By Andrea Watson | September 4, 2020
You’re pretty confident, right? Do you have confidence that you can do your job, take care of your children or partner, cook a meal, drive a car? Great! Then you are already familiar with the concept- not to be confused with self-esteem. I am confident that leveraging what you already have can enhance and enrich our lives. How? It can help us move up in our careers, expand our knowledge and skills set, nurture our relationships, and open us up to trying new things!
Evolution
So how do we use the confidence that we already have? It has gotten us this far, hasn’t it? Well, let’s go further. First we must realize that confidence is an evolutionary thing. It evolved to give us an edge in survival. It also drives our actions. It is up to us- not anybody else to believe that we can do something. Accurate self-assessment is a must. Otherwise, our perception of ourselves and ergo our confidence level is skewed.
Achievement
Confidence is built on achievement, not hollow praise.Those little things we have done right or excelled at built us up to try bigger things. Bigger achievements lead to more confidence and new action to try bigger things and the cycle continues. Performing a realistic appraisal of our abilities allows us to strategize for the future. We can plan to strengthen ourselves and use the improvements to create a positive feedback loop. This will strengthen our perception that we can influence outcome.
Visuals
We can also imagine ourselves being successful. Engaging in positive visuals allows us to feel confident for those moments. Taking criticism productively instead of as a put- down or threat is also great for confidence. If we see criticism as information that can help us be and do better it will enhance our task performance next time.
Celebrating
Noticing and celebrating our tiny successes can help us subconsciously build up positive expectations for upcoming events and tasks. We have to notice our success in order to utilize it. These are all practical steps we can take in our lives to build more confidence in ourselves and broaden our horizons. Now all we have to do is apply it in the areas of life we wish to enhance. This should come naturally and can benefit us in countless ways. So get out there and go for what you want! I’m confident you can.
Confidence
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