I’ve heard it said that the quickest way to raise someone’s self esteem is to get them a nice set of clothes. Merely putting them on can change a person’s entire attitude and outlook on life.
ACTING confident has the same affect – and yes, I said acting.
Since joining the corporate world, I’ve come to realize that few people are truly confident in what they’re doing. Whether it be presenting, planning, strategizing or negotiating, most of us are making it up as we go along. The cause isn’t ignorance as much as the fast pace of change we’re faced with. We know alot, but we’re constantly faced with assembling our knowledge and skills in new ways.
So, we act confident, even if we’re not. And you know what? We gain confidence in the process.
All of which supports Kent Sayre’s list of “7 Helpful Tips to Immediately Iincrease Your Confidence” taken his own book: “Unstoppable Confidence.”
Here are the seven, but be sure to read the details behind each of them:
1.) Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
2.) In doing something for the first time, imagine that you have already
done it in the past.
3.) Find someone who is already confident in that area and copy them.
4.) Use the “as-if” frame. If you
were confident, how would you be acting?
5.) Go into the future and ask if what you’re faced with is such a big
deal.
6.) Remember that you lose out on 100% of the opportunities that you never
go for.
7.) Disarm the nagging, negative internal voice. That negative internal
voice can keep anyone stopped.
Before I let you go, I want you to consider the difference employing these tips would have on your career and life if you used them ALL THE TIME. The 7 tips apply to tasks and situations, but realize that everyday in every inter-relation with people, you are portraying yourself a certain way. And that “way” is teaching them what to think about you and how to treat you.
Tip #3 mentioned a confident person you know. How do you feel about them and why? Why did they come to mind? How do they say and do the things they do? Are they in life where YOU want to be, or at least getting there?
Act like them and you may get there too.
