One of the biggest challenges people who aspire for leadership position struggle with is Self-confidence.
Now, I’m sure that you already know that without that confidence and a few other things, you will never be able to achieve Executive Presence.
I have learnt that self-confidence, just like Executive Presence is not about outward appearance. It is strongest in the mind. In your heart. In the deepest part of you.
Today, I’d like to share with you a few things which, when rightly implemented, will take your self-confidence several notches higher.
1. You must believe that you have what it takes to succeed and lead people/business. It always starts in your mind. In your thoughts. How you perceive and describe yourself.
2. Believe that you are deserving. You are qualified. You have a right to the top. And if you continue to subject yourself to learning, if you acquire the needed skills, you can do a great job! Believe this. And never let anyone make you doubt it.
3. You must be willing to find out what you don’t have and invest on acquiring it.
4. You must be hungry and thirsty. Hungry for knowledge. Thirsty for improvement and betterment.
5. You must set and achieve goals. Get results. Become competent in your chosen field or project.
6. You must accept that failure is a personality trait. It takes someone who is courageous tp try something (even if they fail). So, when you fail, congratulate yourself on your courage, learn the lessons and try again.
7. You must learn how to give yourself credit. Acknowledge what you’re doing right and give yourself a pat on the back. Enjoy your success and achievements and use them to remind yourself to get ready for the next phase.
8. You must always take stock. Look at where you are. Remind yourself of where you came from and how far you have come. Think about where you want to go. How far you want to go. Get yourself in the right mindset for the next part of the journey. Commit yourself to starting it and staying with it until you reach the destination.
9. You must learn how to listen. For feedbacks. For lessons. For insights. For help. But you must also know how to shut up the negative voices that will try to pull and keep you down. Some of those voices might be in your head. And some of them might from people around you. Know what to do with the voices.
10. You must communicate all the above in the right way; what’s in your mind, what you learn, where you failed and the lessons learned, your successes and achievements, your journey. You must learn to communicate them all. With and without words. Your level of self-confidence can show in many ways: your behaviour, your body language, how you speak, when you speak, what you say. How you walk, how you stand, how you sit, how you look at things, your responses and reactions. Your results. And so on… Your confidence is always a sum total of all the things that are in your head and thoughts about yourself.
The truth is that Self-confidence is about balance.
There are two extremes.
On one extreme, there are people with low self-confidence. People who cannot get their message across because they think they are not enough. People who are under-confident, avoid taking risks and stretching themselves. In fact, they might not try at all. And when they do try and fail, they see it as validation that it is not meant for them.
On the other extreme, we have people who may be over-confident. People who become arrogant and big-headed. People who are over-confident may take on too much risk, not listen to the voice of reason, stretch themselves beyond their capabilities, and then crash badly. Some of them are so falsely optimistic that they don’t try hard enough or put in the required work and investment to truly succeed.
With the right amount of self-confidence, you will take informed risks, stretch yourself (but not beyond your abilities) and give your best always. You will succeed more times than you’ll eventually be able to count. And you’ll be able to teach and lead other on the journey up.
Truly, when you get this right, the world around you will smell it from a thousand miles.
That is one of the central components of your Executive Presence and Resonant Leadership.
And, here’s to Your Executive Presence!
#TME
