Confidence Can Be Learnt
Sometimes women disqualify themselves from opportunities because they feel that they are not qualified or not enough. Recently, I was listening to a female motivational speaker talking about why women need confidence. Statistics show that women are less likely than men to apply for jobs that they feel they are unqualified for or to venture out on new things.
The speaker said, “Regardless of your personality style, you are going to get more out of life when believe you can; when you go for bigger goals, try for bigger dreams and take bolder steps.” The good news is that confidence can be learned.
The first step to take in building your confidence is to build your faith in yourself. Just like our health is largely a product of what we put into our bodies, what we feed our minds with will determine how we see ourselves and the world. We end up believing what we say about ourselves more than what others say about us.
The next step is to be more courageous. Understand that you do not need to feel brave to act brave.
Rather, courage is taking bold steps in the face of fear. You will never know what you can do until you take a bold step. Finally, to become more confident, you need to practice. This is more important when you are trying something new. As the adage goes, practice makes perfect. The more you practice a skill or task, the more your confidence grows in that area.
In the book titled “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell talked about the 10,000-hour rule. From his research, he asserts
that the key to becoming world class in any field is to complete 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, which is equivalent to about nine (9) years. Not everyone can commit to 10,000 hours of practice, however, everyone can commit to practicing for whatever length of time they choose.
Call to Action: What are you feeding your mind? What are you saying about yourself? Are your words and thoughts about yourself building your confidence or tearing it down? What are you afraid of? What could be on the other side of your fear? What new skills or tasks are you going to start practicing? How long are you going to commit to honing (practicing) this skill or task?
