Would you be surprised if I told you that you have confidence?
You shouldn’t be. Confidence is a skill. No one was missing the day confidence was handed out. Sure some seem more prone to develop the skill faster, the same way some people are natural athletes. You don’t need to develop athlete quantities of confidence but you owe it to yourself to build this skill.
I walk the talk
For the past 11 years I worked my way up, through the ranks, at the same company. I linked a lot of little successes together to get there. After all of this I was finally honest with myself that I didn’t like my job. Almost simultaneously, the company decided that I wasn’t a good fit for the job. There is a big difference from deciding you don’t want the job and someone deciding they don’t want you. I am not going to lie to you it hurt and it was a deep hurt. The big ah-ha moment was that I bounced back quickly from this because I am confident I will find a better spot, and I have the skills to be great at whatever it is. I am confident in that statement because for 11 years I built together lots of little success. I celebrated all of them. I was never perfect but I was successful. Even in a moment some might call a failure, I can see it as a string of events that remind me of a beautiful strand of pearls. Lots of work for a beautiful reward.
Easier said than done right?
Not so fast you don’t get off that easy. Start with these tips and see what you can do to your confidence level in a very short amount of time.
Build a chain of small successes
To build confidence you don’t have to cross the scariest thing of your list first. Pick something you always wanted to do or learn that you can accomplish in a day. If you love to cook pick a recipe you have always wanted to try to make it happen. Then next week try another one. I have used this technique the last few months as I have been growing my connections on social media. I started by interacting with new people and the first few favorites made my day. Then I took a risk and reached out to a stranger. We struck up a conversation and have been in contact a lot since. None of this made me a social media guru or the most popular person on the internet, but it gave me the confidence to keep going. I entered my first twitter chat because of this person and have met some amazing people since.
Celebrate your success
Every time I hit one of the above milestones I celebrated. Mostly by dancing in my chair or with a simple gasp of excitement. You don’t need to throw a party to celebrate but take a minute to be proud of yourself. Be proud that you stepped out of your comfort zone and it was a success. I connected with someone and my little internet world was growing. I was excited. I told my husband all about my new twitter friends, (that is what you are called: twitter friends, blogger friends, etc.) It felt so good I wanted to keep reaching out. Some have responded and some have not, but because of the successes I keep going.
Action and results not perfection
Not one of my results were perfection. I don’t have thousands of followers, I don’t get a lot of favorites/retweet on my tweets (yet). However, they were action and I got results. That is all that matters. If cooking is where you want more confidence don’t try to make your meal look just like the picture. Aim for going through it step-by-step and making something that is edible. Next time adjust and try to make it prettier. Before you know it you are cooking dishes you wouldn’t have had the nerve to try before. Yay, You!!! The aim here is to do something, not get wrapped up in perfection and feel like a failure. That will have such an opposite effect and stop you in your tracks.
What is going to be your first success on your way to more confidence?
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