Self-Confidence Leads to Success

If you think that you can do it then it is confidence, if you think that you can alone do it then it is overconfidence. There is a thin line separating self-confidence from over-confidence.

Confidence is the key to overcome trials and tribulations in life. It is one of the most important aspects which help in moving forward in life. Confidence is the ability to have full faith in oneself to face the fight and to take it forward to its logical end. Confidence comes when you make the things happen not when you let the things happen. It helps in touching upper limits. It brings inner satisfaction, happiness and joy.

Confidence is an inner voice which tells us what we can do. Confidence does not mean overrating or overestimating than that of others. It is neither feeling superior or great but feeling comfortable with convictions. Confidence is the ability to assess and judge yourself properly. It is also the ability not to underestimate your rivals or competitors. Confidence is essential everywhere. For instance, a leader needs confidence to lead the team, a student needs confidence to score higher marks and a teacher needs confidence to speak in front of students.

What is Self-Confidence?

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

Self-confidence comes from competence, competence comes from experience and experience comes from hard work, expertise, practice, knowledge, skills and abilities.
It is a mental attitude where in individuals has to believe in themselves, respect themselves, rely on their abilities, capabilities, competencies, and intuition.

Confidence and optimism are two sides of the same coin. For achieving success in any sphere, it is necessary to equip with these two traits. Self-confident people take risks and accept roles and responsibilities voluntarily. They take on the battle to its logical end without any fear or self-doubt. They would face the fight and would fight to the finish.

When we look at all successful people, it transpires that they all have great self-confidence. We tend to think that their success led them to have self-confidence. We can say that prior to success it was their self-confidence that led to success and not the other way round.

There are number of people who started from nowhere and reached to number one status just because they have confidence. There are people who rose like phoenix despite failures just because of their self-confidence.

John’s Overconfidence:

"If you don’t make mistakes then you are a perfect human and if you make mistakes then you are a human" - Farouk

John was highly educated and was good at his job. Due to recession the entire department was closed. Finally the axe fell on John also to leave the organization. Before being axed, the employer provided outplacement to John to join in one of their affiliates where his services could be utilized. John was overconfident and said the employer that he had couple of offers and would shortlist the same and get back to them. On hearing this, the employer provided the opportunity to one of his colleagues.

After closure of establishment John had to struggle for a suitable employment for a month as the job market was weak due to recession. John had ability and capability to get better employment and finally settled down for an employment as per his passion. Only regret he had was to remain unemployed for a month and he lost a salary for that period. Had John accepted the previous employer’s offer he would have worked there and would have tried for better opportunities by working in an affiliate organization. John’s over-confidence led to losing salary for a period of one month and undergoing mental trauma without job. Let us accept the fact that over-confidence is the worst enemy.

Signs of Self-Confident People:

A self-confident person grabs the opportunities whereas an over-confident person rejects the available opportunities. Let us look at the signs and signals of self-confident people.

1. Never doubt their competencies, capabilities, abilities and skills.
2. Have total command and control over themselves.
3. Are risk takers and love to live on edge.
4. Humility is their hallmark.
5. Have neither superiority nor inferiority complex. They possess the right complex desired for success.
6. Are open to new areas of interests, challenges and changes in life.
7. Are ready to test new waters by assuming challenging roles and responsibilities.
8. Have clarity of mind and approach towards problem solving.
9. Are ready to take constructive criticism in their stride and strives for continuous feedback.
10. Have tenacity and resilience to overcome from failures.
11. Have an attitude to strive for excellence, not perfection.

Tips for Building Self-Confidence:

Will power is essential to build confidence as it enables people to do anything and everything which lead to success.

• Believing in yourself is the first and foremost things towards building self-confidence.
• Take up the tasks which are little more difficult and start executing them. Over a period of time, you will develop self-confidence.
• Learning is the key to self-confidence. If you learn swimming, then you develop self-confidence gradually to get into water next time. Similarly, learn any new skills and abilities so that you will develop competencies and capabilities which lead to developing self-confidence.
• Always radiate positive energy and enthusiasm.
• Always have positive self-affirmations everyday such as ‘I am great’, ‘I will succeed’, ‘I was born to achieve big in this world’ and so on
• List out your achievement in your life and keep adding fresh successes along with the existing like updating resume while applying for employment. It will enhance confidence levels as it generates positive vibes.
• Substitute your negative thoughts with positive ones. Always think that you are winner and you would achieve everything in life. When your mind is filled with positive ideas, thoughts and information then you develop confidence and it leads to success.
• Everyone is blessed with unique talents and traits. Find out where you are strong at, tap and explore the same for achieving success.
• Take timely food. Hit gym or do meditation regularly. Positive mind in a healthy body will enhance confidence levels.
• Always involve in positive self-talk. But don’t make it excess as it leads to blowing your own trumpet. Therefore, keep your positive self-talk within the healthy limits.
• Be cool and composed as it decreases anxiety and stress.
• Don’t get unduly concerned about others how they think about you. You are what you are and you are unique and incomparable with others. Therefore, care less about others. Don’t focus on unhealthy criticism.
• Don’t worry too much about your past failures. Failures are common in life. It indicates that you have attempted to achieve something in life. Learn lessons from failures and just move on towards success.
• Always be faithful to your conscience and possess strong character. There is an age-old proverb and it goes, “Confession is good for the soul”. If you did wrong it is better to own up and confess as it relieves your burden to your conscience. Conscience reflects the ethical values while character demonstrates both the emotional and ethical values. These two are the driving forces towards building better self-confidence.

Conclusion:

"You are what you think about all day long." - Dr. Robert Schuller

Self-confidence is not a born quality. It is a cultivated trait by external environment. It is inculcated by parents and educational institutions during upbringing. Besides, social environment always plays a vital role in building this trait. To sum up, let us admit the fact that everyone is born with the ability to instinctively achieve something in life and it is the self-confidence that finally helps in achieving success.


The End