Building confidence from the outside inPosted by On August 29, 2015

A friend of mine who works from home, tells me that she always makes sure to wear shoes when walking into her home office. Her wearing shoes, or how she was presented wouldn’t make a difference to anyone as no-one actually sees her in her office. However, as she pointed out to me, she felt more confident in her position when she wore shoes.

People use many different techniques to assist with building their confidence levels.  A lot of these techniques are based on how we think,  feel and process information. Most of these self-help, positive self-talk techniques you could say work from the “inside out”. Get your mind and/or your belief system right and your behaviour, mood and confidence levels start to shift.

Let’s flip things around though. What would happen if instead you worked from the outside in?

How often do your mood and energy levels change for the better after you’ve simply had a new hair cut or dressed in your best outfit?  Putting on your favourite pair of shoes and strutting your stuff can also provide the necessary confidence boost.

The last time you needed a lift in your confidence, how did you look and what were you wearing?  If you had changed your outfit, popped a bit of lipstick on, or wore your lucky tie, would that have made a difference?

Besides your personal presentation and attire, have a look at how you could change your environment to help re-inforce your confidence levels.

Take a look around you. Your environment should put you in a good “head space”. In order to be productive and confident you cannot  feel uncomfortable, irritated or annoyed by your surroundings.

Trying to think positively whilst feeling irritated and annoyed by a messy office, unorganised diary or dirty dishes in the sink can be extremely challenging and very distracting. Why make things harder for yourself?

So not only can you focus on building your self-confidence levels through positive thought (from the  “inside out”), but you can also focus on your environment and how you present yourself. Start thinking about building confidence from the outside in.

Nicole Coyne

Business coachingLife coaching

confidenceenvironmentmoodspersonal presentation

Nicole CoyneAuthor posts

Nicole is a certified professional coach as well as a certified trainer, advanced assessor and coach mentor. Based in Auckland, she provides a range of coaching options, from individual business owner and management coaching, group and team coaching workshops to personal coaching. Her coaching practice is aligned to the ICF ethos and ethics. Need to hire a professional coach? Contact Nicole [email protected] 

Comments are disabled.