You Can Improve Your Confidence Too
Do you ask yourself how you can improve your confidence or what you can do to demonstrate confidence?
Have you admired how some of your peers look so confident? The good thing is that you can improve your confidence too.
There are a few questions to ask yourself to get a clearer picture. What makes other people you admire appear confident? What do other people do that you interpret as confidence?
Perhaps, you think some people are confident, and you are not because of the qualities they demonstrate. The key to boosting your confidence is to take the qualities you admire in those people. Personalize those attributes you like to fit you and what you do.
Below are a few things confident professionals do.
1. Take Actions and Be Engaged.
To be confident, you must do what you are qualified to do. You cannot remain quiet or passive in your professional world. Stand up for what you know and be ready to defend what you do. The actions you take are what demonstrate confidence.
Do you often take a back seat at work? Then, change that. You want to engage with your audience, whether they are your client, co-workers, or boss.
Do not be standoffish when interacting with fellow professionals. Sometimes, being quiet and shy can be misinterpreted as aloofness or disinterest. You can start by speaking up and out in your capacity as a professional.
Prepare for your meetings ahead of time so that you can contribute to the discussion. Arm yourself with facts and information, then strategize how you would contribute your expertise at every opportunity.
2. Stand Up for Yourself and Be Thick-Skinned.
When doing your job, people will question you, some rightly and some condescendingly. You must be ready to stand up for your ideas and withstand criticism or objection to your opinion. You cannot shrink or fall apart at confrontations. Learn to advocate (don’t just give up) for what you believe is the right course of action.
You will be interrupted by people, so be ready to push through interruptions. Be prepared to be interrupted and know how you will get back into the discussion. Sometimes people would disagree with you. That is okay.
You will miss it sometimes. Learn to deal with it. To be confident does not mean you know it all. That's fine too. On the contrary, a confident person acknowledges being wrong.
3. Do not Personalize or Ruminate.
It’s important to remember not to personalize criticism. You want to remain professional in your dealings even when things are not going the way you anticipated.
When things go wrong, learn from them and move on. Avoid wasting time ruminating over what went wrong. Do not take it personally. If you personalize failures, it will affect how you think and conduct yourself professionally. Many successful people have had their fair share of setbacks and failures, but they did not allow them to stop them.
Do not allow setbacks to hold you bound.
4. Embrace Differences and Diversity.
Do not be afraid of embracing differences. As you go about your professional life, you will meet with people that not only think differently from you but also act differently from you. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. Diversity adds flavor and depth. You should not despise it.
Embracing diversity includes allowing others to be themselves. Many workplace conflicts arise from personality clashes and people wanting things their way. The introvert is irritated by the extrovert, and the big—picture gal gets exasperated by the detail-oriented guy. The list goes on. Your ability to positively interact with people that think and operate differently from you will make you stand out as a confident professional any day, any time.
5. Focus on your goal.
Keep your eyes on your goal and not be distracted by the non-essentials. Non-essentials are things that derail you or make you overreact when it has little or nothing to your objective.
Focusing on the delivery of a speech instead of the content is an example of focusing on non-essentials. Many people have burnt bridges and made enemies because they were offended by how people spoke to them.
It may be necessary to address some of these secondary issues but do so professionally and not in anger. Always balance your emotions with logical reasoning before expressing your views.
Focusing on your goal will make it easier to get along with anybody and let go of differences. You will feel and look confident when you are unruffled by day-to-day work challenges.
6. Do not sell yourself short.
None of the things I mentioned above will be helpful to you if you feel that you are not good enough for your job or if you think that you do not deserve the position you occupy now.
It will not help you if you do not acknowledge your hard work. You'll achieve more if you recognize the hard work you put into the job.
You have earned the right to do what you do if you have the education, the experience, or the skill. Also, if you produce results, you deserve the position you occupy. Quit selling yourself short! Just stop thinking you are not good enough.
You may think there is a lot to find out about, but that is okay. No one knows it all! Do not be burdened by this lack of knowledge. Find out what you need to know or outsource it if necessary. Believe in yourself and in the value you have.
Demonstrate your value, and your confidence will be evident to you and your community.
Originally published at https://boldandageless.com.
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Article by Oyinkan Akinmade
Published 19 May 2022