A few years ago, I began to learn about confidence and how important it is in every aspect of our lives. I’ll be honest, I used to struggle with confidence myself. It was tough for me to feel “good enough” or like I wasn’t smart/fast/exciting/whatever enough. I never talked about it with anyone because I didn’t even want to admit it to myself. I began to understand more about the brain and how confidence is built. And, like with everything else, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you actually know :)

Self Confidence: It’s the level of trust in your own abilities and yourself to deal with challenges and achieve things. Even though you are confident in one area of your life, you can still feel anxious and that’s ok – as long as it’s not holding you back from growing, learning and doing new things. A person’s confidence will ebb and flow throughout their life, based on their current career or relationship status, or any other number of factors.

Now here are 3 hands-on steps to take to improve your confidence:

To build confidence, you need to start with a strong belief that you can improve. This is known as a growth mindset. Carol Dweck, a researcher at Stanford University, found that people with a fixed mindset believe that their traits are set in stone. They avoid challenges because they don’t want to risk looking dumb. On the other hand, people with a growth mindset see their abilities as fluid. They’re constantly learning and growing, which leads to greater confidence in their careers and lives. To develop a growth mindset, embrace challenges, and view failures as learning opportunities. Remember that your skills and intelligence are not fixed traits – they can be developed over time. By adopting a growth mindset, you’ll be on your way to developing true confidence.

Improve your self-talk

It’s easy to fall into negative self-talk, especially when things aren’t going our way. We all have an inner critic that can be very loud at times, and it can be hard to silence. But the more we listen to that voice, the more power it has over us. So it’s important to catch ourselves when we’re engaging in negative self-talk and to reframe those thoughts into something more positive. If you’re telling yourself you’re not good enough, or that you’ll never achieve your goals, stop and think about evidence to the contrary. remind yourself of all the times you’ve overcome obstacles and achieved success. This will help boost your confidence and give you the motivation to keep going.

Build a positive mantra that helps you get back on track

For too long, I allowed my inner critic to control my life. I let doubts and fears dictate my decisions, and as a result, I held myself back from achieving my full potential. But then I had a realization: if I want to create the life I truly desire, I need to take action and silence my inner critic. So I started writing positive affirmations and posting them everywhere – on my mirror, fridge, even my computer screen. And every time I saw one of those post-its, I would read it out loud and remind myself of what I’m capable of. It was a bit challenging at first, but after 30 days of consistent practice, I started to feel more confident in myself and my abilities. And now

There are loads of other exercises and ways to build confidence – if you are curious just leave a comment or reach out to me!

Miguel Baumann coaching blog
Hi, I am Miguel

I support leaders in tech to shine with confidence and take charge of their careers.

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