Confidence is imperative to running your own company. Insecurity is one of the main things that keep people from achieving their dreams. One of the things I’ve said to new entrepreneurs is “People dumber than you are running there own business, and if they can do it, so can you.” The main difference is, the people who are doing it already confidently took the necessary steps.
Everyone, even the most successful people in the world, has had setbacks. In fact, most of these people will tell you about ideas they had that were outright flops. But you must remember, the failure of an idea or a plan does not mean you are a failure. Here are a few tips to boost your confidence, so you can bounce back from anything that comes up.
1. Reduce your negative self-talk. The way to do this is to become aware of your mind-speak. Notice what you say to yourself throughout the day. Don’t be discouraged if you learn that you are hyper-critical of yourself. That’s the point of the exercise. Noticing the criticisms will allow you to stop your mind in its tracks, and purposefully replace those thoughts with kinder ones.
2. Start and end each day with a minute or two of spoken positive affirmations, while looking at yourself in the mirror. This may sound lame (remember Stuart Smalley on SNL?), but it actually works. Give it about 30 days and see if you don’t feel better about yourself.
3. Take positive action. There is a great book, that I highly recommend, called Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway, by Susan Jeffers. The title says it all. Take those steps that get you out of your comfort zone, even if they’re initially baby steps. When you live through whatever it is, you will feel empowered. Your comfort zone will now be larger. Now take that next uncomfortable step, enjoy the new level of comfort, and so on.
4. Be prepared. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are onto something with this one. Whether you are attending an event or asking for a loan, do your homework. If you show up with the right knowledge and dressed appropriately, you will be standing on solid ground.
5. Help someone else. It doesn’t have to be anything major and you can even do it anonymously. This immediately gives you a sense of value. Also, it brings you out of your own head, and as you learned with step #1, that can be a good thing.
As your thoughts become more positive, you will begin to reframe your experiences and see them as lessons, not failures.
Great article! Thanks!