The unemployment and underemployment faced by young men today can have a heavy impact on one’s self-esteem and confidence. The endless search for jobs, going for interviews, performing in front of an audience, or simply talking to others can lead to a good amount of stress. What about the issue of one’s self-esteem when you admire a lady, and because you are unemployed, you think she will not be interested? Or the demoralising feeling you get when interacting with peers who have interesting jobs?
If you are one of the millions of people that have issues with confidence and suffer from low self-esteem, here are a few tips to help you cope and be more confident.
- Trust your abilities
One secret to confidence and self-esteem is to trust what you are able to do. This comes with a lot of practice and study. Whenever you practice a given skill, you increase your own confidence in your capability to deliver.
- Believe in yourself
Lack of faith in yourself and your abilities can stifle your economic well-being and growth, leading to entrepreneurial inactivity. You may have a very good idea for a product or service, but you are too afraid to pursue it. A lack of confidence often gets in the way of good ideas. If you believe you will fail, you indeed will! Set your mind towards succeeding and you probably will!
- Take criticism seriously, not personally
Most people are bad at taking criticism. Being touchy about criticism will mar your progress. Instead of taking criticisms personally, use every comment and suggestion to make yourself better. Be careful of who you surround yourself with. If you’re with people who are petty, arrogant and egotistic, you’re probably going to have an inferiority complex because their criticisms will not be beneficial to your self-confidence and self-esteem. You have to learn to ignore criticisms that will not help you. When you surround yourself with people who are supportive and believe in you, you’ll find that they give you feedback that help grow your confidence and self-esteem.
- Panicking never benefited anybody
Whatever situation you are facing, try to remain calm. If you find yourself in a situation where you are unsure of what to do or what will happen, keep your composure. If you don’t know the answer, say so calmly. If you do not know what to do, it would not be bad to admit it. However, beneath your cool facade, always try to keep be deliberate and quick-thinking to turn the situation around. This could take a lot of practice, but it is well worth it.
- Don’t be afraid to fail
Many people are afraid to fail; they quit trying because they are not confident in their skills. If you are afraid to try, you will get stuck where you are. Failure produces lessons that you can use to make yourself better.
- Don’t base your confidence on what people think of you
Though you should take criticism seriously, no one knows you better than you know yourself. How you feel about yourself and what you do is what really matters. People could tell you you’re the future “Bill Gates”, but the words are pointless if you do not believe in your own abilities. Also, if you free yourself from the shackles of the negative opinion of others, you will be free to try new things and learn new skills. Believe in yourself and that you can achieve what you set out to do. You are all you’ve got. YES YOU CAN DO IT!