Don’t let your confidence hold you back in 2016

It’s February…and most of us are back into the swing of work.

But don’t forget, reflection doesn’t just have to happen at the end of each year, we can carry this practice through the year.

Reflection is a great booster of confidence - bringing with it memories of great success, as well as learning experiences.

Whatever this reflection may bring up, it will impact how we feel about ourselves going forward – it could be personal or work related, and we use this boost to guide us into the next stage of our lives.

The more confidence we have going into 2016, the more empowered we will be.

Our confidence is what supports our life, and moulds us into the person that others perceive us to be. It effects how we function – the higher our confidence, the easier the situation; the lower our confidence is, the more challenging it will be.

People with low self-confidence will find themselves disappointed with the things that weren’t achieved or just didn’t come about.

Ultimately, low levels of confidence holds people back from living life to its fullest.

Self-confidence at work helps when it comes to liaising with colleagues and clients, and getting your message across to gain that business required to survive. It really is like a muscle – the more it gets used, the stronger it becomes.

So how do we gain or increase our self-confidence? Below we have set out some of our top tips to increasing your self-confidence in 2016:

• Always back you intuition – confidence comes from trust in yourself
• Take weekly/monthly intervals to reflect – reflection equals clarity
• Practice clear communication – speaking up for what we want or don’t want is key
• Get support – yes a coach is required to lean on!
• Action your dreams – if you don’t someone else will take credit for them
• Avoid negativity – this will only bring you down
• Always strive to see the positives – this will shift your mindset
• AND let go of wanting to please everyone – how about pleasing yourself more?

With practice these actions will become second nature…the teachers weren’t wrong at school – practice really does make perfect!