I get this request from time to time “Dave, can you help me believe in myself?” My response is a question; “Why do you want to believe in yourself?”.
Your self-belief is not important. What you produce is the issue. What you really need is improved performance, increased sales, effective communication, and team respect. Whopping up a great self esteem is at best a distraction, and at worst a delusion.
The people that pay for your services don’t care if you believe in yourself. What matters to them is that you give them what they want. Go to work on improving product and service delivery. Self-confidence is based on delivering amazing results.
“What if the product is me?” Then you certainly need to work on improving yourself. If a professional deportment is key to your role, then the best way to increase your confidence is to improve your skills. Telling yourself that you are better than you are is delusional and recipe for disappointment and failure.
Don’t misunderstand. If you are good, and your products and services are great, you need to learn how to confidently communicate that value to others. False humility serves no one. Consistently delivering a quality product and service is the foundation for confident communication. It is a service to let people know about the greatness of your team, products, and services.
The fastest way to increase confidence is improve results. Find someone who respects you and cares about your success, and then solicit their honest critique and feedback. Use that feedback to improve your communication, product, service, and delivery.
If you consistently deliver greatness, you will have no need to work on believing in yourself.
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