8 Strategies to Boost Your Self-Confidence in Business
By
Theodore Henderson
The Wisdom Man
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How do you boost your self-confidence or keep it high when faced with challenges? Have you noticed that individuals with a high level of self-confidence tend to be more successful at work and life? They also appear to be happier in general and are not scared to face new challenges or opportunities.
Would it not be practical if you could increase or boost your self-confidence in your skills, abilities, and workplace capabilities? Think of how important self-confidence is when you are an entrepreneur, business owner, or professional. This post will share 8 useful strategies you can use now.
How to Boost Your Self-Confidence at Work and Life
Get moving and try these 8 strategies to strengthen and boost your self-confidence at work or in your business.
1. Totally eliminate weak or unfavorable self-talk.
A positive mindset will assist you in finding out more quickly if you engage in damaging self-talk and ultimately help enhance or boost your self-confidence. When you find yourself speaking adversely or criticizing yourself, immediately switch it to something positive instead.
- For example, instead of slamming your absence of knowledge about something, inform and enlighten yourself. Perhaps say to yourself, “It’s phenomenal that I can learn what I require so rapidly and efficiently so that assignments like these become a breeze to do!
- Instead of saying, “I won’t be able to,” ask yourself, “How will I make it happen?” This takes your focus off the unfavorable and harmful and puts it in the positive sphere. In this manner, you might come up with the option you require to permit you to do the essential things you thought you couldn’t.
For more on this topic, see Un@%! Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life and Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts.
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“Confidence is the most beautiful thing you can possess.”
– Sabrina Carpenter
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2. Increase in learning, knowledge, and understanding.
When you take the time to discover a brand-new ability or area of learning, you can be confident that what you’re doing is purposeful and yield results.
- You may want to look at online courses or attend a workshop created to bolster and expand your skills.
- View what others in your work environment do successfully and try to copy them.
One approach that works well (I use to this day) is establishing learning goals.
Creating realistic learning goals helps you focus and improve your productivity. Goals allow you to work towards something specific and achievable. They give purpose to your learning and the acquisition of knowledge.
For example, if you are trying to learn how to code. Keep it realistic by establishing a goal to create an application using that coding language. If you are learning a foreign language, set a goal to invest time regularly in practicing this language. This could be writing an article, reading some literature in that language, seeing a foreign language movie, listening to music in a foreign language, etc.
These kinds of goals actually keep you motivated, providing you with some ambition to fulfill in the end.
3. Regular and consistent practice makes it better.
When you work at a particular task, you will get better over time, as you can correct any errors you make.
- Each time you complete a job, ask yourself whether you could do anything differently to enhance the experience or quality the next time you do it.
Another far more critical approach is to reallocate the time on your busy schedule.
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First, put it on your schedule in advance.
Commitments scheduled in advance are more likely to get done than those unscheduled that you hope to get to “sooner or later.”
Each week, look at the week ahead and block off specific practice times. Be serious about best the days/ times of day to practice this week.
Second, make it a routine.
If your schedule does not change much weekly, plan to practice at the same time each day of each week. For example, if you have no Tuesdays after school activities, then plan to practice every Tuesday right after dinner.
Third, stress the quality over quantity.
As for practice, the amount of time spent is nowhere near as significant as the practice session’s quality. Suppose you are trying to learn an instrument, and you “go through the motions” or “play through” pieces and don’t work on any of the difficult sections. In that case, the problematic areas will not improve.
Fourth, make a firm decision.
Suppose you’ve implemented the last 3 tips and are still struggling to fit in practice time. In that case, it’s time to get serious and make a decision. Chances are you may have overscheduled yourself, and unfortunately, there’s not enough time in the day to do everything, so eliminate the unnecessary.
4. Deal with your strengths.
A proven method to boost your self-confidence in the work environment is by focusing your attention on standing out at the skills you are already proficient at.
