Word of the Week: CONFIDENCE
Take a long, hard look at yourself. Trust in yourself. All of us have the ability to do anything we wish. The problem is that many don’t even try, or once they experience failure – they stop trying. You have to believe in yourself and understand that failure is not the end – it’s just a place to stop, regroup, and try something different.
Tips to build your own confidence:
Voice your opinion
Articulate your speech; no slang, use proper pronunciation. Believe in what you are saying. If you are conveying a message while you are all hunched over and looking all around the room, you are not conveying confidence, but rather the opposite. Others will not believe in you if you fail to believe in yourself.
Write clearly. Clean and clear; don’t write like a text message — unless it is a text message.
Be a giver. Give kudos when you can; express gratitude often; compliment someone. By being a giver you are better able to receive.
Learn to take a compliment. Don’t play it off – smile and say “thank you”.
Believe in yourself and others. Don’t dumb yourself down and don’t downplay your accomplishments. Learn to take and give a compliment: say thank you and experience that positive gift of energy that you have been given.
Count your blessings! Be grateful for what you have, be content with the person you are. This doesn’t imply that you should give carte-blanche to negative qualities or negative energy that you might be displaying, i.e., jealousy, self-centeredness, conceit, hatred; it means you should acknowledge who you are, your feelings, your thoughts, your appearance, and be grateful that you understand who you are while knowing what you need to work on.
Carry yourself well. Dress nicely and appropriately. (Looking good = Feeling good.) Hold your head up; stand and sit straight. Speak clearly and with purpose; look people in the eye when addressing them. Always remember that beauty is not defined through outward appearance; how one acts and conducts their self determines beauty.
Walk with purpose. Don’t doddle or slouch. Head up, eyes forward, good pace.
Ask. If want something, don’t be afraid to ask for it.
Know where you’re going. If you don’t know where you’re headed, no one else will.
Push forward. Failure doesn’t mean the end. It means try again or try something else.
Remain positive. When something negative happens, try to find the positive in it.
Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” It took a long time to erase that confidence that you came into the world with, but it is not completely gone! Many years have passed that have created the unsure, fearful, or inhibited you. The power is within you to change. Don’t try to do everything all at once; work on one thing at a time. Believe in yourself; Embrace yourself; Empower yourself!
“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own,
instead of someone else’s.”
~ Billy Wilder
*This post is an except of the Chapter on Confidence from the book “BOOYAH! SPIRIT”