“I’m afraid of doing it wrong”, “I’m not up to it”, who hasn’t heard that? Self-confidence at work is not innate; it’s a feeling that we work on throughout our lives. It begins at the age of 3 with our ability to say “no”, and is subsequently fueled by all our life experiences, both professional and personal.

At work, it’s a quality that encourages others to trust us in return. In management and human resources, it provides a foundation on which leadership can grow. Developing your self-confidence and charisma will help you become a better leader.

So how can you gain or regain self-confidence at work? Here are 3 keys to help you.

Chasing away negative thoughts and limiting beliefs

Negative thoughts have a way of dragging us down, without us even realizing it. Even if they are false, the brain considers them to be true. This means that in the slightest uncertain situation, it will automatically reactivate your negative thoughts. We must then be able to use simple methods to replace them with constructive thoughts.

For this, you can use the Coué method. By using positive phrases, changing your internal discourse from denigration to benevolence. As if you were doing it for a loved one.

For example, instead of saying “I’m not going to make it, it’s too complicated” you can turn it into “There are challenges to overcome, but I’ll come out of it with more experience”. Approach your work from an evolutionary and challenging angle.

Another tip is to make a list every evening of the positive things you’ve done during the day. We often tend to remember only the negative. By creating this list, you’ll be able to see all the positives in concrete terms and get results.

Visualize your victories

Working on your self-confidence at work through visualization is the first step to achieving your goals.

In fact, this visualization technique will be your ally in boosting your self-confidence. Visualizing your success in doing a task correctly, or triumphing in an upcoming presentation, makes it easier to access.

But how do we go about it?

At work, you can use two types of visualization to help you achieve your goals: result visualization and method visualization.

Visualizing results:

It consists in imagining what happens after an action has been completed. By imagining the positive emotions you’ll feel once the project is finished. Think of how proud you’ll be to have finished this complex project. Visualize yourself talking about it, feeling how relaxed and light you’ll be.

Method visualization:

It allows you to imagine how to perform an action. To prepare for a difficult conversation, for example, you can imagine how it will unfold. Make a list of all the arguments you can use, the order in which you’re going to place them and prepare yourself in case you have to face a refusal. This will help you manage your emotions better and boost your confidence.

The more realistic your visualization, the better it will be. By creating an imaginary world as real as possible, involving all five senses.

Build on your strengths and work on your weaknesses

One of the best ways to build confidence at work is to get to know your strengths and integrate them into your job tasks. By working in your comfort zone, you’ll feel more involved and have more energy.

If you have any weaknesses that affect your confidence, think about working on them. Even if you can’t do everything right away, just knowing that you’re working on it bit by bit will motivate you.

To identify them, pay attention to your emotions and make a list of your strengths and weaknesses, while being as objective as possible. What are you most comfortable with? Which tasks do you enjoy the most? Make a note of any comments people around you may have made. Lack of self-confidence can make you retain only the negative things. Writing down compliments will help you integrate them and nuance negative opinions.

If you’d like to take your self-confidence further, Samaé offers small-group workshops for your employees to develop it.