Acknowledge Your Fears and Conquer Your Low Self-Confidence
Fear can be one of the most crippling influences on your business success. If you take the time to sit down and list out all the fears you face as an entrepreneur in today’s world, the list can get quite long, quite fast. These are some of the most common fears business leaders experience:
- Fear of trying new things
- Fear of failure
- Fear of losses
- Fear of letting others down
They are all valid fears, especially if you own a business that employs others. That means other people rely on your success for their livelihoods and security. However, when these fears prevent you from moving forward, they become largely self-fulfilling. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to break free from these fears so you can accomplish the success you deserve once and for all. This is how you begin.
Know Your Own Value
If you don’t know it already, take a little time to discover that you are more than the sums of your parts. We all have strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and talents. Some people are fortunate enough to have outright gifts they choose to share with others. It’s not a lack of experience or ability that is holding you back. It is, however, a lack of confidence. Until you understand the gifts you bring to the table, you’re going to struggle with self-confidence.
Find Ways to Improve Your Value
Some people choose to focus on eliminating the negatives but that isn’t always the best choice. It takes far more time to eliminate negative tendencies or overcome knowledge deficiencies than it would to improve your skills and talents and hire someone to tackle the tasks where you are less skilled. For instance, if you have a real gift for empathizing with people but aren’t as gifted at keeping your finances in order, hire a bookkeeper to work part time handling those tasks while you develop your talents to grow your business.
Invest in Yourself
Take a class to help you develop the skills you need to grow as a person and as a business leader and innovator. If you lack self-confidence, taking classes in the areas where you feel deficient will help you grow your confidence. Knowledge, as they say, is power. Classes help you not only gain knowledge but also develop your talents and interests so you can accomplish impressive things with your business.
Get over Yourself
This isn’t meant to be negative or insulting. Sometimes, you are your biggest obstacle. This is often the result of the fear of failure rather than a lack of confidence. You have to risk failure in order to find amazing success.
Eliminate Negative Self-Talk
Finally, mute the voices inside your head that feed your doubts and fears. If you can’t turn them off, drown them out with positive affirmations, building yourself up, and reminding yourself of all you’ve accomplished until now – and that you’re not finished yet!
Conquering low self-confidence is all about changing the narrative in your mind. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ll open yourself up to greater success.
SELF-ASSESSMENT: Do You Need a Confidence Boost?
Answer the following questions to determine if you need more confidence boosters in your life.
- Is procrastination a part of your everyday life?
- Yes! I always find distractions.
- Sometimes, depending on what tasks are on my to do list.
- I like to plow through my list quickly so I reward myself with fun stuff.
- Does criticism of any kind kill your mood for the whole day?
- Yes! Even the simplest criticism causes my emotions to plummet.
- Sometimes, depending on who is offering the criticism.
- I can take criticism pretty easily and learn from it.
- Do you share your thoughts, ideas, and feelings freely with your coworkers, business partners, or family members?
- No, it’s often difficult for me to find my voice and speak up.
- Sometimes, depending on how important the issue is to me.
- Yes, speaking my mind is a large part of my personality and others just have to accept me for it.
- Do you take action every day?
- Yes! That’s the only way to accomplish anything worthwhile.
- Sometimes, depending on my mood.
- I have every intention but then often get overwhelmed with all I have to do.
- Do you celebrate your wins, even if they’re small ones?
- Yes! Every win puts me closer to my final goal.
- Sometimes, depends on how busy my day is.
- I’ll celebrate the end goal instead.
- Are you heavily influenced by others?
- No, I believe in my ideas.
- Sometimes; I’m good at seeing both sides of every story.
- Yes! I have a hard time making decisions.
- Do you need validation from others that you’re “on the right path” or “doing things right”?
- No, I know my ideas are good.
- Sometimes, especially if I’m embarking on something brand new.
- Yes! I like the reinforcement that I have made the right decision.
- Do you often compare yourself to others?
- Yes! I’m always thinking about how my peers seem to be further along in their careers/lives than I am.
- Sometimes but I’m making a conscious effort to thwart that thinking when it begins.
- Everyone is on a different path with different obstacles but we’ll all reach our intended goals at some point.
- Do you “reach for the stars” and pursue your dreams?
- I’m happy where I am so why jinx that by wanting more?
- Sometimes; I often forget about my goals and dreams unless I make a concerted effort to think about them.
- Yes! I always have my life goals foremost in my mind when I make decisions.
- Do you have a tendency to focus on the negative things in life?
- No, I can always find a silver lining.
- Sometimes, depends on the severity of the issue.
- Yes! It’s a bad habit that I can’t seem to break.
Absolutely everyone can benefit from a confidence booster now and then, especially during stressful times. But if your answers trend toward thinking negatively about yourself or needing acceptance or validation from others, then add a confidence booster to your schedule every single day.
Don’t waste your life waiting for someone else’s approval. Live your life on YOUR terms; live a life that makes YOU happy and brings joy.