Let’s take a look at the corporate setting. Feedback in the corporate or business setting is generally unpleasant for both team members and management. Most feedback highlights the negative. During the standard formal employee evaluation process, discussions unfailingly focus on “opportunities for improvement.” This tends to be true even if the overall evaluation is approving and complimentary. Hardly empowering to help you boost your self-confidence.
Informally, the sting of negative feedback lasts longer than the solace of praise or compliments. Most people pay close attention to negative information. For example, it is said that most people remember four negative memories for every positive one. No wonder most performance reviews feel like a migraine or toothache.
Corrective feedback has its place. Every organization must identify and filter out under-performing employees and ensure that everyone performs at an expected competence level. Unfortunately, feedback that digs out flaws can lead otherwise smart, talented managers to overinvest in shoring up or papering over their perceived weaknesses.
It is a contradiction of human psychology that while people remember criticism, they respond to praise. The former puts them on the defensive and, as a result, unlikely to change. At the same time, the latter generates confidence and the desire to perform at a higher level. Managers who focus on and build up their strengths can reach their highest potential.
This positive approach does not pretend to ignore, overlook, or deny the problems that traditional feedback methods identify. Instead, it offers a different and unique feedback experience that outweighs negative input. It allows managers to draw on strengths they may or may not be aware of and so contribute more to their personal success. Or, in other words, it empowers you to boost your self-confidence.
- Instead of just working on your weaknesses and being just “good enough,” focus on strengths and doing your work with excellence which will be marvelous for your confidence!
5. Always ask questions and be curious.
Do not be fearful to ask questions if there is something you don’t understand or comprehend. After all, the knowledge you look for could be the information you need to complete your task quickly and accurately.
You can’t run from the important challenges in life. You have to face them eventually. If you haven’t been good about mustering the courage to boost your self-confidence to ask the right questions in the right situation, then you are the problem. The good news is you can fix that. You have to stand up and acknowledge that your self-esteem is low and find ways to improve it beneficially.
In the past, I realize that for me, the answer was asking the right questions when others didn’t want you to. Finding the courage to face down my fears, I gave life to those questions about myself and my direction that I wasn’t asking but needed answers to.
I’ve found that to grow and allow your self-confidence to increase; you need to believe in yourself. Your job is to encourage your own self-growth, motivate yourself, generate creativity, and support yourself in your own journey of achieving healthy, increased self-esteem.
6. Concentrate on your previous successes.
An easy method to improve and boost your self-confidence is to think about previous tasks that you’ve finished effectively. Did you complete a job within the due date? Maybe received appreciation from your boss?
In The Introvert’s Complete Career Guide, Jane Finkle suggests a workout where you think of your proudest accomplishments to identify your interests, skills, and values. But the activity is likewise a method to recognize your strengths.
Reflect on all of the accomplishments you take pride in. It could be something like getting a promo, getting a book released, or even teaching yourself how to change the generator in your vehicle. Think about the achievements that energized you. They do not necessarily have to be things you’d include on a resume. Attempt to limit your list to just 3.
Then, look at those achievements and try to identify what each says about you. For instance, my preferred achievements are:
“Writing science fiction stories and getting published when I was in middle school.”
“I am teaching myself copywriting and digital marketing, so I might be running for promotion as a marketing manager.”
“Getting my degree, MBA, or Masters in another field while working full-time with a family.”
If I take a look at those 3 things together, creativity is a connecting thread. Love of writing does also if you think about that I was studying writing in graduate school. It’s also clear that I like learning new topics, and I’m committed to the self-discipline of doing the work that’s needed to achieve my goals.
Any of the insights you gather by taking a look at your proudest accomplishments side-by-side could be your strengths. Especially if those strengths compare with what others told you your strengths were.
How to Cultivate and Grow Your Strengths
After you have pinpointed your strengths, the next action is creating a roadmap for how you’ll grow those strengths.
Suppose the strengths you discovered were things you have not focused on previously. In that case, your first step might be gathering more information about this strength. You can begin with something easy such as taking a course or reviewing online tutorials. Then, move onward from that point.
