Have you ever wondered why some people seem significantly more confident than others?
If you could improve your confidence, what would that mean in terms of your career and leadership success?
Today I’m going to share with you 7 simple yet powerful principles that will increase your confidence and authority.
Let’s first get clear on what confidence actually is and isn’t. Confidence is a feeling of being sure of yourself and your abilities. It’s not about feeling superior to others, it’s an inner knowing that you’re capable and valuable.
Being more confident in the workplace can often lead to being given more opportunities and job promotions. A study at the University of Melbourne found a correlation between primary school confidence levels and workplace success as an adult.
So, what practical things can you do to boost your confidence?
- Action: Talking about it won’t help a lot. The secret to success is all about taking action.
- Exercise: Regular exercise releases endorphins that make you feel good and feel better about yourself. Exercise cycles of stress and recovery lead to stronger muscles and better brain function. As you feel better about yourself, naturally your confidence will grow.
- Personal Presentation: I’m sure you have heard the term, “Dress for success.” Wearing a uniform helps people to get into character to play a role. When you dress smartly and professionally, your psychology reacts to help you think this way also’ll . Invest in a personal style coach to go through your wardrobe and get rid of all the stuff you never wear and help you to build a quality wardrobe of clothes that make you feel great.
- Physiology: One of the keys to confidence is understanding the power of your physiology to influence your psychology and how you feel about yourself. If you want to feel confident, you need to appear confident, shoulders back, chin up and with a smile on your face. Forcing your body to stand in a confident way will help you feel significantly more confident. Breathe long slow breaths from your diaphragm and feel your power and confidence grow.
- Focus: To reach a peak performance state, you need to master your physiology, psychology and your focus. Instead of focusing on what could go wrong, focus on the successful outcome you desire. Focusing on what other people think of you will decrease your confidence, instead focus on how you can add the most value in any given situation.
- Lifelong learning: Invest 30minutes a day in learning a new skill or mastering some new knowledge. Build a success library and be sure to share what you learn with the people around you. After all, to teach is to learn twice and when you teach others, you will feel good about yourself and others will look up to you as an expert in what you do.
- Get comfortable being uncomfortable: The difference with people who achieve the highest levels of success is they embrace discomfort as a growth experience. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is deciding that something else is more important than fear. So next time an opportunity arises, and you feel fear, take action, step up and take the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone.
To illustrate the power of confidence, imagine this. Your manager comes to you and asks you about a specific challenge the business is facing. Do you (a) change the topic/stay quiet, (b) offer your ideas and suggestions, or (c) offer to take responsibility to find a solution? What do you think the likely outcomes would be based upon these responses?
So, now you know 7 simple ways to grow your confidence. Understand that knowledge is not power, but acting on knowledge is. What are you going to commit to putting into action today to increase your confidence?
For more than 30 years, Rapport Leadership has innovated the way leadership is taught and empowered leaders with the confidence, self-esteem, and focus necessary to improve their results and build high performance teams.
Call 1800 330 027 or message us for more ideas to help you improve your leadership confidence today.
