Introduction

Confidence is a vital element in career management, allowing you to pursue exciting career options and excel in those roles. On the other hand, those who lack self-confidence tend to play it safe in their career and can find it difficult to feel comfortable as their career progresses. 

 

Confidence can also inspire others, and of course, gaining the trust of those around us can be beneficial in our careers. 

 

Everyone has their definition of confidence. Often that definition is somewhat vague, and we don't usually give it much thought. Therefore, the first step to feeling confident is having a clear understanding of what being confident means to you.

 

Confidence is often described as feeling good about what we are about to do or feeling a level of certainty, or even feeling good about ourselves and what will happen.

 

So, confidence is a feeling, and it's not something you have or don't have or a skill. Sometimes people who seem confident on the outside don't feel confident on the inside.

 

Here are the 4 things you need to know about confidence that can help you sustain long-term confidence in your career and life.

1.   Get Clear on your Values

It's clear from the earlier definition that confidence is an inside job. Sustained confidence isn't something we get from outside ourselves, it's a feeling, and the way to a long term sustained feeling of confidence is to first get clear on your values.

 

Values are the operating principles that guide every decision you make, how you live and what's important to you. They are your qualities of living and describe your character both in and out of the office and don't change whether you are at work or home.

 

Values are a core part of who we are and how we see ourselves. By getting clear on your values, you understand who you are and what you stand for. You can think of values as a compass you can use to set direction and help you to stay on track during the journey.

 

Values play a significant role in developing confidence and enhancing performance as they provide the inspiration and motivation to do what we need to do. They also sustain us on the journey.

 

So, suppose your values at work or in your career are to be engaged, efficient, productive, caring, making a difference to those you serve – those values will be there in your current role, the next one and the one after that, even when things don't go as planned at work.

 

Conversely, if you are unclear on your values, you are much more likely to be influenced by other factors, such as the views of others or an overfocus on superficial goals.

 

This leads to the next important thing when it comes to confidence, which relates to your skills.

2.   Skills

 

Once you are clear on your values, you can focus on developing the skills you need to deepen and improve your performance in those areas. Whilst confidence isn't a skill, as we explained earlier, if you don't have adequate skills to do the things you want to do, it can be difficult to feel confident. Conversely, you are likely to appear (and feel) confident when you are skilled in a particular area.

 

So, if you lack confidence because of a skills gap, this is an area you should focus on. For example, interview skills, presentation skills, negotiation skills and communication skills are all learnable. Are there any relevant webinars or events you could attend to learn these skills? Is there a course you could take? Or perhaps you could find a mentor.

 

Next, we will deal with the impact of fear on confidence.    

 

3.   The impact of fear

 

We all face some fear almost in every sphere of our daily life. Fear is a normal part of our psychological behaviour. Fear showing up is nothing more than an evolutionary response to uncertainty. Fear, however, can prevent you from feeling confident. Even if you're competent, skilled and knowledgeable, being afraid can rob you of confidence. 

 

It's essential, therefore, to accept and recognise fear and try to normalise it. Understand that fear masks our feeling of confidence, and if we accept that fear showing up is normal and we don't make it something to worry about, then our fear naturally falls away, and our confidence re-emerges.

 

So, this is vital to know, as is the fact that …

4.   The actions of confidence come first; the feelings of confidence come later

 

It's important to understand that not feeling confident is normal, particularly in unfamiliar situations. Most people say, "When I feel more confident, I'll take action". But confidence is not the starting point. Confidence increases with experience. When you take action, pushing through the resistance, anxiety and fear of what lies ahead, your confidence will build.

 

Ultimately, confidence comes in the doing. Try something new and do it more than once. Act, reflect, modify and do it again. Confidence comes from making an attempt, whether you win or lose.

 

So, there you have it, the 4 things you need to know about confidence.

 

Get clear on your Values

 

Develop your Skills

 

Handle the Impact of Fear

 

Confidence follows Action

 

I hope you have found these words helpful.

 

If you are interested in finding out more about career coaching with me, look at my website to see the many ways I can help you in your career.

 

If you are unsure about career coaching, let's have an informal chat.

 

Bye for now!

 

Mark