How to Build Self-Confidence and Overcome Self-Doubt

Having a lack of self-confidence or a low self-esteem can have a critical impact to both your personal and professional success.

Especially during those early professional career development years.

If left unchecked, you may find yourself quickly being passed over for jobs by your peers, or even people with less experience and knowledge.

And here’s the hard truth, if you don’t address it now, it will become harder to deal with later.

According to Psychology Today, approximately 85% of adults and adolescents have low self-esteem.

When I speak about low self-esteem, I’m also talking about low self-confidence, self-love, self-respect, and even self-worth.

This is what psychologist Roy Baumeister referred as Self-Concept, “The individual’s belief about themselves, including the attributes and who and what the self is.”

Generally speaking, our self-concept develops through childhood, and can be highly influenced by the environment we grew up in as well as social interactions.

This may include early childhood experiences, exposure to certain parenting styles and even unresolved childhood trauma.

Unresolved Childhood Trauma

The good news is, it’s often based on perception, not necessarily reality, and therefore can be changed at the subconscious level.

Now that we have a better understanding of what causes a lack of confidence, let’s take a look at a couple steps you can take to overcome the burdens holding you back.

And we’ll begin with self-awareness.

Becoming More Self-Aware

Becoming more self-aware includes paying particular attention to your inner thoughts and learning to challenge or question any negative thinking.

Whenever you catch yourself thinking negatively about an experience or situation, allow time to explore the associated beliefs and feelings.

Can you find or recall any supporting evidence that validates the negative feelings?

Can you challenge those negative beliefs by identifying similar past experiences that resulted in a more positive outcome?

Remember, self-concept is often based on perspective, not always reality.

As you recall a specific experience or situation, try not to focus on the impact of the negative energy. Instead, try to remain objective and identify what you can do differently, when you experience a similar situation again in the future.

How can you act, react, or respond with a renewed level of self-confidence going forward?

As you think about a particular activity or task where you feel that anxiety starting to set in, trying to feed your lack of confidence, try to redirect that negative energy by leaning into the feeling tones of a more recent accomplishment that resulted in a more favorable outcome.

Success by Association

Searching your memories for prior experiences, where have you excelled in something similar to a situation that is currently causing a level of anxiety or a lack of self-confidence?

What is an example of something similar that you can draw from or lean into to help restore your confidence.    

Now, let’s take a look at another area that often leads to a feeling of lack of confidence, Imposter Syndrome.

And this is a big one too.

Imposter syndrome often shows up when you’re stepping into new roles, increased opportunities, or additional levels of responsibility.

Imposter Syndrome

It whispers things like, “I don’t belong here”, I’m going to be found out”, or “I’m not as good as they think I am”.

You may have experienced something similar in times where you stepped out of your comfort zone.

That’s perfectly normal, in fact, research shows that approximately 70% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point in their lives.

And, higher trained professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and business executives report experiencing it frequently.

If left unchecked, imposter syndrome can also quickly sabotage your ambitions and dreams.

It can cause anxiety, along with fear of being exposed as a fraud, and cause you to constantly compare yourself to others.

However, with a little help you can learn to challenge those thoughts and reset your inner dialogue to allow you to create, lead, and live with greater freedom!

If you’re interested in learning more about breaking free from imposter syndrome, I invite you to checkout this video and the corresponding online program.

Mindset

The final topic I want to cover is Mindset, because honestly, mindset is everything.

Maintaining a positive and self-assuring mindset reinforces inner confidence and builds resilience.

Look for recurring experiences, situations ,and triggers that tend to amply your anxiety and self-doubt.

It’s critically important to avoid internal self-degradation by actively interrupting any negative self-talk.

Take time to observe the situation, and reframe the narrative into more objective and constructive observations.

And this holds true for speaking about yourself in public as well.

The subconscious mind has the ability to reinforce what you believe. What you think or say is considered truth.

Use mindset transformation technics to identify an alternative empowering belief for that specific situation.

Meaning, What Do You Want Instead?

How do you want to act, react, or respond when you experience a similar situation going forward.

As a Preferred PSYCH-K®️ Facilitator, I work with individuals seeking to transform or reprogram old beliefs that continue to hold them back from achieving their personal and professional aspirations, desires, and goals.

Self-Confidence

If you’re truly ready to take your life to the next level, click the link to schedule a free consultation to discuss how we can work together to get you where you need to be!

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