Winning Attitude Part 3 - Self Belief

"The greatest mistake you can make in life

is to continually be afraid you will make one"

Elbert Hubbard

Let's examine the third characteristic that people with a 'Winning Attitude' have, according to Shaun Belding in his book "Win at Work" and this is:

Self Belief

How often do you find yourself working through reasons why you can't do something?

How often do you find yourself looking for excuses not to try something new?

But when you really get down to it, what you are really concerned about, is not being good enough or failing, so you would really rather not try.

Yes, it is very easy to always work within our comfort zone, but how limiting is that? Giving up on yourself and always 'staying safe' means that you will never do anything more exciting than you have done up to now. You will never have a job that is more interesting than the one you have now, you will never visit new places, or have new experiences, because you will talk yourself out of trying anything new, because you might not be good enough - how boring. Is that the life you will look back on and be proud of?

Instead, why not decide right now, that you are going to stretch your horizons and give new things a go? Yes, it will be scary but that is how you know that you are still alive!

I am not suggesting you start really big, but start to tell yourself that you are as good as everybody else, if not better and watch those people that you admire and wish you were more like and gently start to model what they do and, very importantly, notice how you feel when you have stretched yourself and tried something new.

If you are forever attending meetings but never saying anything, because you are worried that people will snigger at your comments, then set yourself a goal to make at least one comment at each meeting you attend from now on, and if people snigger it says more about them than about you. Just look them in the eye and carry on speaking.

If you keep a low profile at work because you are concerned that you might be given a task that you might not feel comfortable doing. Then take your courage in both hands and ask your manager, what one task you could do for them, that would help them with their workload?

Yes, doing these things will feel uncomfortable at first, that is how you know you are stretching your comfort zone and expanding your horizons and that has to be a good thing.

Believing in yourself is not a big-headed thing to do, it is an amazing thing to do, because it opens up all sorts of adventures and exciting opportunities.

Why not ask three friends and colleagues that you trust, to write down 3 statements that they feel describe you and have them sign it and give it to you. I bet you will be surprised by how positively they see you and your capabilities. Keep those statements and whenever you need to 'top up your self-belief' then re-read them.

Self-belief means looking past failures and towards opportunities and ways to make things better for yourself. If you would like to have somebody working alongside you as you stretch your comfort zone, then just get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy, I would love to help you.

Have a great time expanding your horizons!