It can be difficult to know where to begin when you’re making career decisions. The right choices can set you on a path to a rewarding and stable career while the wrong ones can leave you with regrets and uncertainty. After all, even the most enthusiastic job seekers can struggle to discern their path in the face of so many options.
Agreeably, the desire to make your mark in this world and make reasonable profit while doing so may be the number one reason people choose a career. However none can beat the ultimate reason – passion!
Indeed, your passion to meet a need could be the greatest motivation to pick a career. This would make you stay on track even when the going gets tough because it most certainly will.
This, notwithstanding, doesn’t rule out the fact that a lot of people tend to be timid especially when they are newbies in a career.
Take a young lawyer for instance who loses some cases or a rookie engineer who doesn’t know his way around. Getting a new gig may seem impossible especially because those initial failures, although necessary for growth, could dampen your ability to believe in yourself.
That is why confidence, therefore, could be the greatest and most potent currency you need to make the desired progress in your field.
Here are some tips that could be helpful in increasing your level of confidence, as it relates to one’s career path.
INCREASE YOUR COMPETENCE LEVEL
A great way to be more confident about yourself is by working on yourself and striving to become better at what you do. And it’s essential to have the mindset of a student — to be constantly learning, to be a lifelong learner.
You should try not to be a perfectionist, as this mindset can get in the way of developing new skills. Remember, no one is an expert at the beginning; the more you work on something, the more competent you’ll be at it. And as you become more capable, the more confidence you’ll exude.
LEARN NEW SKILLS
Similar to developing your current skills, learning entirely new skills or continuing your education can have an igniting impact on your overall confidence.
Of course, choosing to exercise your development can help boost your confidence by allowing you to assess your capabilities and motivation to develop your knowledge. When you learn a new skill, you can apply it to your job. This can help boost your productivity, ability to stay organised and enable you to take on new tasks more decisively.
DRESS FOR SUCCESS
Absolutely important. Consider your professional wardrobe. Improve your work appearance to match what is required in the office.
Without a doubt, sloppy dressing has a way of draining you of your emotional zest. Ot also has the tendency of making you feel like you’re less of yourself.
That is why dressing to appear more professional, coming into work with a business appearance may help influence the confidence you feel when performing your job and interacting with your peers and superiors.
Similarly, avoid dressing casually for important events like conferences, board meetings or other presentations. That is where formal business attire is usually an expectation.
Although you may not “dress to kill”, dress well enough to command respect!
LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKE
Let’s not forget; we are fallible. That is why mistakes are usually inevitable when implementing improvement plans and goal-setting strategies. The key, however, is to examine your mistakes and learn from them. It’s difficult to accept failure, but failure can influence how you apply your skills in future trials.
Undoubtedly, the goal isn’t to be a perfectionist because that in itself can be quite draining. Hence, every mistake made can and should help you to know how to do it right the next time.
DEVELOP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Another influencing factor in building confidence is assessing the way you perceive yourself. If you find out that you are overly critical of yourself or you entertain self-doubt regularly, you may take steps to change this mindset.
You might also practise self-affirming techniques such as focusing on all the successes you have had in the past day, week or month. This will fuel your confidence at an optimal level.
Continue to evaluate the positive career improvements you have made. Pat yourself on the back when you satisfactorily complete work projects.
FOCUS ON YOUR STRENGTHS
It’s paramount you get the drift that you can’t be good at everything. However, you can be excellent at what you are currently just ‘good’ at.
Focusing on your strengths can rapidly enhance your confidence, as it requires you to measure your strides and abilities.
Often, professionals who pay attention on perfecting their work can focus too much on small missteps or imperfections rather than the overall success.
If this is the case, one way to reduce this tendency could be to make a list of your strengths and abilities and a second list of your achievements.
SET REALISTIC GOALS FOR YOURSELF
Setting short-term and long-term career goals can positively impact the way you perceive your strengths and success.
Consider setting a goal for yourself to develop an overall capability or a new skill. These goals, however, should be very realistic so you don’t burn yourself out.
Furthermore, measure your victory by targeting small objectives to help you reach your result. Evaluating every small success in achieving a larger goal can effectively amplify your confidence. This is because you can see where you are applying effective strategies to further your development.
Ultimately, let your goals be realistic and cumulative. For example, instead of you setting the goal of getting some bulky work done, why not chop that bulky work into smaller bits? And while you take care of the pennies, you’ll see the pounds taking care of themselves!