Improving your confidence

• What are your self limiting beliefs? Try quiz.
• Feel like an imposter, incompetent? Try quiz.
• When confidence is low, negatives are easy to see. We become our own worst critic.
• Do you compare yourself only to those who achieve greater things than you?
• Do you compare yourself with people who have achieved less as well?
• Did you have a critical boss, teacher or parent? Are you are still beating yourself for not being perfect?
• To improve your confidence, get feedback on your strengths and regularly review what you have done that went well.
• Analyze what contributes to your successes and apply it elsewhere.
• Clarify the expectations of stakeholders - internal or external, to make sure you are not punishing yourself for not meeting standards they do not have.
• Ask your boss or mentor for feedback regularly on what you are doing that is appreciated so you're not always expecting the worst.
• Everyone will make their fair share of mistakes.
• How good are you at forgiving yourself for normal human error? How can you modify your overly self-critical stance?
• Plan a series of activities that you know are worthwhile and that you can accomplish, patting yourself on the back for their achievement.

Enhancing self esteem

• Monitor how you talk to yourself.
• Are you always putting yourself down?
• Can you turn this around? Try stopping when you catch yourself at it and tell yourself that you don't deserve to be spoken to like that.
• Substitute more positive talk about how fortunate you are and about all the good things you have done.
• Think about great things you can do in the future.
• Do something you enjoy and are good at that gives you a lift - especially activities that use key strengths.
• See also how we become our own worst enemies.