I have talked with a lot of women and will admit I have been surprised at the topic that seems to come up the most often – confidence.
Confidence has come up so often that I started to inquire about it … and you could say a lack of self confidence is almost an epidemic. What has surprised me so much, is that many of the women that have told me they have confidence issues are very successful individuals. I would have never guessed.
How about you? Would you say you have a lot of confidence? Or is this an area you would like to improve?
Steps to additional confidence
“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” – Peter T. Mcintyre
1. Determine if there are specific areas, times, or situations you find yourself not having the confidence you would like, and pick one to focus on for now. You may find with time improvement in one area will show up in improvements in the other areas.
2. Is your lack of confidence from not knowing the answer or what to do? Or is it really from you just not wanting to be wrong? Knowing this will help you focus on the right thing.
a. If you don’t know the answer or what to do … Find someone to help you, we don’t know everything
b. If you know, or even think you know the answer … then move forward with it. Everyone is wrong once in a while, and know that is ok.
3. Pay attention to your language … This is really important. Too often statements are made as questions. Do not let the end of your statement raise in pitch. This is known as “Upspeak”. When you make statements that sound like questions you give away your authority and sound hesitant.
4. Posture … how you sit or stand will increase or decrease the confidence you portray. Practice this before your next presentation. Try standing like Wonder Women, does it change the way you feel?
5. Fake it until you make it … You may not believe this, however this actually works. Pretend you have the confidence you want to have … you may surprise yourself and suddenly find the confidence that was in you all along.
Lastly maybe the most important thing you can do is support someone else when you get a chance to reinforce their confidence. Through support of each other maybe we can end this epidemic of low self confidence.
