It’s pretty easy to end up in a situation where you lose your confidence when it comes to work. Anything from taking time off to raise your family, to making a mistake at work and feeling the consequences to losing a job – whether from being fired or even laid off. Any of those scenarios (and many more) can rattle the confidence that you once had, leaving you nervous and hesitant to put yourself out there. But here’s the thing: only you have the power to bring it back. You are in complete control of how you feel, what you know you’re capable of and how and when to take those next steps. If you’re struggling with finding that confidence, here’s a few ideas for how to find it again.
How to Get Your Confidence Back
Even when you’re feeling down (or super nervous), take the risk and go for it again. Living a life of no risk is safe, but how boring! In order to put those next steps into action, you have to put yourself out there – there’s no getting around it. And, if you don’t take those risks, if you continue to live in a bubble of safety, you’ll never know what could have been. So get out there. Apply for that job. Go to the interview. If you don’t get it – who cares? Get up and try again.
Look within rather than looking around. At the end of the day, who cares what’s happening around you. What your coworkers accomplish or the type of work your friends do has no bearing on what you are personally capable of. This is up to you – and it’s your call to control that destiny. You want that big promotion, but you just aren’t sure? You have to put your head down, do the work and build up the confidence to talk to your boss. You want that new job after years out of the game – figure out a way to strut your stuff and show that potential employer exactly what you are made of. No relying on the team. No worrying about those around you. Just you. Go for it.
Take a learning leap. Sometimes there’s no getting around the fact that it’s easy to get a bit behind. The world is changing at a rapid pace and the workforce is no different. From technology, to mentality to everything in between, sometimes you have to face the fact that you’re just not on the up and up. So, do you give up and lose all your confidence and throw in the towel? Noooooo! You figure out the best way to learn. Perhaps it’s a few online classes to get you back up to speed or a certification review in something you were previously a master at. No matter what – giving up is not an option, but education most certainly is. There are millions of resources out there – often you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home – to jump on the web and watch webinars, videos and use online tools to get up to speed. Just remember – you’ve got this.
Tap your network. Sometimes getting back into communication with your old professional network is the best way to bring back some of the fun and remind yourself just how good at something you once were. Your old coworkers will be happy to hear from you and if they’re still in the game, probably more than excited to connect you with new and upcoming opportunities. Have a few lunches, meet up for happy hour – pick their brains about what you need to brush up on to get back at it.
How do you hype yourself up?
