8 Smart Ways To Increase Your Confidence And Income

“I have been working for three years as a junior accountant at an advertising agency and I have not been promoted ever since. Fresh people have come after me and have gotten promotions. I am a hard worker; I leave work very late and get in very early however, I am shy and everyone who has been promoted is very outgoing,” says James.

“I fear to answer the salary question during interviews, as a result, I feel like I always end up accepting a salary that is lower than what I would get if I just negotiated,” says Kate.

What do James and Kate have in common? Lack of confidence.

Lacking confidence can cost you growth opportunities as it prevents you from going after what you want.

To avoid being in the same situation as James and Kate, you can use the tips below to build your confidence and income.

Here are 8 smart ways you can build your confidence and grow as a professional

1. Get out there

Do you avoid attending social functions just because you fear having to interact with people? Are you always saying no to events that push you out of your comfort zone and prefer to sit in the house watching TV?

If yes, a good way to build your confidence is to put yourself in those uncomfortable situations. You can only overcome your fear by facing it.

You should do something that intimidates you every day and gain confidence from every experience.

For example, you can choose to attend social events such as, wedding ceremonies, church functions, birthday parties, work events etc. where you will be required to socialize with complete strangers.

2. Get a mentor or coach

Do you have someone you look up to when it comes to their confidence? Maybe it’s your colleague, friend or even relative.

A good way to improve your confidence is to get someone to help you do it.

For example, getting a career coach, interview coach or just someone who is willing to help you build your confidence.

With a mentor, you not only get tips on how to build your confidence, but you also get the chance to practice aspects like learning how to make a speech or pitch your ideas.

3. Attend a class

Communication is a skill that is very important especially when it comes to your success, luckily it can be learnt and with enough practice, perfected.

Lack of confidence sometimes comes from not having the right skills. This is why you also need to look into improving your communication skills.

Skills such as public speaking can really help you especially when it comes to making a presentation at work, pitching an idea to your boss or negotiating your salary.

When you have the right tools and skills you will automatically become more confident. So attend training on improving your communication skills.

Empowering yourself, in general, is one of the best strategies to build your self-confidence.

4. Watch others do it

There is something called ‘observational learning’ which is basically when you learn through watching others do the same thing.

It’s possible to gain confidence when you watch someone else you admire do it.

For example, if you want to become better at making presentations, watching a good presenter do it and how they handle the audience can really help you learn to do the same.

5. Be prepared

Think about it, if you don’t study well, you won’t have much confidence in passing the exam, the same applies to life in general.

If you don’t feel prepared for that presentation, you won’t have the confidence to do it, if you don’t feel prepared for that interview; you also won’t have confidence in your ability to pass it.

If you have a presentation to make, practice it in the mirror or in front of your friends, if it’s a speech you need to make then write it down and go through it as much as you can.

So if you want to improve your confidence you have to ensure you are well prepared for whatever the situation is.

6. Look the part

It might seem like a trivial thing but when you look good, you will feel good about yourself and when you feel good about yourself you become more confident.

Take, for example, if you are to make a presentation but don’t like your shoes, you will be self-conscious about this and will probably spend the time you are presenting worried about what people think about your shoes instead of the presentation itself.

You don’t have to wear expensive clothes in order to be presentable; you just need to ensure that you are in comfortable presentable clothes.

7. Focus on your strengths

What are you good at?

Whatever it is in you need to focus more on what you are not good at. This will surely boost your confidence because you get to see yourself do something well.

There is nothing wrong with working on your weaknesses, however, don’t always focus on what you cannot do, having such a negative outlook on your skills will kill your self-confidence instead of building it.

8. Accept that you deserve it

Lack of confidence will make you believe that you don’t deserve that promotion, salary or opportunity. The feeling that you are not worth it or that you don’t deserve something is what is holding you back from going after what you want.

If it’s a promotion, then you have to believe that you have the right to get it, this will ensure that you are more willing to work towards getting it, be it speaking up in meetings, or pitching new ideas to your boss.

In conclusion,

Self-confidence, or belief in oneself, is basically important for everything. Being confident will help you talk to that stranger at a social events that could end up recommending you for your next job, speak up in meetings and get noticed by your boss leading to promotion, pass interviews because you believe in your abilities.

So as a professional use the above tips to build your confidence and greatly improve your life.

Success is all about having the right mindset; you cannot succeed if you let fear keep you from going after what you want and the only way to defeat fear is to gain confidence in yourself and your work.