In private you feel enough self-confidence, you don't even think about it. House, tree, animal, friends, hobbies; you have no doubts about this. But at work or as an entrepreneur it is often a different story, your business confidence is hard to find. Create a career, become visible, make your point or give difficult presentations and answer difficult questions afterwards. Or that negative voice in your head, flaring yourself, hoping that hard work will get you promoted, make acquisitions (yuck!) and prepare your salary negotiation. All elements in your work or as a freelancer that you may find difficult or difficult. Where you doubt yourself and lack self-confidence.
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I have already mentioned a few things above, but what do you also think of that colleague who knows and does much less, but still walks away with that promotion? It doesn't improve your confidence either. Working can make you doubt yourself.
How do you get out of here? How do you increase your business confidence? After a miscarriage, speaker, author and trainer Jikkie Has saw her self-confidence disappear down the drain. If she couldn't even trust her body, what could she trust at all? How did she come to believe in herself again?
Jikkie Has then delved into science to find an answer to this and came up with gems of concrete insights. She has collected the most interesting insights in her book 'Business Self-confidence – Dare to be successful'. Conclusion:self-confidence is not something you have or don't have:you can train it very concretely!
Below you will find 10 tips that will help you train your business confidence so that you make that difficult phone call or give that presentation the next time with business confidence. Handy for you and me, whether you want to become a VA, are self-employed or are employed!
Linda de Mol, Angeline Jolie, Carice van Houten:they also regularly feel insecure. You are not crazy, it is a normal reaction to a certain situation that is important to you. So also your colleague who doesn't seem to be bothered by anything, your boss, that successful competitor:they all feel insecure sometimes; just like you. The only difference is that they don't let it stop them! And after these tips about business self-confidence, you will no longer be too!
How do you subconsciously make yourself smaller? Do you have doubts when posting something on social media? Do you feel the brakes on? Perfectionism? Please others? Think you're not ready for the next step (do I know enough?!), are you working hard hoping to be seen? Before you put in all kinds of new knowledge or surf the internet for hours before you know something for sure:stop making yourself small(-er). How do you want to look back on your career in the future? That no one has criticized you, they liked you? Or that you've been someone who went after her dream and tried it? That you have been a role model for others in that journey. Stop making yourself small already saves a lot.
When do you or are you good enough? Since objective standards are lacking, we have been comparing ourselves with others since prehistoric times. Am i doing it right? Do I still belong? At that time, if you were thrown out of the group, you were doomed. Today it won't kill you anymore. But our brain still works the same way.
But by comparing yourself to others, you are comparing apples to oranges. You often only see the successes and gems of the other. But in yourself you mainly see what is not there yet. This can make you very insecure. Why does the other person succeed, and not you?
How do you solve this? Let's use the old principle of comparing yourself, but a little different. Compare yourself with yourself! The only really fair comparison is with yourself. Where are you now compared to two, five or ten years ago? How much did you learn? What insights have you gained? Because you too have changed in recent years. And then you will suddenly see that you are not doing so bad 😉 . Hoppa, that will grow your business confidence!
As long as you listen to that negative voice, it will get its way like a grumpy toddler. It is indeed better to first undergo training before… Who is waiting for you? Instead of fighting this, ask yourself:what is also true? For example:with my many years of knowledge and experience I can already help someone else. This thought is also true, gives positive energy and ensures that you take action. That saves you another course or training.
The moment you have linked your self-esteem to achieving your goals, uncertainty comes out of the box. Are you suddenly tense? Because you think things should be fine now. That the launch of your product or service must be a success, that you are not allowed to make mistakes. Because what if you get criticized? These are well-known feelings that can take a toll on your business confidence.
Yoohoo, you are not your success or failure. You're just human, and good enough by definition, no matter how successful you are. So disconnect your self-esteem from your degree of success.
Nobody likes to lose. But did you know that successful people are not concerned with winning or losing at all? Professor, Nobel laureate and renowned behavioral researcher Daniel Kahneman investigated how economically successful people think. What seems? They see all their actions as a game of tennis; you can win once and you can lose once. The fact that you lose a tennis match says nothing about your potential. Did you know that Serena Williams lost many games of tennis before she was good? Did you know that J.K. Roling 12x was rejected before her first Harry Potter book was published? You win some, you lose some. And on again…! On to the next game of tennis.
We can go straight to the next point. We think that something must first feel good, before… you can call, ask for a promotion or salary increase, become visible, you name it.
That sounds logical, but unfortunately peanut butter:Scientific research shows that action comes before self-confidence. You also learn to cycle on the spot and not from a thick theory book. Actions from your comfort zone always feel exciting in advance, but afterwards it is always not that bad. So don't wait until it feels right:just start, your self-confidence will follow naturally, also in business. How are you going to start “taking action”? The following tip is going to help you with this, let's move on quickly!
Out of survival instinct, your brain presses the emergency button as soon as you seriously threaten to get out of your comfort zone. It comes with thoughts like, "I'd take a good look at it first." "Are you sure?" “What if you get criticized?”. "What if you fail?" Before you know it, you'll be in a mental bitch-fight with yourself for weeks again.
Taking ridiculously small steps will put your fear brain to sleep. Make the actions so small in the beginning that you have to chuckle. Instead of wanting to be a very successful blogger and become hugely visible, start posting one blog. Or start with a brainstorm that you could blog about. You also don't put a jar of Olvarit in your child's mouth in 1x, because that jar has to be empty, right? Start with small bites or steps.
Research psychologist Zachary Estes showed in an experiment that women score less well on spatial insight than men. You will think logically. But when he delved into the results, it turned out that women more often left an answer open compared to the men. Because they "were not sure"! The difference was caused by women structurally underestimating themselves. They are afraid to make mistakes and overthink too much, so that they structurally miss opportunities to score! It can be that simple. So take a guess if you're not sure. You will experience that you know and can do more than you initially thought. And that also boosts your business confidence.
Your posture affects how you view yourself. A pathetic attitude makes you feel pathetic, a strong attitude gives strength. Standing with your back straight for two minutes, widening your chest and holding your arms in the air with your fists clenched will automatically increase your confidence. Even if you feel insecure! This 'power pose' by Professor Amy Cuddy has received a lot of attention, but also a lot of criticism. After years of research, she came back with hard evidence that it really works! So… tits forward and go:size doesn't matter!
Did these 10 tips give you confidence in Jikkie's approach? Order her book which contains much more information. With this you can boost your self-confidence on a business level even further. It's not rocket science, you just have to know (and do) it.
Is the above recognizable to you and do you lack business confidence? Or are you just full of confidence? We'd love to read your comment below!
Extra gift in addition to these 10 tips:request the digital workbook for free with no less than 26 exercises for more Business Confidence worth 10 euros:https://www.zakelijkzelfvertrouwen.nl/gratiswerkboek/
