How do I gain confidence at work?

In many areas of life, healthy self-confidence is of great importance. In business, it is mainly those people who are convinced of their own abilities and exude self-confidence who seem to get ahead. Other people, on the other hand, are rather insecure about their own impact and often ask themselves: How do I become more confident at work?
There are a number of helpful ways to increase your self-confidence in a professional context. Sometimes these are minor changes that simply require a change in mindset. Others require you to work on yourself a little longer to properly internalize the new mindset.

Listed here are some proven methods that can help you become a more confident person - at work, but also in your personal life.

Learn to accept yourself

Familiarize yourself with your strengths and weaknesses. First of all, think about what makes you special, that is, what your positive qualities are. Often our view is too much focused on the negative character traits we think we have. Our view of ourselves is often far too critical.
Now approach the matter the other way around and try to list all the things that you like about yourself. You can also get help with your list from people who are close to you and know you well.
Chances are, your list will end up being longer than you think!

By focusing on your strengths, you will gain self-confidence - but honestly admitting your weaknesses will also make you grow inside. That's because it increases your critical faculties. You will no longer react so sensitively to side blows from other people.

After all, by applying this method, you know best who you are!

Face your fears

Whether at work or in other areas of your life, you will become more confident when you face your fears. And that means tackling and doing exactly what you're afraid of and what you'd prefer to keep putting off.
Want to approach your boss about a raise but don't dare? Don't wait for the opportunity where you feel brave enough, take action tomorrow. Waiting only increases anxiety - stop the mental merry-go-round and tackle your plan boldly. The chance of being positively surprised is greater than you suspect.
Take every new challenge as a welcome opportunity to work on your fears. The smaller your fears become, the stronger your self-confidence will be.

Set realistic goals

It is important that you set realistic goals on your way to more self-confidence. Every small goal you achieve is a step towards the big goal. Remember, the big goal is to become more confident at work and in completing professional tasks.

A small goal can be, for example, to participate more often in discussions in meetings. This may sound simple, but many people are uncomfortable expressing their opinions openly in front of colleagues and superiors. Once you have accomplished this, the next step can be to give a presentation in front of a group.

In this way, you can gradually make your goals bigger until you realize that you have gained inner strength. After all, self-confidence is not only the basis for success, but also the result of successful action.

Expand your knowledge

A useful way to gain self-confidence, especially at work, is to acquire new knowledge and refresh existing skills. Depending on the job, the expanded knowledge can be focused on work techniques and organization, on more know-how in business administration or in a programming language. Afterwards, no one can "fool" you about your skills, but you can confidently demonstrate your acquired abilities to your colleagues.
You can take your further education into your own hands and pursue it at home with specialist literature. However, external seminars or online courses have the advantage that you receive valuable feedback from the trainer and the other course participants and also have a certificate in your hands with which you can prove your advanced training. This also strengthens your standing in the profession.

Seek support from the right people

There are people who have a positive influence on us and there are others whose influence is not so good for you. If you have a bad feeling after spending time with a certain person, it might be better not to spend time with them again.
Instead, surround yourself with people you feel comfortable with and can build trust with. Who you also know will give you support if you should need it. Having real friends gives you strength.
If you continually work on yourself to increase your self-confidence, having good role models around you will spur you on.

Learn to say no

Learning to be more affirming of yourself and thus gaining self-confidence means, on the other hand, saying no to other people from time to time. After all, it is important for your own well-being that you know your limits and point them out clearly if necessary.

Especially at work, this new self-confidence is a gain in stressful situations, so that you don't get overwhelmed. Being able to build on your own strength will give you the feeling that you will master any problem and solve it however you can.

Last but not least

Being able to appear more confident at work will bring benefits in many ways. A different attitude towards yourself will lead to more satisfaction and balance, you will compare yourself less with others and thus conflicts will occur less often. You will probably also enjoy professional success. This is because you will be less afraid to make mistakes or accept your own mistakes and strive to improve the way you work. Thanks to your confident behavior, you may be offered more responsible tasks. Go for it - you have the self-confidence!