a boost in self-confidence.
Practice using high-power body positions. Harvard professor Amy Cuddy’s groundbreaking book, “Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges,” provides scientific research proving that certain body postures change the hormones that leave you feeling more, or less, powerful and confident.
Minimize your saboteurs.
Learn to stop your negative, destructive thoughts. Uncontrolled negative thoughts not only hurt your confidence but also your relationships, happiness and even career.
Resolve perfectionism. Perfectionism certainly helps you become good or great at what you do. However, perfection is unattainable. The downside is that perfectionistic people are often anxious, and that can lead to depression. It’s easy to feel like a failure because you can never achieve perfection.
Choose your tribe carefully. Choose to be around positive people who build you and others up. We are all influenced by those around us. Choose your friends, your tribe, carefully!
Source: http://www.tcnorth.com/building-confidence/12-techniques-to-build-self-confidence/
tips in building confidence in business
Package yourself for success.
When you look the part, you’ll carry yourself with more confidence. Dressing well communicates to others that you are knowledgeable, powerful and competent.
Correct your posture
Don’t slouch when meeting with clients, customers or colleagues. Poor posture may make you appear insecure, lazy or disinterested. Try to make a conscious effort to roll your shoulders back and elongate your spine. Keep your head in a neutral position with your chin slightly raised.
Do your best and worry less
Entrepreneurs who lack self-assurance often stress what others might think about them. Negative self-talk can quickly make you feel as though others are evaluating every error and misstep you make. Focus on all the things you do well and hire other experts to take care of the rest.
Focus on the future
If you find yourself being caught up in the minutiae of daily business, remind yourself to think about your dreams for the future. If you take a few minutes to focus on your goals, you’ll be able to refocus on what’s most important to you and your business.
Embrace positivity
We’re bombarded with negativity all day, every day. To counteract the negative energy around you --from what's conveyed in the daily news to the comments of grumpy colleagues -- fill your mind with positive thoughts. Show gratitude for small acts of kindness and be appreciative of those around you. If you make it a habit to be positive and grateful, it will become second nature.
Let go of small mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes so don’t expect to be perfect or you’ll drive yourself crazy. Try not to dwell on small errors. If you make a mistake with a client, don’t obsess over what you might have done wrong. Instead, take responsibility. Apologies, fix the mistake as soon as possible and move forward.
Continue to grow and improve
A small accomplishment can help boost your confidence, even if it’s not entirely related to your business. Learn a new skill, take a class at a local university or read a book on a subject that interests you. If you’d like to excel at something specific such as playing golf or public speaking, invest in yourself and take lessons.
Schedule time to play
If you put in 60 to 80 hours of work every week and never take time to rest, you’ll eventually push yourself toward burnout and sheer exhaustion. Make sure you set aside time to do the things you love in life.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice
Whenever you find yourself in an epic struggle against self-doubt, call a trusted friend, advisor or colleague and get his or her best advice. Often an objective opinion will help you look at life differently, overcome your challenges and transform your attitude.
Source:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237634
Having confidence in ourselves has the power to change our lives. We feel capable of being able to try new things and create the life we have always wanted. Often we can get caught up with our negative self-talk and limiting beliefs.
In these exercises, we are challenging you to think about how you speak to yourself, question what limiting beliefs you have of yourself and how you can change your story.
week 32 book
Our book inspiration this week is The Confidence Gap by Russ Harris.
Russ Harris offers a surprising solution to low self-confidence, shyness, and insecurity: rather than trying to "get over" our fears, he says, the secret is to form a new and wiser relationship with them. Paradoxically, it's only when we stop struggling against our fearfulness that we begin to find lasting freedom from it.
week 32 podcast
This week’s podcast inspiration is ‘All in the Mind’. This podcast produced by BBC Radio 4 looks at the limits and potential of the human mind, covering everything from mindfulness to the issue of loneliness in modern life.