Too much fear and insufficient confidence are major barriers to success. What would you do if you were not afraid to do it?
I am passionate about supporting people to raise their personal energy levels, but there is little use having more energy if you lack the confidence to express yourself fully.
So let me share some of my favourite tips for building confidence.
I consider myself to be a fairly confident person; my rather shy nature has faded over the years. My work has me meeting lots of interesting people. I have spoken to large audiences all over the world and I seldom find that daunting. But like many people there are times when the challenges I set for myself push me to my edge and doubts and fears arise. Doubts play havoc with confidence and fear can be extremely paralysing. I was speaking recently to a small audience and it was more unnerving than speaking before an audience of thousands. I had to slow down, go inside and trust the right words would start to flow and of course they did. We all need confidence to succeed. So next time your confidence needs a boost, try following these 7 simple tips for building confidence.
1. Remember you are never alone: you are part of the creative universe. You have a vast energy working through, around and for you. So shift your attention from focusing on any nervousness of your own to thinking about other people and how you can put them at ease. If you want to appear confident, be the one to start the conversation. Always have 2/3 conversation openers up your sleeve!
2. Visualise what you want to create: use your minds eye to see yourself successfully achieving your end goal. Top athletes use this technique all the time. They see themselves winning. Whenever you set out on a task, big or small, visualise yourself winning.
3. Don’t be afraid to voice your intentions: letting people witness your plans helps them support you. Before I wrote my first book, I told people I was writing a book. Technically I wasn’t actually writing, not at that stage; but then people started asking me about the book and slowly, after much deliberating and a commitment to honour my word, my book was finally completed. People’s comments and enthusiasm along the way supported my goal.
4. Be open to change: This may sound overly simplistic but if you want things to be different; be prepared to act different, and then be open to the positive results that change creates.
5. Think of someone who exudes confidence, boldness, and courage: clarify what actions they would take in your situation and boldly adopt the same or similar stance for yourself.
6. Prepare and rehearse, then let go and relax: Do all you can to be fully prepared for success, make a checklist and tick all the boxes on completion. Ask a good friend to help you rehearse, or speak out loud into a mirror. Rehearse every possible scenario for interviews, negotiations, presentations etc. Do all you can then let go and relax. Allow the creative universal energy to work though, around and for you. Letting go and allowing is a very important part of expressing yourself and being confident
7. Apply all the above steps, then simply faith it till you make it.
I wish you every success with all that is unfolding in your life right now.
Be bold, bodacious and beautiful!
“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls a butterfly”
Caroline Shola Arewa
Award winning Coach, Speaker and Author. Shola supports people to get their Energy back and Life on track! Shola is the Founder/Director of the popular Energy 4 Life Wellness Coach Training and has appeared on radio and TV worldwide. To find out more about, Shola’s books, Coaching and training programmes, and to receive a Free 7-day Email-course on Creating Ease and Excellence in your life and work visit: energy4lifecoach.com and sign up.
Yoga Teacher, Psychologist, Author and Trainer of Wellness Coaches.
