"
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." -
Henry David Thoreau
The life we live is not restrained by outside things but by the chains we place upon ourselves. An act of self-doubt and worry will do more to keep us from moving forward then most anything else. There are certainly outside influences which can place obstacles in front of us.
It is within each of us to have confidence to succeed.
The origin of the word is from the Latin word confidere (to trust, to have faith in). Hence the original meaning of confidence is literally "to have trust or have faith in an object or person".
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the things which you think you cannot do." To find confidence is to look inside and face those things which keep you from moving forward.
Learning about oneself is the first step in moving boldly forward. You need to understand you are a confident person.
From an article titled
Building Self-Confidence, the following items can help you start to recognize yourself as a confident person.
Self-Confident: Doing what you believe is right, even if others criticize you for it.
Low Self-Confidence: Governing your behavior based on what other people think.
Self-Confident: Taking risks and going the extra mile to achieve better things.
Low Self-Confidence: Staying in your comfort zone, fearing failure, avoiding risks.
Self-Confident: Admitting your mistakes and vowing to learn from them.
Low Self-Confidence: Work to cover mistakes and trying to fix before others know.
Self-Confident: Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.
Low Self-Confidence: Extolling your virtues as often to as many people possible.
Self-Confident: Accepting compliments graciously. “Thanks, I really worked hard on that prospectus. I’m pleased you recognize my efforts.”
Low Self-Confidence: Dismissing compliments offhandedly. “Oh that prospectus was nothing really, anyone could have done it.”
Additionally, here are some tips on how to gain confidence in your life.
1. Like yourself
The first step in becoming more confident is to accept and like yourself. You should make a list of all your positive traits and strengths on a piece of paper or in your diary. By doing this, you are reminding yourself that you too have praise-worthy qualities like others. You will like yourself and feel confident about yourself after this.
2. Attend Seminars
It is good if you attend seminars where professional speakers offer you tips and guidance on gaining confidence. During the speech, you can even pick up tips on public speaking from the speakers by watching their body language and the way they project themselves.
3. Motivate yourself
Whether it is for an interview or for a presentation, tell yourself that you can do it. Motivate yourself each day and soon you will find your confidence level growing. Another good way for motivation is that after work or study each day you should make a list of at least four things that you did well for that day.
4. Overcome fears
Some people always have a fear that they can never be successful in anything they do. Such insecurity will be a disadvantage and would cause you to lack confidence in yourself and in everything you do in your life. So in order for you to get rid of this fear you have to remind yourself that if you haven’t try something you can never say that you will fail in it. Be positive and try things without any fear or insecurity. For example at work your boss is asking you to head a team but you fear that you will make a mess out of it. Such a fear will prevent you from taking on that task at work. But if you were a confident person you wouldn’t think twice about failing and would gladly take on that task. This shows that a lack of confidence could also affect your career.
5. Accept Failures
If you are always crying over the mistakes that you made in your life, you will never get anywhere. Always remember that past mistakes and failures cannot be reversed and what’s done is done. Thus it is no use crying over spilt milk. A confident individual always looks past those failures in his life. After all, failures are juts part and parcel of becoming successful. If you failed once you should take that failure as a learning lesson.
While the information above is quite simplified, I suggest you read more to find what works best for you. Find a public library near you or search online for more information. Reading my article is not the end all to help you gain confidence, but maybe it will put you on a path to go boldly forward.
Stay inspired my friends!
