Do you consider yourself a confident person?
Psychology Today defines confidence as “how strongly you believe in your capabilities to learn new skills, perform at a certain level, attain a goal, or achieve your own definition of success."
It’s that definition that I will be using moving forward. Confidence isn’t about a veneer of superiority or a feeling of invincibility. In fact, confidence is brutally honest. When we’re truly confident, we’ve made honest assessments of ourselves and our abilities.
Here’s the thing: we all need confidence to succeed, particularly when it comes to our careers. Confidence — a belief in our ability to achieve — is what drives our motivation. If you don’t feel capable of success, you aren’t very incentivized to try, are you?
Now, confidence is part inner belief and part outward presentation. So often, we must use confidence to “sell” ourselves as experts and visionaries. The trick? Confidence is tough to fake. It almost always falls apart if it doesn’t come from within.
Confidence reduces stress and distraction, increases productivity, and spurs us on to bigger and better things.
With that said, how do professionals grow their confidence in the workplace?
About Faking It Until You Make It
By now, the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it” is tired. We hear it as a source of pseudo-inspiration all the time. In talking about confidence, it’s important to recognize what this is and is not. What it is is putting on behaviors that inspire confidence in your abilities and input. What it is not is lying about your credentials, abilities, or accomplishments. It’s about confidence, not competence.
In some ways, this phrase was designed to combat imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome causes professionals to feel unqualified or inadequate even in the face of proven success. Faking it ‘til you make it, then, is more a call to embrace your success and project that success and confidence — not to fabricate it.
A key example of how not to do this is in looking at the career of disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who effectively swindled millions in venture capital over a product that didn’t really exist in the way the company claimed.
With that said, let’s talk about building confidence.
4 Ways to Boost Your Confidence Right Now
1) Become the expert.
I’m an advocate for lifelong learning. As much as we know, we won’t ever know it all. One of the ways we can boost our confidence is to know what we’re talking about more and more. Keep up with your industry, find a mentor, and ask good questions. Consume books and documentaries and podcasts. Expand beyond your industry. If you don’t know anything, you can’t speak with confidence and authority.
Learning as much as you can, by contrast, inspires a great deal of confidence because you know the facts and your information is current and moving with your industry.
2) Prioritize positive influences.
Don’t underestimate the impact of the attitudes you surround yourself with. Negativity kills motivation, whether it comes from your own negative self-talk or from those around you. These positive influences (and positive self-talk) help spur us on in moments of difficulty. Be attentive — negative thoughts can be insidious and difficult to separate from the truth. Seek out supportive (but honest) colleagues and friends, especially when you feel dragged down and burdened by negativity.
3) Reframe your mistakes.
Nothing kills confidence like when things go wrong. These mistakes can be big or small in scale and in consequence, but something they all have in common is how they make us feel. Rather than allowing yourself to go to that negative place in the face of a misstep, reframe the issue.
Where you can learn and improve? Has this exposed a flaw in the system or a need for change? See your mistakes as an opportunity to be better and to learn.
4) Project the image.
Confidence, as much as it involves the inward life, is hugely influenced by people around us. How people react and receive you and your work will impact your confidence, just as your projected confidence will impact those reactions and receptions. It’s a cycle. So start with projecting and inspiring the confidence you may or may not feel.
Stand tall with great posture. Dress sharply in well-fitted clothes. Master a firm handshake. Take time to style your hair and add a dab of cologne. Attention and care to your personal presentation, from clothing and body language to tone-of-voice, can make all the difference in the world when it comes to your confidence.
What’s your go-to confidence booster? Let us know what makes you feel like you can conquer the world!