And why do you want it? What does a confident person look like to you?
Your answers will be different to everyone else’s. Confidence means something different to us all. It might mean being comfortable in your own skin, or being at ease in situations where you interact with new people, or being an excellent presenter, or dazzling that potential suitor on the first date.
Take a moment now and think about what confidence looks like to you. Think
of someone you admire and perceive as confident. What is it about them that you admire? What would you like to emulate?
Confidence can be learned. It’s an inside job. It’s a skill that you learn, and build upon. Like anything in life, it takes practice. Once you start exercising those confidence muscles, you have to keep practicing to make them strong. For example, you don’t’ go from couch potato to marathon runner in a day. It takes time to build up the strength, muscle and resilience required to finish that 26-mile track.
First things first though… You must decide what confidence looks like to you. You might know already. Write down a few of those examples now; some situations where you know what confidence looks like.
Another great way is to think of someone you admire and perceive as confident. What is it about them that you admire? What would you like to emulate?
Now you have two methods of identifying what confidence means to you. Time to start building those muscles! Work on those traits and skills you admire in others, and when you find yourself in situations where you can use them, go for it. It will feel difficult and uncomfortable at first. But it gets easier, the more you practice. Just like running for the couch potato, it might be very challenging at first, but with practice over time, it IS possible.
So, who represents ‘confidence’ for you? And why?