What if you felt better about yourself and your decisions to move forward in your career?
Wouldn’t it be great to have a deeper trust in how you lead and the steps you take to move your team forward?
That’s self-confidence, and here’s why it’s important to you!
Self-confidence allows you to show up as your highest and best self in whatever you do. It means you are walking the talk with your team and setting an example for the people who may work for you and with you. Self-confidence is an energy you send out that people pick up on; your clients, customers, and co-workers can sense it.
One of the biggest benefits of self-confidence is that it allows you to become even more accomplished because you’re more willing to take risks. But more than taking risks; with self-confidence you embrace the feedback due to the risks you take, incorporate it, and then uplevel from there. No more getting stuck for you!
And a bonus, it also helps you to be less mired in that self-critical thinking. Bye-bye Negative Nellie!
What do you need to know about building self-confidence?
It’s a process. It’s a journey not a destination. It’s not one thing you do, and you never have to think about it again. It’s something you build over time but it takes your commitment. But, here’s the interesting thing, when it comes to self-confidence, you already have it because it’s inside of you, and it’s waiting to come out!
Here’s what I mean about it already being inside of you. You likely experience confidence in another area of your life.
Consider the different areas of your life.
Career. What you do for work.
Health and fitness. Your physical body.
Spirituality. A connection to Source or something bigger than you (God, The Universe, etc.)
Relationships. Usually an intimate relationship.
Family. Relationships with your family members.
Personal Development. This is anything that you do to improve yourself outside of your physical body.
So when you consider all these areas of life, is a particular area or areas that you have more confidence in?
For instance, you may be focused on health and fitness. You are disciplined, you feel good, get your exercise in, eat well, drink enough water, and do all the things that allow you to feel confident in your physical body.
You may be more spiritually minded and have a healthy practice around meditation or yoga and other spiritual practices. Maybe you attend church regularly or have regular fellowship and you feel good about your spiritual practice. That’s confidence too.
Mine the other areas of life where you feel more confident and dig into how you do that. What are your habits and your strategies? Once you get clear on those, you can apply the same types of habit and strategies in your career and leadership.
But the one strategy that is the easiest place for you to start to build more self-confidence is really getting clarity on who you are. You can’t have self-confidence if you don’t know who you are to begin with.
So, who are you as a person without the labels?
When I ask my audiences who they are, I get answers like, I’m a mom; I’m a wife; I’m a husband; I’m a CEO; I’m an analyst; I’m a financial adviser; I’m a realtor. And yes, that is a piece of who you are but not all that you are.
If you could describe yourself without using a label, what would you say?
Let me give an example. Some of the things that I say about myself are that I am a woman who loves to be outside and feel the sunshine on her face. I love to spend time on the water and feel connected to it. I cook to show my love for people and dance in the kitchen while doing it – it’s fun! My family is important, and I fiercely protect my family. So, if someone threatens my family, that doesn’t go over too well. I’m also a woman who likes to drive fast. I like to get there first and I have a competitive edge.
It may not neatly translate into your leadership journey, but how can you bring more of the essence of who you are into your leadership role or into your work at your organization? If you care about people and are protective of relationships, how can you bring more of that into your interactions with your clients or coworkers? If you enjoy making people feel special, how can you bring more of that that you are into your role and display that in your work environment? So, start thinking about who you are without the labels. This allows you to start showing up more confidently because it’s you showing up authentically.
And when it comes to building self-confidence in your leadership journey, the more authentic that you can be, the more that people pick up on that. They know that what they see is what they get, they understand more of who you are, you become easier to follow and start building an environment of trust and loyalty.
Leave me a comment below. Let me know how you tap into who you authentically, and help someone else tap into their authentic self too!
So, until the next time, here is wishing you all the Clarity you deserve.
And if you would like to be able to tap more into your authentic self, then head to www.clarityworkbookbook.com and grab my free resource. The workbook helps you create a roadmap to help guide you to the next level in your leadership and life!
