The Art of Confidence

On the heels of yesterdays post, The Art of Change, I realized one of the biggest obstacles to making changes is having the confidence to do it. Many of us lack the self confidence it takes to fail. That’s right, I said fail. There is no success without first failing. We learn from these hiccups and move on, better equipped for our impending success. To fail we must have the confidence to put ourselves out there. Lay bare a piece of us to the community and brave the onslaught of good and bad. How do we build that self confidence we need to move ahead and keep ourselves from stagnating?

• Like Yourself. This is first and foremost. You cannot foster self confidence if you do not first like the person that you are.
• Study your subject. Knowledge truly is power. Know your information inside and out. When asked questions you will be able to confidently answer. That knowledge will also give you the power to say, confidently, “I don’t know.” when you do not, in fact, have the answer.
• Accept your Failures. Thomas Edison said “I have not failed,  I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Accepting and not fearing failure will give you the opportunity to look at what went wrong and the ability to move ahead, tweaking as you go.
• Break large jobs into small jobs. The cliché says that a journey of 1000 miles begins with but one step. If you realize that any job is simply a series of small advances, you can take almost daily victories in your progress.
• Relax. Breathe. It is much easier to communicate if you have a constant supply of air to your brain.
• Fake it. It can be a self fulfilling prophesy. If you look and sound confident your brain will eventually follow suit.

Self-confidence is knowing that we have the capacity to do something good and firmly decide not to give up.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama