On one occasion or another, you're going to take the center stage and give a speech. Whether to inspire people who have lost their hopes or to give lessons to those who are hungry of knowledge, you are expected to speak your mind and deliver clearly what you have to say. We all have our fair shares of stage fright. And public speaking is a real challenge to everyone. But, you have to keep in mind that in every challenge, there is always a way to beat it.
Overcome Fear.One reason you may not belief in yourself is your fear. It could be fear of failure, that if you fail you will lose even more confidence and be an embarrassment. Nothing ventured nothing gain, give yourself the freedom to fail. You do not really fail unless you give up. So long as you continue to do what it takes for you to gain confidence then there is nothing to fear. The beauty is that the more you do the more confident you become. Think about a nine to 12 month old baby who's learning to walk, how the baby eventually has full confidence and enjoys the new found freedom. The more the baby walks the more confident the baby gets.
Let's take the first kind first. Since you are given enough time to prepare for it, then you might as well take advantage of that time. Never take it for granted and start writing your speech at the last minute instead. A rushed speech will betray you of your confidence. The tendency is that, if you go unprepared, your mind will be rattled. And when your mind is as messed up as garbage, the words that will come out from you will be nothing but gibberish. You're definitely going to lose your audience. So if you want to turn on the other side of the table and make things right, organize your speech and do it well. Preparedness can make you confident. The reason is simple: you know what you're going to talk about beforehand. It's like showing your audience a painting you have worked hard for. You simply know your craft.
Allow being judged - You have to accept this because everyone, including me, judges other people. All you need to do is be okay with it; some will judge you positively and others negatively. This is hard! But you have to do it, just do not be so concerned on how people think about you. Appreciate yourself just the way you are and you are going to gain self-confidence.Help other people - By helping other people or just showing kindness, you create an awareness in your mind that you have a positive impact in the outside world. It helps to treat others how you want to be treated. When you constantly treat others kindly, they will begin to treat you the same way. Therefore this will help you gain self-confidence.
Dress for success - This creates an inner awareness of being smart. By doing this, you have no fear of being judged by looking ugly. Therefore this enhances the way you carry yourself and the way you relate with the people around you, hence increasing your esteem. You do not have to go out and buy a new wardrobe. Go shopping and truly buy what you like and feel comfortable in. Personal hygene is also very important. Feeling clean and being confident are closely related.In every occasion, sit in the front row - Many people want to stay at the back because they have a fear inside themselves. Always motivate yourself to sit in the front row so that the fear of being noticed can go away. This way you can gain self-confidence very fast.
See my tips for building confidence and moving ahead,Sort out your finances.Financial issues seem to be a burden for many people at the moment. You can, however, control your cashflow and shake this weight off your shoulders. Start from controlling your budget. You may treat it as a game or a challenge so that it does not seem to you like you are actually cutting back. Prioritize your expenses and see where is it possible to save or at least spend less. The control of expenditure covers any possible extra income you may bring in. It may be overtime hours or an extra weekend/evening job.
But of course, confidence is to be distinguished from arrogance, which does not attract people or success. When you are confident, you believe in your own abilities but you do not need to look down at or mistreat others. In fact, the greater your confidence, the more you will act in a selfless, generous and engaging manner.Here are three top tips to help you develop confidence at work.Focus On Confidence.Confidence is ultimately an emotion. When you feel the emotion of confidence, it allows you to access inner resources that make you more capable and focussed. On the other hand, when you feel a lack of confidence, you will tend to hold back, not take risks and generally under-perform.But while confidence may be an emotion, developing it is more of a skill. And skill requires practice. Any complex skill that you are now able to perform, which includes reading, writing and talking required a lot of practice. Any skills at work that you are able to perform also required practice.
Developing your confidence is no different. I'd love to be able to tell you that you just need to read one article and you'll be confident. In our urgent need to get results fast, we still delude ourselves into believing that we can get things faster than is possible. The fact is, anything you have ever achieved of value, required practice and effort. And it begins with focus.Focus on being more confident. Set aside time every day to work on your confidence. It doesn't need to be very long. But daily effort will supercharge your efforts to be more confident.Change your Thoughts to Improve Your Confidence.As we have mentioned, confidence is an emotion. And emotions are caused by thoughts. Before you can feel sad, you have to have thought a sad thought. Before you can feel happy, you must have had a thought that was happy too. In the same manner, your thoughts can drastically transform your confidence levels, if you take care to think only confident thoughts.
"Wait a minute" you might be saying. How am I supposed to contact them when I am feeling like this (as down as one can feel)? Don't worry, this is much easier than you think.If you choose your coach wisely, you will have done it from the point of trust, love, respect and admiration. Chances are they feel the same way towards you, because over time you have both created an important and very strong friendship/relationship. All you have to do is be open and honest and they will most likely accept your request with open arms.You can simply say something like:"I need your help. I am feeling really down right now and need someone to make me smile". "I'm really lacking confidence right now and need someone to snap me out of these negative thoughts I'm having, do you mind helping?"The more open and honest you are, the more likely they will accept and do everything they can to help you out. People love to help others. It makes them feel good to know they have contributed to someone and they get praised, which makes them also feel special.
Above all - take action and put yourself in charge. The right frame of mind will set you off to promising new grounds. Step by step you can change your attitude and empower yourself to make a difference in your own future, your own life.Margaret Buj is an Interview Coach and a senior recruiter, with experience of recruiting across EMEA for leading organizations in the technology sector, including Microsoft, VMware, Cisco and Business Objects. During a 1-to-1 coaching session with Margaret, you will get the opportunity to practice your interview skills without the pressure and the nerves of a real interview. You will get clear, practical advice and encouragement, and you will become more fluent in your ability to answer any question an interviewer can throw at you. As a result, you will feel less anxious and more confident and you will significantly increase your chances of getting a job offer or a place on a graduate training scheme.
Overcome Fear.One reason you may not belief in yourself is your fear. It could be fear of failure, that if you fail you will lose even more confidence and be an embarrassment. Nothing ventured nothing gain, give yourself the freedom to fail. You do not really fail unless you give up. So long as you continue to do what it takes for you to gain confidence then there is nothing to fear. The beauty is that the more you do the more confident you become. Think about a nine to 12 month old baby who's learning to walk, how the baby eventually has full confidence and enjoys the new found freedom. The more the baby walks the more confident the baby gets.
Let's take the first kind first. Since you are given enough time to prepare for it, then you might as well take advantage of that time. Never take it for granted and start writing your speech at the last minute instead. A rushed speech will betray you of your confidence. The tendency is that, if you go unprepared, your mind will be rattled. And when your mind is as messed up as garbage, the words that will come out from you will be nothing but gibberish. You're definitely going to lose your audience. So if you want to turn on the other side of the table and make things right, organize your speech and do it well. Preparedness can make you confident. The reason is simple: you know what you're going to talk about beforehand. It's like showing your audience a painting you have worked hard for. You simply know your craft.
Allow being judged - You have to accept this because everyone, including me, judges other people. All you need to do is be okay with it; some will judge you positively and others negatively. This is hard! But you have to do it, just do not be so concerned on how people think about you. Appreciate yourself just the way you are and you are going to gain self-confidence.Help other people - By helping other people or just showing kindness, you create an awareness in your mind that you have a positive impact in the outside world. It helps to treat others how you want to be treated. When you constantly treat others kindly, they will begin to treat you the same way. Therefore this will help you gain self-confidence.
Dress for success - This creates an inner awareness of being smart. By doing this, you have no fear of being judged by looking ugly. Therefore this enhances the way you carry yourself and the way you relate with the people around you, hence increasing your esteem. You do not have to go out and buy a new wardrobe. Go shopping and truly buy what you like and feel comfortable in. Personal hygene is also very important. Feeling clean and being confident are closely related.In every occasion, sit in the front row - Many people want to stay at the back because they have a fear inside themselves. Always motivate yourself to sit in the front row so that the fear of being noticed can go away. This way you can gain self-confidence very fast.
See my tips for building confidence and moving ahead,Sort out your finances.Financial issues seem to be a burden for many people at the moment. You can, however, control your cashflow and shake this weight off your shoulders. Start from controlling your budget. You may treat it as a game or a challenge so that it does not seem to you like you are actually cutting back. Prioritize your expenses and see where is it possible to save or at least spend less. The control of expenditure covers any possible extra income you may bring in. It may be overtime hours or an extra weekend/evening job.
But of course, confidence is to be distinguished from arrogance, which does not attract people or success. When you are confident, you believe in your own abilities but you do not need to look down at or mistreat others. In fact, the greater your confidence, the more you will act in a selfless, generous and engaging manner.Here are three top tips to help you develop confidence at work.Focus On Confidence.Confidence is ultimately an emotion. When you feel the emotion of confidence, it allows you to access inner resources that make you more capable and focussed. On the other hand, when you feel a lack of confidence, you will tend to hold back, not take risks and generally under-perform.But while confidence may be an emotion, developing it is more of a skill. And skill requires practice. Any complex skill that you are now able to perform, which includes reading, writing and talking required a lot of practice. Any skills at work that you are able to perform also required practice.
Developing your confidence is no different. I'd love to be able to tell you that you just need to read one article and you'll be confident. In our urgent need to get results fast, we still delude ourselves into believing that we can get things faster than is possible. The fact is, anything you have ever achieved of value, required practice and effort. And it begins with focus.Focus on being more confident. Set aside time every day to work on your confidence. It doesn't need to be very long. But daily effort will supercharge your efforts to be more confident.Change your Thoughts to Improve Your Confidence.As we have mentioned, confidence is an emotion. And emotions are caused by thoughts. Before you can feel sad, you have to have thought a sad thought. Before you can feel happy, you must have had a thought that was happy too. In the same manner, your thoughts can drastically transform your confidence levels, if you take care to think only confident thoughts.
"Wait a minute" you might be saying. How am I supposed to contact them when I am feeling like this (as down as one can feel)? Don't worry, this is much easier than you think.If you choose your coach wisely, you will have done it from the point of trust, love, respect and admiration. Chances are they feel the same way towards you, because over time you have both created an important and very strong friendship/relationship. All you have to do is be open and honest and they will most likely accept your request with open arms.You can simply say something like:"I need your help. I am feeling really down right now and need someone to make me smile". "I'm really lacking confidence right now and need someone to snap me out of these negative thoughts I'm having, do you mind helping?"The more open and honest you are, the more likely they will accept and do everything they can to help you out. People love to help others. It makes them feel good to know they have contributed to someone and they get praised, which makes them also feel special.
Above all - take action and put yourself in charge. The right frame of mind will set you off to promising new grounds. Step by step you can change your attitude and empower yourself to make a difference in your own future, your own life.Margaret Buj is an Interview Coach and a senior recruiter, with experience of recruiting across EMEA for leading organizations in the technology sector, including Microsoft, VMware, Cisco and Business Objects. During a 1-to-1 coaching session with Margaret, you will get the opportunity to practice your interview skills without the pressure and the nerves of a real interview. You will get clear, practical advice and encouragement, and you will become more fluent in your ability to answer any question an interviewer can throw at you. As a result, you will feel less anxious and more confident and you will significantly increase your chances of getting a job offer or a place on a graduate training scheme.
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