More Confidence

Would you like to feel more confident at work or in social relationships?

It is essential for sales people and managers to be confident and influential.  But we can all learn to become more confident and to influence impactful change.Some people seem to be natural leaders, however, confidence and personal influence can be learned.

The are aquired skills and methods that can be learned by studying naturally confident people to understand how they think, act and speak. Some of these tips are below.

Confidence tips

Re-live the times when you have been confident in the past - This is probably opposite to what you are doing now - that is reliving all the failures that you have had in the past - or making up how you are going to fail in the future. It is our thoughts that determine our emotions so switch off the negative thoughts and turn on the positive ones. Reliving past successes can short circuit your mind into feelings of confidence.

Know your subject - There is no substitute for knowledge in building confidence. This works on two levels. If it is clear that you are more knowledgeable about a subject than anyone else, you have every reason to feel confident. Additionally, when one is passionate about an issue and feels that the message is important to be heard, fear dissipates and confidence reigns.

Fake it till you make it - Acting out, or role-playing is very powerful. Imagine what actions you would be undertaking if you were perfectly confident in a given situation. Now put those thoughts and images into action.  Feelings of confidence will start to flow naturally as you act, speak and move like the confident person in your imagination.

Be curious - Often our greatest fear is that we don't know enough. But here is a trick:  Turn that fearful part of yourself into a most powerful friend by making it ferociously curious. Making mistakes or getting things wrong allows you to seek someone else's advice, or find additional information which allows you to learn. And learning is one of the most important things we can do to improve our life.

Remember it is all a game - Whether it is true or not, thinking about life as a game that we are playing from birth to death, can really take the worry out of any situation. Ask yourself, "Will this matter in 50 years?" And then have some fun playing the game!