Confidence Tip: What you Believe, Have been Told to Believe, and Need to Believe

29 Mar Confidence Tip: What you Believe, Have been Told to Believe, and Need to Believe

I’ve heard a lot of sports coaches say, “We just need to get out there and be more confident.”

Recently during a meeting with a sales manager, he commented, “We just need more confident people.”

As a business leader, don’t we all want a more confident team of people?

To say, “You need more confidence,” or “You should be more confident,” does nothing for creating confidence; in fact, if anything, it does the opposite. If they were already confident, you would simple tell them to “Go do what you are great at,” not “Go be confident.”

Every time we say, “Go be confident,” we are destroying someone’s confidence.

So, how do you build confidence?

1) What do you believe?
Do I believe I am a great free throw shooter? Maybe I believe I am or maybe I don’t.

2) What am I told to believe? “Hey, Randy, you can do this.”
When I don’t believe I can, but someone is telling me I can, these opposed beliefs are an example of an incongruence.

3) What do I need to believe to be able to be successful?

When these things are not on the same line parallel with each other, confidence erodes.

Here is an exercise to analyze your confidence level.

• >> What do you believe about yourself and what is the basis of that belief?
• >> What are you told that is true about you? This is the feedback from the outside world.
• >> Next, consider what is needed. What do I need to believe in order to be able to go do this job or role effectively?

After careful self-analysis, see if you can bring them in line with each other.