This is either a big or a small problem. But it is no problem to understand that confidence is important for one to survive in its group, its industry and even in its life. Some people finds itself lack of confidence but others are not. I am for sure not the latter case. So I want to put myself a little note here to summarize what I brainstormed. and get ready for other suggestions.
So, it all comes to 3 simple questions as follows.
- What is confidence?
Without directly looking into my good old Oxford dictionary, the first interpretation of confidence that comes out of my head is that you believe in yourself when you speak and behave. You know what you are doing is right and what you are saying is correct. Lacking of confidence, in this case, is that you are afraid to talk and act because the uncertainty exists in your mind. It can be that you are involved in a challenging workplace and everyone seems to be smarter than you. So you are more convinced by others instead of convincing others. I guess this is my current situation.
- Why need confidence?
You want to grow. Growing needs confidence. With confidence you can ask questions in depth, do certain give-it-a-try works and eventually gain knowledge on what you have heard and seen. Meanwhile, growing means getting familiar with the area you are in, so you will be convincing others more often. The biggest side effect of this is that you get to be even more confident, so the question becomes an answer to itself. It’s like investment that you invest your current amount of money to earn more.
- How to establish confidence?
One often finds itself confidence in particular area after some milestone it reached in its past. Such milestone can be a diplomas, a certificate or any remarkable award. It proves the skills the holder had in some ways. But that’s not always really true. I just had my road test for driving license last month, but now I am still not sure if I can take a car and give a ride on the express way. It seems like experience plays a more important role in establishing the confidence. Alrite, you take a deep breath and get your feet wet. That’s where experience starts from. Once you are comfortable with it, which means you have a minimum confidence, then invest it. Keep growing it until someone tells you you are over confident. Well, that’s another issue.