How Important Is Self-Confidence?

A lot of people have questions about self-confidence. They want to know where it comes from, what it actually is, and how to get more.

We can appreciate how valid all these questions are when we consider the power of self-confidence in our life.

I have also noticed that there is more than enough confusion over these same questions even from noted experts.

What self-confidence can do for you

In reality, self-confidence is often a more important asset than skill, knowledge, or even experience. This might seem like a bit of a stretch, but let’s take a closer look. Imagine that you have the skill, knowledge, and experience to qualify you for a certain job. When you go for the job interview, what will set you apart from others who are equally qualified? Beyond your credentials, what is it that would make them want to hire you instead of someone else?

It’s the impression you make, right? Your credentials may be impressive, but if your body language or demeanor gives any indication of uncertainty, the interviewer will pick up on that. It may not be something they are consciously aware of, but on some level your doubt will become their doubt. So the job goes to the one that can instill confidence in others.

Self-confidence is reassuring to others

People have a natural tendency to trust you more when you seem self-confident. To the subconscious mind self-confidence equals competence. Does that seem unfair? Well ask yourself if you would hire someone who seemed unsure of their own abilities? If you needed surgery, would you use a doctor whose first impression left you wondering how he got his license to practice? It wouldn’t matter how impressive his credentials were, you would find someone else.

Self-confidence creates trust, and everyone wants to be able to trust the people they do business with, become friends with, and fall in love with. If you want to be trusted by others, you must first trust yourself. To project trustworthiness you must project confidence. Granted, this is all based on perception. You can be a very trustworthy person and still lack self-confidence. There are also people with loads of self-confidence who can’t be trusted.

If it’s just perception then why does it matter?

Perception is how we personally view things; it’s our version of reality. When we don’t know someone personally, our perception is based on the signals we pick up from their words, body language, expressions, eye contact, etc. We also sense their degree of self-confidence and it influences our perception.

Have you ever said: “I don’t know why, but I just don’t trust that person”? See, your mind didn’t have a logical reason for your lack of trust, but you still didn’t trust them. It’s because your perception was being influenced on a subconscious level. Perception may not be absolute reality, but it is your reality and that’s all that matters in a situation like this.

Picking up the Self-confidence torch

Self-confidence is such an important issue that I have decided to focus much more attention in that direction. In upcoming articles I will be covering many aspects of this important quality. Along those lines I would like your help.  I would like to know your thoughts on 3 specific self-confidence questions.

1) From 1-4 how important is self-confidence to you?
2) What would you do if you had more self-confidence?
3) What questions about self-confidence would you like answered?

Source:Advancedlifeskills