Women in Business: If we believe we can't do something, we won't

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People react to us according to our behavior and our behavior is a result of what we believe. If we believe we can’t do something we won’t. 

I noticed, on the X Factor this weekend the Judges were forming opinions of the 6 contestants in their categories before they even opened their mouths to sing.  Confidence levels played a key part in the decision making process, there were some contestants who sang brilliantly but because they didn’t appear confident when they presented themselves, the judges were concerned they wouldn’t be able last the distance. 

One guy in particular didn’t believe in himself which meant that I had my heart in my mouth as soon as he started singing as I was waiting for him to fail.   I didn’t want him to and thankfully was brilliant but if he’d handled his insecurities differently we’d have had faith that he would deliver the amazing performance he is highly capable of. The rollercoaster effect was not comfortable for him or us.

Business is really not that different – people make decisions about us very quickly and if we believe we can do something we’re able to communicate that with confidence. That generally leads people to believe in us and support us to do so. 

Self-belief is a key ingredient of success but, when we’re out of our comfort zone the reality is that many of us are guilty of the X factor confidence crisis. 

Much of the time this is due to an internal dialog of negative thinking, so here are 4 things to help keep negative thinking in check and develop our self confidence

1)    For a day or so keep track of the negative thoughts you have, this will train your mind to recognise when you are thinking negatively.  It might be a good idea to write them down.

2)    Think about some positive thoughts that you can call on when you catch yourself thinking negatively. Again write some down I always feel that makes it stick in my mind better.

3)    For a week, pick an hour every day that you will refuse to have negative thoughts.  When they creep in push them away with your positive thoughts.

4)    Build this up until you notice you push your negative thoughts away a lot faster.

Read more in our Boost your Self-Confidence workbook on the everywomanNetwork. 

Join today and access of personal development tools on the everywoman network.

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