Success in any field is a total of talent, hard work and self-confidence. Vince Lombardi, the famous American football coach once said “Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence.”
“Be confident” is the key advice by all good wishers. So, it shows how important it is to cultivate confidence as a battery to surge ahead in life. But there is a constant complaint that many students and job candidates despite their talent are underperforming because they lack the self-confidence to achieve the desired success.
Self-confidence can be expressed as an index of one’s self-worth. In other words, it is a perception about oneself how far a person values himself and his faith in his capabilities. Self-confidence breeds great health because it gives a feeling of wellness and energy.
We also hear how psychologists and counsellors emphasize the importance of building self-confidence. For certain reasons, this fluctuates in persons although most people are reasonably self-confident.
A person’s level of self-confidence can be gauged from his body language. It is easily visible and communicates without uttering a single word. The body language will express whether a person is self-confident or feeling insecure inside. Even body posture can reveal that. Head held high, sitting straight, maintaining eye contact and squaring shoulders are powerful indicators of robust self-confidence.
Even those lagging with inadequate self-confidence can work on it and consistent practice can shore up self-confidence.
Self-confidence gives an inner strength of capability to deal with challenges in life. Good self-esteem shapes a realistic view of one’s value and others can see it reflected in a person’s behaviour patterns. Self-confidence is also an antidote to mental health problems manifested via anxiety, addiction, and depression.
Self-confidence is somewhat a midpoint between arrogance and low self-esteem and a vital engine to steer ahead for any individual --student, worker or high placed professional. A study by the University of Melbourne indeed noticed a clear linkage between the achievement levels as adults and a high level of confidence at the school level itself.
Confidence leads to high productivity as it helps to get things done since there is clarity on what one can do and what is not workable. It gives a double advantage of using the existing strengths and improving upon the weaker areas. It gives a unique self-awareness and is the secret behind career success for many as they are able to achieve more goals without undue exhaustion.
Confidence gets expressed in a lot of ways. A self-confident person will appear self-assured and assertive with immense quality in his work and logical patterns in thoughts and views. A self-confident person also stands out with the readiness to take on new challenges compared to people with low self-esteem.
Effective and smart communication enables a person to be trustworthy, respectful and a potential leader too. A confident person can influence classmates, peers and colleagues.
Symbolically, a classroom or workplace is akin to a battlefield strewn with challenges and obstacles on an everyday basis. Confidence in a person can be judged from the way he conducts himself; the way he walks talks and socializes. The raised chins, taut shoulders, and a powerful stance augmenting the persona are strong statements.
Those with sagging self-confidence can improve their position by constantly working to raise their self-esteem with self-motivation. The following tips can help in building confidence with self-awareness about one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Low self-esteem wrecks self-confidence and clouds abilities. It also affects the capacity to socialize and relationships. The good news is that therapies and counselling sessions are available if self-help is not boosting anybody’s self-confidence. They will identify the barriers and go into a repair mode on the self-esteem issues through cognitive behavioural therapy.
This treatment is problem-focused and looks at the problems in the present times and uses a combination of treatments including cognitive restructuring to weed out unhelpful thinking patterns and distorted perceptions.