Unfortunately, confidence is a rather foreign notion to us Brits. Not to worry, though – I’m Naomi Burgess and I’m going to do my best to provide you with some tips on how to be more confident in business, and perhaps even in your personal life.
Confident Booster
The best tool for enhancing confidence is success, and not necessarily in business. Even the smallest things done really well can inspire you to do more and do it better. It’s quite, hard, however, to acquire confidence in business when you’re completely new to it. Don’t worry – even the most successful entrepreneurs were the opposite of confident when they just started their career paths. The best thing to do is to start small and slowly but surely build your confidence based on your accomplishments.
Learning is the Key
But how do you achieve more? The answer is simple – you keep learning. Unfortunately, the education system in Britain is slightly flawed, and doesn’t really prepare you for the world of work. The best way to learn is always through experience, and at the beginning stage of your career, you’re luckily able to absorb knowledge like a sponge. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand anything – chances are that the person at the other end has been asking the very same questions when they were in your position. Slowly, but surely, you will be able to use that knowledge absorbed from various sources; the previous generation had limited sources whereas you have heaps – take advantage of all of them.
Take Risks
No matter how much you learn, however, it’s of little use to you in the long run if you’re not committed to succeeding in your chosen industry. If you truly want to be a part of it and want to achieve great things, don’t hold back. Don’t settle and don’t stop. Regrets about not doing something you wanted to do but couldn’t be bothered to try hard enough aren’t pretty. If you have a great idea, don’t just forget about it – try to at least consider implementing it. As the old saying goes – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
Passion for everything you do
Unfortunately, your commitment to something won’t be nearly as meaningful and fruitful if you don’t love what you’re committing to. There are many reasons why someone would choose that path, but if you think you’re going to be one of those someone’s, I urge you to reconsider. Loving what you do is what so few people can boast about, but the people in my life who can among the happiest people I’ve ever known. Enjoying your job is more important than people believe it to be, and being confident that you’ll succeed in it is a big part of it.
Love your work
If you don’t love what you do, you’re much more likely to be constantly stressed about doing something wrong and worry about things that are probably more trivial than you believe them to be. Worrying too much often serves as a direct blow to your newly acquired confidence and would be completely counterproductive, thereby placing you in a vicious circle and leaving you with a lot of regrets. I strongly recommend, therefore, that when you choose to do something you really want to succeed at, make sure it’s something you’re going to love doing for a long time.
Make failures your stepping stone
I understand that you’re going to worry about succeeding and being confident enough for doing something either way, but I wouldn’t advise taking yourself too seriously. You’re inevitably going to make mistakes and stressing out over a single one won’t get you anywhere. Instead, you should fix it as best as you can and learn from it.
Never stop learning
Whether you’re starting your career in your early 20s or changing your career path in your 40s, you can achieve a decent level of confidence that would allow you to succeed. The important thing is to be committed to something that you genuinely love doing, be willing to learn more and more about it from experience and from your inevitable mistakes, and to not worry too much about the impressions you’re making. Success and confidence come to those who deserve it – make sure you’re one of those people.
