How often have you considered applying for a job or sharing an idea at work but stayed quiet because you weren't sure if you could pull it off? For so many people, feeling insecure at work is a long-running battle they are yet to overcome and a barrier to career advancement. This article gives some suggestions for increasing your confidence when working. If you've thought, "I wish someone would notice my abilities," or "If I could just be recognized at my workplace, I'd feel so confident."
Hoping and Wishing will not build your confidence!
Are you are waiting for other people to acknowledge your skill where you work? Then, you are hoping and wishing some boss or coworker notices your performance and rewards you accordingly. Unfortunately, it takes more than wishing or hoping to get ahead in your career. Continue to read the 5 ways to build your confidence to learn how to step up your game.
5 Ways To Build Your Confidence
When you fail to show and share what you do confidently, your success and progress would be slow. You would be reliant on other people to get ahead in your career and that would give your peers total control over your success. It is a sign of a lack of confidence in yourself, and that would be a barrier to you advocating for yourself at work and seizing the best opportunities that come along your path.
The good news is that you can address your lack of self-confidence. Coaching and mentoring can help you boost your confidence. Also, you reading articles such as this and carrying out suggested recommendations would help boost your confidence. Ultimately, knowing how to build your self confidence is a necessary step for all professionals.
1. Identify The Problem and Plan How To Solve It.
You can be confident but still struggle with self-doubt in a few areas. For example, you may be great at coming up with good plans and executing them but you struggle to describe those plans in meetings, especially when you have to do so remotely.
To address this dilemma, first, identify the problem and then make a plan to solve it. In the example used above, the problem was describing a plan remotely. It was not an inability to plan, nor was it an inability to execute said plans.
If you have trouble with your confidence because you have feelings of inadequacy in certain areas, you need to isolate these areas. Then make a plan to either improve on them or outsource them if possible. Carry out a personal SWOT analysis to drill down on your strength and weaknesses. Then come up with a plan on what to do next.
2. Have The Right Mindset.
Your frame of mind will determine how you engage in your professional role. The way you think about why you do your job will influence how you do it. If you have the skills and knowledge to do your job, then you can do it. Don't doubt your ability or hold back from engaging in your professional capacity.
Think of your work as an answer to another person's problem. And anytime you function in your professional role, you are helping another person. Changing how you perceive your performance also influences how your coworkers interpret what you do. When you are confident, people see a competent professional.
Projecting a positive image to others can help you to improve your self-confidence. It's not simply a matter of "faking it." If you project confidence, others are more likely to respond well, and this positive feedback will help you believe in yourself. (mindtools.com)
3. Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone.
If you are to choose one tip to execute to improve your confidence of the 5 ways to build your confidence at work, it would be to leave your comfort zone. Leaving your comfort zone is one of the most effective steps you can take to gain more confidence in yourself at work.
You want to think about steps you can take outside of your norm to show your coworkers and boss that you are an expert. It could be as simple as expressing your ideas during meetings or as in-depth as taking up a project for your team you otherwise would have declined.
Stepping out of your comfort zone makes you identify and seize opportunities that you might have missed. You get to showcase what you can do and allow others to see you as the go-to professional to manage career-advancing projects.
Stepping out of your comfort zone can also be speaking out, especially if you are an introvert. Be prepared to speak out at meetings and team-building activities. Review agendas ahead of meetings and plan how you would participate in the meetings. When you are collaborating with others, actively listen and contribute to the discussion. You can affirm or object to the ideas discussed but do so thoughtfully and constructively.
4. Toot Your Horn
One of the 5 ways to build your confidence at work is to toot your horn. Be proud of your achievements and share those success stories with your boss and your team. Sharing your accomplishments helps to show your coworkers that you do a great job and that they can trust you to deliver the expected results.
The key is to connect what you have accomplished with what you need to do in your current role. Sharing strategies and technical know-how that can work for your team from your personal experience reminds you of what you can do and automatically elevates your confidence.
5. Eliminate Negative Thought and Talk
Eliminating negative thoughts and talk is both the easiest and the hardest thing to do. How you think influences what you do, and what you say about yourself feeds how you think about yourself. Your thought and talk is a cycle. You get to decide whether it is a positive or negative cycle.
A few words to take note of are I can't, how can I, or but. These words often indicate a lack of confidence and can limit what you can accomplish. It stops you from giving yourself a chance to succeed. You make your colleagues underestimate what you can do and tell your boss not to consider you for better and more rewarding roles.
Self-confidence, especially at work, is necessary to get great jobs, succeed at work, advance in your career, and get paid well. It is also a key to personal and professional satisfaction. When you do what you can do, there will be no room for regrets. This article share 5 ways to build your confidence at work at any and every level. Start implementing the ideas in this article now to see the results.