Lack of confidence getting you down? Here a 6 Quick Hit Confidence Strategies that may help:
- See Confidence as Skill Set for You to Learn
Flip your thinking and see confidence as something you learn and not something you have.
Grab a piece of paper and draw 4 columns with the following headings: (1) Areas of life where unconfident (2) Why are you unconfident? (3) What would make you confident? (4) Action Needed
Now sit down and complete. If you struggle call on your friends or partner to help.
- Your Values
Next time you are in a situation where your confidence deserts you check in with your values and decide how you should proceed. For a list of over 400 Values visit www.barriedavenport.com but for example, honesty, kindness, integrity.
- Practise makes Perfect
If you are unconfident about a particular event or situation then practise. And then practise again and practise some more. This particularly helps for presentations, public speaking, interviews.
4. Act Confident
Act how you want to feel, in The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin’s third commandment is “Act the way I want to feel”.
It works. Try it. Don’t use this technique for long period of time though because faking an emotion can cause internal stresses, but I would definitely try it for a short term fix. Next time you feel unconfident, acknowledge it and then put your game face on
5. Identify a Confidence Mentor
I bet there is someone who has the confidence levels you want or someone you look up too? Reach out to them, ask them for help. Invite them out for a coffee and ask them for their confidence tricks. How do they handle themselves when unconfident.
6. Don’t Do It!
Sometimes the bravest and the best thing to do is walk away from whatever is making you feel unconfident. Don’t take this as the easy way out though, I believe 9 times out of 10 you can turn unconfident situation around, but sometimes it’s actually better to walk away. Unsure? Talk it through with a friend.
And remember, it’s OK to not feel confident, in fact it’s a natural instinct. In her book, Being Confident, Judi James states “First a health warning: Confidence kills. In animal terms what we perceive as modern forms of confidence are entirely unnatural”. Put simply, back in the day, being overly confident would have got you, your family or your tribe killed.
I hope this helps. Let me know how you get on at gemma@prosperitykitchen.co.uk
Gemma xxx
