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Insecurity can damage the most successful career and tear your confidence to shreds. It affects every aspect of your life and can destroy your future attempts at getting work. There are ways to rid yourself of insecurity but you have to work on it. It’s likely you’ve had self-esteem and confidence issues before just like everyone else, and while a client seems to be the cause this time, you must find ways to overcome this obstacle so you can move on.
The Likely Scenario
You’ve done your very best and you’re proud of your accomplishments… then the criticism comes. You rack your brain trying to figure out what it was you did wrong. Is it something you missed, or maybe it’s not you at all? Could it be a personality conflict or could they have been having a bad day? Did you not understand their concept at all? You thought you did. It seemed that you both were on the same page a week ago but now, everything has gone downhill, and fast. Could it be that all that knowledge you had was just not enough? “What is it?” You say to yourself, drowning in self-doubt and reservation about everything you’ve worked on.
Method #1: Recognize Your Strengths Not Your Insecurity
Take a step back and look at your work from a rational point of view. Make a list and write out your strengths as well as areas of improvement. Determine what it is that you can work on, and where it is that you shine. If you need help doing this, ask a peer, your coach, or even your boss for help. Every single person has strengths… you just need to recognize and build on those.
Method #2: Goal Setting
Setting some goals will assist you in building yourself back up. What is it that you’d like to improve on that can be easily achieved as well as what areas would be more challenging? What is it that you love to do? Is it something you can receive more training on? Set goals with a timeline and prioritize them based on what is achievable for you and work towards those goals daily.
Method #3: Find A Confident Mentor
Is there someone who exudes the confidence you’re striving for? Talk to them. I’m sure you’ll find there have been points in their life that they found themselves insecure and lacking self-confidence. Ask them how they overcame it and what steps they took to do so. Do you recognize skills in them that you would like to achieve? Mentors are a wonderful and safe place to build back self-confidence while learning about yourself and how you deal with insecurity. Ask a lot of questions; how do they deal with difficult clients? Have they ever thought they did well on a job, only to find they did not capture the client’s vision? How did they deal with that? What steps did they take to build their self-confidence and overcome their insecurities?
Method #4: Acceptance
Finally, accept and move on. Take what you can from the experience as a learning tool and find ways to build on your strengths. Strive for the best, and always give each project your all. Every once in a while, a test will come in the form of criticism; you are the only one who can control what you do with that. Don’t allow that criticism to tear you down. Choose to build yourself up.
What are some other ways you ditch insecurity to build your confidence back up? Drop them in the comments below!
If you are looking for more great tips, check out our other blogs here!