Once you’ve cracked the secrets to being more confident, though, you can benefit from improved leadership skills, reduced stress, and a happier, healthier workplace mindset. Not to mention confidence can make you seem much more employable or promotable. So, where do we begin?
In this guide, we’ll delve into our best tips for building self-confidence at work, including shifting your mindset and getting out of your comfort zone more often.
Our top tips for building confidence in the workplace
Building confidence will take time and patience but with the tips below you will be able to grow your self-confidence in the workplace and help you reach your full potential.
1. Improve your knowledge
Having a good understanding of what you’re doing and being able to talk about it using the correct terminology can be a game-changer for appearing more confident. As a result, it’s worth seizing any opportunity to build on your knowledge and gain new skills that will help you the most in your role, such as attending online courses, going to conferences and engaging with wider reading. This will massively help to make complex terminology a natural part of your vocabulary.
2. Focus on your strengths
Whilst it’s great to want to improve and upskill, you should also learn to improve on your current strengths where possible. Demonstrating your existing skills can also help to improve self-confidence.
If you’re good at creating reports or have skills in using specialised software, keep on boosting those strengths and watch your confidence soar. This can also improve your job satisfaction by allowing for regular wins.
3. Stand your ground
If you’re often the first one to back down when conflict arises at work, others could see this as a lack of confidence.
Push your ideas during meetings, assert more confidence in front of clients, and defend your methods more often. While you don’t want to seem over-confident and arrogant, it can be good to let others know that you trust your abilities and knowledge.
By remaining confident in your decision-making and opinions, you can learn to hold your own in conflict-led situations.
4. Change your viewpoint
Rather than being focused on how others perceive you, try to flip that on its head and concentrate on the impact you can have on others. By empowering yourself, you’ll realise that what you can bring to the table is what matters most. Have confidence in the fact that you can effectively influence others, and you’ll soon see a change in your outlook.
5. Ask questions
Asking for clarification wherever you need it can help you feel more knowledgeable. In turn, you’ll build up your confidence in completing projects and tasks to a higher standard.
By clarifying a brief, you can avoid the confidence knock that occurs when you make a mistake. Not only this, asking questions will make you seem more engaged and shows a willingness to learn and grow.
Speaking up during a meeting can also help to boost confidence, with either a question or a statement. Do your research beforehand and pay attention throughout – there’s usually an opportunity for comments or questions at the end that you can use. Although you shouldn’t pressure yourself and cause unnecessary stress, it’s good to challenge yourself now and then to build your confidence in small steps.
6. Try not to compare yourself to others
Some healthy competition can act as a positive motivator for you and other team members to improve. But if you find that you’re constantly comparing your success with others, then it’s probably time to take a step back.
Everyone moves at their own pace, and no two career paths will look exactly the same. So, rather than suffering from imposter syndrome and letting this stop you from progressing in your career, think about whether you can realistically compare somebody else’s success with your own.
It’s easy for your confidence to take a knock when somebody else excels at something you want to be good at. But the best thing to do in some circumstances is not to compare, but focus your energy on lifting others up instead. Use your colleagues’ qualities as a tool for learning instead of comparison.
7. Dress confidently
While your appearance might seem like a trivial aspect of your work life, it can have a profound effect on how others perceive you and even change your own perception.
Take the dress code of your office or work setting into account and see if you could change up your work wardrobe. Even just switching a few pieces could help you feel more confident. Your clothing should match your role and help you give off a positive vibe.
8. Continuously reflect on your progress
Looking at your previous success and how far you’ve come is sure to give you an instant confidence boost. By monitoring your progress, you’ll give yourself plenty of positive moments to look back on.
Whether it’s completing a difficult project or receiving some good praise from a boss for how you’ve handled something – keeping a physical log of all the successes you’ve had at work will act as your reminder that you’re more than capable of doing your job well and help shift your focus onto the positive aspects of your role.
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