If there's one skill out there that will help out just about anyone in the workplace, it's having self-confidence…..
Sure, you can call it by another name -- optimism or faith or trust -- but when all's said and done, it's self-confidence that's going to be the foundation that you can build your career upon.
The first step to building self-confidence is to take a good look at yourself. I'm not talking about seeing yourself the way that you think you are -- I'm talking about seeing yourself the way you really are. A great deal of people will see themselves as being a lot less than they truly are. The key here is to be honest -- don't just look at your shortcomings. Look at your strong points, as well. You'll probably find there are more of them there than you realize.
One key to building self-confidence is to cultivate optimism. An optimistic person will look at a problem as a challenge to be overcome -- and they'll bring the energy to it needed to accomplish that. A pessimistic person will look at a problem as an obstacle that they can't get around. Make sure that you don't dwell on the negatives when you're dealing with a situation. Rather, focus on the positives.
You've heard the term self-fulfilling prophecy. Well, it's time for you to come up with a new self-fulfilling prophecy. Believe me, there are many ways that you can succeed in solving a problem if you come at it with the right attitude. Also, it's been shown that people who are negative have health issues throughout their lives -- as if all that negative thinking were flowing into their bodies. Don't let that happen to you. The next time you run into a problem, tell yourself, "There is a way to do this and I'm going to find it!"
Another way to help your self-confidence is the old Nike adage -- Just do it! When there's a challenge at work that you need to overcome, rather than standing there and coming up with a thousand reasons why you can't do it, just attack the problem. Yes, there might be some initial moments of hesitation, but you'll be surprised at how quickly you get into the thick of things and real progress starts to get made.
Case in point: At one time, there was a project that had been given to me that was huge. It was so huge that it was daunting to me. And whenever I had a few minutes that I could have been working on it, I'd put it off to the side, until I had the time that I needed to really devote myself to solving it. Finally, my supervisor came over to me and told me that I had forty-eight hours to get it done or else there would be consequences. I immediately sat down and got to work on it -- and to my utter amazement, I was finished with it in less than ten hours.
This leads us to another way to build self-confidence -- find your focus. When you have a project that just seems like it's going to swallow you whole, take a deep breath and focus yourself on what needs to be done. If you listen to a lot of great motivational speakers, they'll tell you all about something called the power of focus. Believe me -- when you work on attaining that particular skill, you'll be well on your way to really standing out in the workplace.
Something else that works well on helping with self-confidence is to find a workplace mentor. A friend of mine was working with a guy that he really admired and he found himself studying the man, learning everything there was to learn about how he presented himself, how he interacted with others, etc. My friend discovered that from all of his study he had started to develop those same qualities in himself -- and he was able to incorporate them into his workplace routine.
And lastly, you can undergo some assertiveness training. It can be something small -- something that normally you would let slide because you didn't want to create a problem. When that opportunity comes along, rather than backing down from it, accept the challenge and get satisfaction from it. Studies have shown that simply by accepting a few assertiveness challenges that are presented in life (and don't worry -- they'll come along every day!) and overcoming them, self-confidence will increase.
Remember that none of this is going to be easy and none of it is going to be quick -- but if you stick with it and apply yourself each and every day, you'll soon find that you are well on your way to becoming more of the person that you want to be.
The first step to building self-confidence is to take a good look at yourself. I'm not talking about seeing yourself the way that you think you are -- I'm talking about seeing yourself the way you really are. A great deal of people will see themselves as being a lot less than they truly are. The key here is to be honest -- don't just look at your shortcomings. Look at your strong points, as well. You'll probably find there are more of them there than you realize.
One key to building self-confidence is to cultivate optimism. An optimistic person will look at a problem as a challenge to be overcome -- and they'll bring the energy to it needed to accomplish that. A pessimistic person will look at a problem as an obstacle that they can't get around. Make sure that you don't dwell on the negatives when you're dealing with a situation. Rather, focus on the positives.
You've heard the term self-fulfilling prophecy. Well, it's time for you to come up with a new self-fulfilling prophecy. Believe me, there are many ways that you can succeed in solving a problem if you come at it with the right attitude. Also, it's been shown that people who are negative have health issues throughout their lives -- as if all that negative thinking were flowing into their bodies. Don't let that happen to you. The next time you run into a problem, tell yourself, "There is a way to do this and I'm going to find it!"
Another way to help your self-confidence is the old Nike adage -- Just do it! When there's a challenge at work that you need to overcome, rather than standing there and coming up with a thousand reasons why you can't do it, just attack the problem. Yes, there might be some initial moments of hesitation, but you'll be surprised at how quickly you get into the thick of things and real progress starts to get made.
Case in point: At one time, there was a project that had been given to me that was huge. It was so huge that it was daunting to me. And whenever I had a few minutes that I could have been working on it, I'd put it off to the side, until I had the time that I needed to really devote myself to solving it. Finally, my supervisor came over to me and told me that I had forty-eight hours to get it done or else there would be consequences. I immediately sat down and got to work on it -- and to my utter amazement, I was finished with it in less than ten hours.
This leads us to another way to build self-confidence -- find your focus. When you have a project that just seems like it's going to swallow you whole, take a deep breath and focus yourself on what needs to be done. If you listen to a lot of great motivational speakers, they'll tell you all about something called the power of focus. Believe me -- when you work on attaining that particular skill, you'll be well on your way to really standing out in the workplace.
Something else that works well on helping with self-confidence is to find a workplace mentor. A friend of mine was working with a guy that he really admired and he found himself studying the man, learning everything there was to learn about how he presented himself, how he interacted with others, etc. My friend discovered that from all of his study he had started to develop those same qualities in himself -- and he was able to incorporate them into his workplace routine.
And lastly, you can undergo some assertiveness training. It can be something small -- something that normally you would let slide because you didn't want to create a problem. When that opportunity comes along, rather than backing down from it, accept the challenge and get satisfaction from it. Studies have shown that simply by accepting a few assertiveness challenges that are presented in life (and don't worry -- they'll come along every day!) and overcoming them, self-confidence will increase.
Remember that none of this is going to be easy and none of it is going to be quick -- but if you stick with it and apply yourself each and every day, you'll soon find that you are well on your way to becoming more of the person that you want to be.
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