Monthly Archives: February 2016

Become more confident. Now!

Become more confident. Now!

We all want to be more confident in our professional lives but what does it mean and how do you become more confident?

If I asked one-hundred women “what does confidence mean to you” I’m sure I would get very different responses from all of them and indeed there really is no right or wrong answer.

When I think of confidence in the workplace the aspects listed below come to mind. However if you asked me tomorrow I would quite possibly come up with different ideas.

What does confidence mean?

  • Belief in oneself
  • Willingness to express one’s view
  • Feeling supported by colleagues
  • Permission to make mistakes
  • Seeking out opportunities

 

Through my coaching I have found that women, generally speaking, aren’t as confident as men. And there are a number of reasons for this.

Listed here are just some of the challenges that women have said that they feel they face in the workplace and which can knock their confidence.

Challenges 

  • Pre conditioned beliefs:  Women can feel that men are more confident, are better at certain tasks and therefore feel they won’t be listened to or that they don’t feel worthy.
  • Male dominated environment: It remains the case that certain industries are male dominated.
  • Not encouraged to lead: This could be an historic challenge from when they were at school or university.
  • Lack of experience in speaking out: Many women may not be experienced at public speaking or talking in the board room so feel self conscious when they are called to do so.
  • Recruitment: The wording in the job description may be more suited to a man’s strengths so straight away may put women off.

So, now that we have looked at what confidence can mean and why women may not be as confident as men what can you do about it?

I strongly believe that you can change your mindset and become more confident enabling you to achieve anything that you want in your professional life.

Below are some tips on how to become more confident.

Five Tips to Greater Confidence

      1. Turn off the negative chatter  – you may call it the gremlins or the inner voice. Whatever you call it everyone has one and it’s sabotaging your success.
      2. Set your goal – be specific in what you want to achieve. I am always amazed when I sit down with clients and ask them what they would like to achieve from their professional life and they don’t know. If you don’t know what you’re aiming for then how will you know the right steps to take to get there?
      3. Make an achievement list – every Friday afternoon I sit down and write everything that I have achieved that week. It reminds me of how much I have managed to get done that week and puts me in a positive frame of mind for the weekend.
      4. Get an Executive Coach – I can’t recommend enough how much it helps having someone that will support you in overcoming what’s holding you back and achieve what you really want out of life.
      5. Step outside your comfort zone – once a week do something that you feel uncomfortable with so that your comfort zone stretches. If you don’t like public speaking put yourself forward at work to do a presentation. Once you’ve completed it you will realize it wasn’t nearly as scary as you thought it would be.

You are more likely to achieve your goal of becoming more confident if you take an action NOW.

So, before you go put on the kettle, check Facebook or reply to that work email do one thing that will help you get more confident.

I love hearing about your success stories so do drop me a message at info@carolinearnoldcoaching.com and let me know how you get on.

I just gave you 5 tips on how to resign, it would be good to hear which one stood out to you the most and why. Please feel free to like my Facebook Caroline Arnold Coaching page where I share further tips.

Caroline Arnold, Executive Coach

 

Caroline Arnold 

Executive Coach

M: 07886 794 742

T: @carnoldcoaching

F: Caroline Arnold Coaching

W: www.carolinearnoldcoaching.com