I’ve been writing articles for my blog for ten years. My first blog was published on the 19th August, 2015! By my calculations, that must be over 320 thousand words of reflections, tools, insights, and book reviews, with a and a sprinkling of guest blogs. Whilst everyone has the option to receive the blog directly into their inbox, there isn’t always a chance to catch the weekly topic. Over the years, I have collated some of the must-read blogs into one place, a topic at a time. That has covered redundancy, wellbeing library, return to work for leaders, must-read blogs for job seekers and return to work for parents. Today, I’m building you a confidence toolkit from me, Clara Wilcox (AKA The Balance Collective)
To help you navigate these links, I’ve compiled some questions you may have about confidence and provided the best resources to help you uncover your answers. Some may be more educational and informative, and a book review or two may even find their way in.
So, without further ado, here is the confidence toolkit from The Balance Collective.
What does confidence mean to you?
Before we can start to unpick and understand confidence, it’s important to understand what it means to you. Like so many things in personal development, if you can’t define it, you can’t demonstrate it!
How do you stop feeling negatively about yourself?
When I work with people on their confidence, negative self-talk creeps in. It may be echoes of negative people from the past, whose voices you now hear, or it may be real-life situations that impact your ability to respond in a way that feels right.
If it’s decision-making you are after, then this is the blog for you. If it’s a regular confidence dip, then maybe it’s time to look closer at your wellbeing and your hormones.
What to do if you are struggling with change.
Sometimes, how you deal with change and the unknown can really impact your confidence. How can you feel sure you are meeting the challenges that are coming, if you aren’t quite sure what they are? Then, first, I recommend you find out how to worry, constructively! It sounds odd, but trust me! It may be that you are walking a fine line between a new, exciting challenge, like a promotion. Finally, get comfortable with being wrong! Sometimes, the best way to build confidence is to try, and fail!
How to feel confident with who you are!
We have learned over the years, through research in the book reviews, that the key to confidence is being true to oneself. But what if you struggle with that? First, understanding more about your personality preferences (through a tool like DISC) can really help. Tracking your version of success through the often shared “Ta-Da” list, can help you consider YOUR version of confidence. Finally, realise that confidence is not always about being the loudest in the room.
How to pay attention to what you consume.
Our confidence has been bolstered or battered by lots of different things. What we read, who we talk to, what we see. A great part of the toolkit is working out what works, and what doesn’t and actively doing something about it. It might be you are finding that the media you consumer isn’t helping. Then building a healthier relationship with social media may help. You may find your confidence levels are situational; if you are looking to build business confidence, start here.
How to reduce overthinking
In my experience, the most seemingly confident people have one thing in common. They just do! No overthinking, no overplanning – they capture the information they need, make a choice and move forward. If you would like to spend some time understanding this, then these blogs are for you. First, you want to find out how to banish self doubt. Next, it would be helpful to have the tools to check and reframe your beliefs. This, based on both personal and professional experience, is particularly powerful. You can read more here.
So, there you have it. Some core questions and resources to help you develop YOUR confident self. As you can imagine, all the tools and techniques to support confidence can’t fit within an 800-ish word blog. However, I hope these will provide you with enough guidance to get started.
If you need more one-on-one support, please reach out. If you have a staff training budget, perhaps it’s time to allocate it to your personal development. You can use this blog to help you build a business case for coaching (for you or your team)
If this Q&A style of the toolkit has been helpful for you, don’t forget my monthly Ask Me Anything within Creating Careers to Enjoy. The most recent are questions and answers are:
What books can you recommend to help me with my confidence at work?
How can I overcome the discomfort I feel about asserting myself?
How to manage career/life disappointment?
Clara Wilcox is a straight talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes and professional development. The Balance Collective is a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance.
