How to build confidence in your work life

Feeling confident in the workplace can help take your career to the next level – but can be difficult to find that confidence sometimes. 

‘Fake it till you make it’ doesn’t work for everyone, so it’s important to look for methods that work for you. 

We’ve put together some reasons why confidence is crucial to professional success, as well as how you can go about building your confidence!

How important is confidence in the workplace?

It’s hard to overstate just how important confidence in the workplace can be. When you’re feeling confident, you feel like you’re walking on air, and when you’re feeling down, things always seem to go wrong, no matter how hard you try. There’s a reason so many people talk about confidence – everyone’s looking for it, and not everyone has it.

Confidence can help in all facets of your professional life, from working with others, making tough decisions and planning for the future. Ask any leader what they’d like more of, and chances are they’ll mention confidence – so if you’re able to find ways to grow your confidence in a professional setting, you’re more likely to be able to fast-track your career. 

What are the benefits of being more confident in your workplace?

There are many benefits to being more confident in the workplace, especially if you’re a leader, or you have leadership ambitions. People look to leaders to inspire confidence, which is why you’re able to be confident in yourself, people will naturally be drawn towards you. 

Building your confidence can ensure that you are heard in workplace discussions and allows you to make the big decisions when needed. Being able to face a challenge head-on and make the decisions you need to successfully overcome the challenge can help build confidence – but you need to be brave enough to put yourself in those situations in the first place.

If you have your eye on a particular role/career, then building your confidence can help you take the steps necessary to make the leap. Moving from one industry to another, or one role to another, can be daunting, but if you’re able to feel more confident and secure in your skill set and abilities, then making the leap will become that much easier. 

How to build your confidence in your work-life

1. Work on your interpersonal skills.
2. Set defined goals.
3. Look for a mentor.
4. Change your viewpoint.
5. Upskill.

So now you know how important confidence in the workplace can be – but what can be done to actually improve it? To help you get started, we’ve put together a few tips and tricks that you can use to build your confidence up, so you can start succeeding more than ever in your professional life.

1. Work on your interpersonal skills.

Working in a workplace can be daunting, especially if you’ve never done it before. This is partly due to the need for sophisticated interpersonal skills, which some people struggle with more than others. 

While it can be hard at first, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and talking to your colleagues regularly can help build your confidence, giving you the ability to make yourself heard in the workplace, and collaborate more effectively with others.

2. Set defined goals.

Achieving goals is one of the best ways to build confidence, but you’ll want to ensure you’re setting goals that can actually be achieved! The SMART (specific, achievable, measurable, realistic and timely) method can help guide your goal-setting. Think about things like where you’d like to be in 12 months, and the skill/s that you think you’d most enjoy learning, then put these goals into the SMART framework to ensure you’re accountable!

3. Look for a mentor. 

Working with a mentor is an excellent way to build confidence, as a mentor can help give you guidance when you face tricky situations. While every problem is different, a mentor can act as someone who has been involved in making complex decisions, and give you their perspective. It can be easy to feel isolated when you need to make tough decisions – so why not speak to someone that has been through the same situations as you?

4. Change your viewpoint.

While it can be easy to focus on imagining what other people think of you, this can be detrimental, and damage your confidence. Instead of thinking about other people’s views, instead consider how you have helped other people in the past, and what you can continue to do for others in your workplace. You might just find it becomes a lot easier to take big strides in your career. 

5. Upskill.

Learning new skills is a brilliant way to feel more confident in the workplace, as upskilling helps you to feel more prepared for any situation. Completing a nationally-recognised qualification – whether that be a diploma or a degree – will give you the practical and theoretical skills you need to tackle any challenge in your industry head-on! 

If you’re looking to upskill in your career, then Upskilled can help. Upskilled’s range of nationally recognised qualifications are available in a range of industries, so no matter what your dream career is, you can start working towards it today. Visit our website to find out more and find a course that can help you feel more confident than ever!
 

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