It’s more challenging to figure out how to develop your strengths when you’ve been actively using them for some time. You might seem like you’re currently competent, and there’s no need for growth.
However, there’s constant space for growth. Keep reading for additional ideas to consider.
- Concentrate on the positives instead of the negatives.
Books to help you in this area of your “boost your self-confidence” program.
The Introvert’s Complete Career Guide: From Landing a Job, to Surviving, Thriving, and Moving on Up
The Self-Confidence Workbook: A Guide to Overcoming Self-Doubt and Improving Self-Esteem
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7. Act confidently.
Suppose you’re approaching a brand-new assignment, or possibly a completely new job. In that case, the odds are you won’t understand what has to be done precisely. In these circumstances, it’s totally typical to feel under-confident. Nevertheless, if you act with confidence and put on a positive mindset, you may shock yourself.
- You will gain the trust of your work colleagues. However, your own self-confidence will also grow, with the understanding that you are skilled at your job.
Listen intently and absorb what is happening around you. In other words, listen much more than you talk. Talking too much is a mask for insecurity. Please don’t do it. Instead, open your ears.
Don’t be one of the many people who feel asking for help is a sign of weakness. Asking the right people for assistance is not a sign of a lack of knowledge, skill, or experience. You don’t want to seem even less confident than you already are.
Frequently ask for help. It is a sign of strength to approach the right people for answers or assistance when you need help.
Never put down other people. Smart people notice the types who gossip and put others down. Don’t mark yourself as a problem by engaging in this negative behavior.
Avoid using qualifiers. Say what you are thinking and what you believe. Then listen, and if you were wrong, you could show you’re secure enough and have the leadership know-how to admit when you don’t have all the answers.
Volunteer for assignments or to help with projects. Volunteering does a couple of brilliant things. One, you get involved with people in the group sooner. By doing this, you fit in and feel like part of the team. Two, and highly significant, you’ll gain respect. The result is this will make you feel a lot more confident.
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8. Have a good time.
Taking yourself too seriously in the office will leave your self-confidence shredded when you experience setbacks. Naturally, you wish to be good at your task, but this does not indicate that you transform into a robot and become overly stern and severe all of the time.
- You are permitted to have an appropriate good time, enjoy a bit, occasionally make fun of yourself, and make any errors.
- Take any well-meaning criticism directed at you with good humor, and you won’t suffer any diminishment to your self-confidence.
A little additional self-confidence can go a long way towards helping you reach your professional or career objectives. Consider these tips the next time you’re feeling uncertain about your skills or abilities. You’ll be able to quickly boost your self-confidence back up once again in short order.
Conclusion – Boost your self-confidence.
Take social media off your mobile phone.
Unless you are in digital marketing or are actively using social media marketing for your business, it does nothing for you. If you were to measure the time you spend on social media, absorbing “information” that isn’t helping, such as what a stranger did on their vacation, you’d be amazed. The more you redirect that time to learning, the better off in so many areas you will be.
Read Daily
Top leaders like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Malala Yousafzai, Malcolm X, to name only a few, spend (or spent) a significant amount of their time reading. And yes, you can also, no matter how busy you are. The tool I use the most is the Kindle app. Flipboard can also be useful to give you instant access to material you’re interested in. Whatever your preference, do what is most convenient for you.
Start a real hobby like doing wood carving or chess (Watching TV is not a hobby)
With so many mindless distractions, we’ve gotten away from doing things we love that challenge and broaden us. Instead of waiting for your next series to pop up on Netflix, find hobbies you can relax with that are constructive. I’m an avid artist, and it helps me creatively with my writing.
For additional articles on this topic, see 5 Tips To Improve Self-Confidence For Success and How Self-Confidence and Competency Lead to Business Success.
About The Author
Theodore Henderson works with business owners, entrepreneurs, and corporate professionals on their business skills, marketing, and leadership strategies. He is an Amazon best-selling author, a Certified Career Coach, Business Skills & Leadership Coach, and a Certified Social Media Security Professional Powered by CompTIA.
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