Listen to my interview on WHUR 96.3 FM The Daily Drum with Harold Fisher below…
Embracing Your Heroine’s Quest at Work: How to Build Self-Confidence in Your Career
Self Confidence is simply trust in one’s self and one’s abilities. It involves self-love and compassion. Self-confidence is seeing yourself as imperfect and loving yourself anyway. Below I’ve shared a few tips that have worked for me and others to increase self-confidence.
I. Self-confidence starts in the body. Your link to emotional intelligence is in your physical body. You have to become attuned to how you feel, build self-awareness then be able to control your body and emotions to your advantage. This also helps you to be able to influence others which you must do to be successful in your work and career. Confidence is also self-love and when you truly love yourself you care for yourself and your body. You can build your self-esteem by showing love and compassion for yourself by how you care for your health and body. Important: Have some form of exercise and meditation.
II. See yourself as a heroine and your life as your heroine’s quest. You must clarify what your mission is and what YOUR vision of success is. The trials and triumphs of your life and career will have much more meaning when you recognize that you are on a quest and that you have a mission to complete while here on earth. Obstacles will be easier to overcome when you see the meaning and purpose in what you are doing. Realize that you are writing your story. I turned my story into a fairy tale adventure in The Adventures of Isabelle Book I.
FREE COURSE: If you want to write your own heroine’s quest check out my free course; How to Write Your Own Heroine’s Quest
III. You mustn’t fear success. You have to root this fear out and be rid of it. You can not simultaneously be self-confident and fear success! I have a another blog post at the Vision Quest Chronicles titled “Overcoming the Fear of Success” that can help you with this. Please check it out if you suspect this fear is holding you back.
IV. Put an end to perfectionism! Recall Don Miguel Ruiz’s fourth agreement; Always do your best, nothing more and nothing less. Don’t be afraid to fail. Focus on what you do well and what you accomplish and DON’T beat yourself up for what you don’t do. I suggest that people write down 3 good things they do each day and 5 things for which they are grateful. This builds self-esteem and keeps your mind focused in a positive direction.
FREE DOWNLOAD: The Four Agreements Lesson in Free Success Tools
V. Build your bravery muscles. Take risks. Take a chance on yourself. If your heart says go for it…go for it! What’s the worse that can happen? You can also build up your courage muscles in areas unrelated to the area in which your goals lie. You can get brave by taking risks and challenging yourself in other areas as well. Some suggestions include a) do one thing each day that you are afraid to do, b) learn something new, like a sport or skill, c) get physical with it, like rock climbing, SCUBA diving or even doing head stands or warrior pose in yoga! Being brave will get in your emotional and muscle memory with practice. Find and root out self-defeating beliefs, stories and thoughts. i.e. “no one will love me.”
SEE Pema Chodron’s quote on fear in “Fear…Back on the Rock”
Check out this helpful article Fearlessly Forward by my friend Tamara E. Holmes
VI. Confidence is not a substitute for Competence. Know your stuff. Build your skills and work hard. There is no substitute for a good work ethic and being skilled. Get training, put in extra time and focus on being of service at work. Present yourself professionally in dress and speech. You must create and maintain a positive professional image if you expect to get ahead and this will give you more confidence. Know how to take feedback and seek it out. Don’t take things personally and do your best (two of Miguel Ruiz’s other four agreements). Being highly emotionally intelligent is a must! Again this starts in the body.
I hope these tips were helpful. Feel free to leave a comment. You can check out my success coaching services here SUCCESS STORIES
Much Continued Success and Well Being,
Nicole
