Feeling inadequate, being resigned to mediocrity, and living lonely and unfulfilled lives are very indicative of people who lack self confidence. These people are often timid and shy, although there are those who are good at hiding their insecurities and do not necessarily show any form of shyness when in the presence of others.
On the other hand, people who are confident in themselves believe in their own abilities; they understand that although they have imperfections, they have the capacity to change and improve, and as a result, they do not feel insecure or distrustful of their own abilities.
A Self Confident Individual
A self confident individual is someone who knows his own abilities, and utilizes these to the fullest. Self confidence is the belief that a person can achieve success in a particular situation. Additionally, a person’s perception of himself will greatly affect his level of self confidence, and this agrees with the concept of self fulfilling prophecy which basically states that a person’s belief in the probability of something to happen will most likely determine the outcome. If you believe that you can deliver a speech successfully, then you almost certainly will. On the contrary, if you believe that you will just forget your lines when you deliver your speech, then chances are, you will.
Why is Self Confidence a Core Personal Quality?
There is a big correlation between self confidence and effective self management, decision-making, supervision, and risk taking. This quality is a requirement for many companies, when hiring executives and managers because they understand how essential it is for high-ranking employees to have the courage and confidence to make tough decisions in performing their jobs.
When people are faced with uncertainties, a lack of self confidence will discourage us to step up and take risks. Opportunities for growth and development will not attract them as they are more content to stay within their comfort zones. Such frame of mind will prevent them from moving up in their career ladder.
On the other hand, a self confident individual can openly talk about his fears, and yet does not let these negative attributes hinder them from becoming the best that they can be. Instead, they strive to improve their weaknesses and continue to hone their strengths. Self confident individuals stand out because they are not afraid to showcase their talents and skills.
Self confidence is a life skill; it is instrumental to accomplish many wonderful things that will make one happy, fulfilled, and successful.
How to Build Self Confidence
Making a decision to admit one’s lack of self confidence is a big step. It means that you have accepted the problem and are now willing to do what it takes to change it. This is crucial to your improvement.
In this fundamental personal quality, there are five elements needed and these are: self awareness, intention, mindset, visualization, and action.
1. Self awareness will help you know yourself inside-out. It allows you to determine your strengths as well as to accept your weaknesses. And at the same time, self awareness encourages you to take the initiative to change because it helps you to realize the need for it.
2. Intention will help you identify your goals, along with the reasons why you want to achieve them. Your intention will motivate you to keep working on becoming self confident, to remind you every time to keep pushing forward until you become self confident.
3. Mindset will determine how far you can go in your quest to achieve self confidence. If your mindset is full of restrictions and negative beliefs, it would certainly not help you improve your self confidence.
4. Visualization will help you create mental images of yourself as a self confident person. These images which will be stored in your subconscious mind are instrumental to your success in becoming self confident.
5. Action will allow you to “walk your talk.” It gives you opportunities to really act and be self confident, and when you constantly “act it,” you will move closer and closer to your goal of becoming completely self confident.
When you utilize all of these five elements positively and consistently, you should be able to attain self confidence in no time.
